Statistics suggest that very few people are successful at achieving goals and resolutions. For many, this is due to not setting a plan toward success. A goal with no plan to achieve it is simply a hope.

Another factor though, necessary to achieve your new years goals and resolutions, is margin. Consider finances: if you are spending every penny you make on regular living expenses, you have no additional resources to give away, to invest or to pay down debt. Creating margin in your finances is necessary to achieve whatever financial goals you set.

This is also true with time. If your daily life is filled with work and personal activities that do not contribute to your goals (no time for exercise, e.g.), then you have to make time for those things by creating margin in your schedule.

With money, margin can come through earning more, but all of us are bound by the 168 hour week. To get more time, you either have to get more efficient or cut some things from your list. Look at your regular weekly activities and ask yourself which ones are less important than achieving the goals you set for the year. Find a way to cut and then fill that time with activities that will propel you toward success.

How will you create margin? And what will you do with it?