Here’s an idea for a New Year’s resolution—amplify something that worked last year.
If English was your best class last year, what could you do to make that class even better this year? What if you made an effort to contribute more to the class discussion, or talk to your teacher after class about the books, or turn in a draft of your essays before they’re due to get feedback before the final draft?
If you're the editor of the school paper and your sports editor is doing a particularly great job, how can you give her even more opportunities to do what she's doing? What could you and the rest of the staff learn from her example?
If you’re a parent and you were especially supportive of your student when she was struggling in trig, how could you give that kind of support even more often this year?
If you're a private counselor and your business grew last year, what did your clients seem to appreciate most about you and your work? Did your students finish applications early? Did you make "C" students excited about their college prospects? Did you schedule your meetings at even more convenient hours? How could you find ways to do even more of those things this year?
If you’re a high school counselor and you had kids who would never have applied to college successfully without your help last year, how could you get to those kids even earlier this year? How much more could you do with them?
If you’re a college and two of your admissions reps increased application numbers from students in geographic areas where you don’t normally get a lot of interest, how could you give those reps a chance to do more of their best work? What could they teach the rest of the team about finding the right applicants for your college?
If you run a school and your enrollment of new freshmen increased last year, what did you do differently? How could you do even more of it this year?
Instead of just trying to fix flaws, you might have more success if you amplify what already worked.
Have fun and be safe tonight. Thanks for reading, and Happy New Year!