Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail (by John Kotter) was the most reprinted article at HBR. Dr. Kotter wrote it after he had watched more 100 companies attempt turnaround efforts. The vast majority of them fail. Miserably.

They failed for one of eight reasons; BUT HALF OF THE FAILURE SHARED THE SAME FATAL MISTAKE. Those companies had not created a strong enough sense of urgency.

What did the successful companies do right? It’s all in the article, and it’s my Merry Christmas present to you ($8.95 value). Simply leave a reply below or drop me an email within the next week, and the article is yours.

Let’s apply that same principle to our personal leadership. How do we create enough motivation to change for the better? How do we deal with the tricky character issues that keep us from accomplishing our goals?

Changing for the better is hard. As my former boss, John Maxwell, says, “Everything good that we want in our lives is slightly uphill from where we are now. We all have uphill aspirations, but we have downhill habits.”

Ouch! I’ve lived too many years of my life stuck at the bottom of the hill. But the last two years have been different, and I couldn’t be more thankful. (See the P.S. below if you’d like to see the tool that helped me so much.)

Here are 4 Tips for Creating Personal Urgency.

1. Write down at least three positive benefits of the change you seek.
2. Note three reasons you’d hate to stay stuck in your current pattern.
3. What is the primary reason that you have not changed yet?
4. How will you overcome that reason (and who will you enlist to help)?

THE BOTTOM LINE: You can be better, don’t lose hope; make 2017 your best year ever. Start small, but start today.

P.S. I discovered a program that took about 5 hours to implement (an hour per day for five days), that provided the desire, foresight, and motivation to change. It’s called 5 Days to Your Best Year Ever. This year I asked for the privilege of helping Michael Hyatt get the word out about his program. It’s available until Thursday at midnight. Check out his free webinar that will help incredibly whether you use the program or not! I have already purchased it again this year—it’s awesome.