It’s early January. Time for a quick meaningful resolution to kick off the new year. Do you dare yourself to name it, and then – possibly even more challenging – to keep to it? So here’s a quick tip for you to be absorbed along with all that festive cheer.

“Knowing your limitations” was a very successful blog post in 2016.Absolutely!

However, I do not believe that is the best starting place for CEOs and senior managers. What I look for as a business coach and mentor is to show people how they can tackle ‘territories’ or issues that had previously seemed totally out of reach.

Let me give you two examples, one personal and one practical. First, I have just reached a sporting landmark, which all my life I had considered available only to the few and the strong. As I explained to somebody this morning, it was not that I considered it impossible. I just never conserved the matter per se, that is until I began to work out a strategy, appreciating how setbacks along the way could be turned into triumphs.

Similarly, many a sales person writes off whole groups of potential clientele, as they are seen as no-go territories. It’s just that “feeling” inside you that instructs you to behave negatively. So many execs never come around to testing the theory. And thus revenues are lost, because you have glibly accepted a perceived weakness.

A new year is a convenient marker to rethink – to approach commercial (and private matters) with an different perspective. And one key question to ask is if you are really unable to go for that important client, to resolve that annoying staffing conflict or to tackle the troublesome bottleneck in production? Are you that weak or is it that you have yet to travel that extra and painful mile – yes, a deliberate sporting metaphor – to find the answer.

The choice is yours, as are the potential rewards and benefits.