For most leaders, the new year begins with a clean slate and hopeful aspirations for the future. It’s a mental reset with a renewed sense of expectation. But not every leader maximizes this moment.

To some leaders, it’s just another day, another month, another year. And for those who do embrace the new beginning, too often they don’t live up to their potential because the necessary steps haven’t been taken to see change and progress.

So, where do you start? If you want the new year to deliver fresh results and improved outcomes (whether personally or in your ministry), embrace the steps below.

Reflection: Assess Where You Are

Starting strong doesn’t begin by looking to the future; it begins by reflecting on the past. To maximize the days ahead of you, first assess the days behind you.

The apostle Paul said, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you — unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Without an honest assessment of current reality, you’ll be unprepared to make tomorrow count. To help you assess your life, leadership, and ministry effectively, reflect on the following questions:

• In what areas did I grow the most over the past 12 months?
• What are my greatest wins in the past 12 months?
• What progress in my fulfilling my life purpose did I make in the past 12 months?
• What gaps am I currently dealing with in my leadership?
• On a scale from 1 to 10, how healthy am I in each of the following areas: spiritually, relationally, emotionally, physically, financially, and professionally?

Once you answer each question, look for any patterns in your life or leadership that need your attention.

Reflection, direction, traction, and evaluation give you a simple yet strategic way to map out the year ahead.

Direction: Determine Your Preferred Future

With a proper understanding of current reality, your next step is to determine your direction for the new year. In other words, what goals do you want to set? These goals can be personal or professional.

Author Michael Hyatt encourages leaders to set SMARTER goals. In other words, goals should be:

• Specific: What specifically do you want to accomplish?
• Measurable: How will you know if you’ve achieved your goal?
• Actionable: Use a strong action verb to begin every goal.
• Risky: Does the goal aim high by moving you outside of your comfort zone?
• Time-Keyed: What is the deadline for this goal?
• Exciting: Am I intrinsically motived by this goal?
• Relevant: Is my goal aligned with our vision, values, and what matters most?

Your evaluation process should inform which goals you choose, and the SMARTER framework will help you set clear, concise, and compelling goals.

Traction: Design a Plan to Get There

Once the goal is clear, you need a well-crafted plan to help you make traction toward the goal. It’s not enough to have a target. You need a roadmap to get there. A good traction-oriented plan typically includes the following:

• Action Steps — Reaching a goal usually requires a series of bite-sized action steps to help you reach a destination. Put together a plan that has manageable and meaningful steps that move you toward your goal and keeps you on track with the established timeline.
• Growth Partners — Many goals require the help of others. Proverbs 15:22 says, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” Identify your “growth partners” to help you achieve the goal. If it’s a personal growth goal, your growth partner might be a coach, mentor, or accountability partner. If it’s a professional goal, your growth partners might be fellow teammates, coaches, consultants, or outside vendors.
• Necessary Resources — Every goal requires resources to reach it. Those resources may be time, tools, talent, or treasure. Identify the resources necessary to achieve your goal, and then determine how you’ll secure those resources to make forward progress.

Actions steps, growth partners, and necessary resources make up the plan to get the ball rolling. Goals without plans never get traction.

Evaluation: Measure Forward Progress

Leaders must create a process for evaluating progress. This can’t be a one-time activity but must become a regular part of the ministry’s rhythm. Peter Drucker said, “Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”

To evaluate effectively, you might rate each action step as red, yellow, or green. Red means you haven’t made any progress, or your attempts at progress haven’t delivered the desired result. Yellow means you’re making progress, but you still have more action to take. And green means you’ve achieved your action step and the desired outcome.

Reflection, direction, traction, and evaluation give you a simple yet strategic way to map out the year ahead. As you follow this process, you’ll be equipped to improve outcomes and make forward progress.