In Applause of Mark Zuckerberg's New Year's Resolution

I am writing in applause of Mark Zuckerberg's New Year's resolution. Well, specifically, I applaud how Mr. Zuckerberg framed his New Year's resolution: "My challenge for 2015 is to read a new book every other week -- with an emphasis on learning about different cultures, beliefs, histories and technologies."

I'm not applauding the value of reading books, though I have found reading books immensely valuable. I'm not applauding the public broadcast of his resolution, possibly as a way to motivate himself to stick to his plan, though that's admirable. I am applauding the words he used, the structure of the resolution itself.

Specifically, I love the fact that he defined his areas of emphasis, "learning about different cultures, beliefs, histories and technologies." I can't count the number of times I've seen resolutions like "read more books", or even "read more interesting books" or "learn new things through reading books". Mark Zuckerberg's resolution is clearly different.

Calling out the specific areas of emphasis is an indicator of executive thinking. Mr. Zuckerberg is defining what is in the scope of his effort and what is out of scope. He spent energy thinking about which areas of emphasis to select. It would have been much simpler to leave his resolution open-ended, for two reasons: (1) it would have saved him the up-front time thinking about which areas of emphasis were best and (2) it would have allowed him more liberty in book selection later.

But Mr. Zuckerberg likely recognized he would get more value from this exercise if he put in the extra effort now to scope out his resolution. He ensured he would learn about things that mattered deeply to him, rather than whatever whim he had at the moment of book selection. He narrowed the universe of available books, which would likely streamline his selection process later.

Again, the structure of this resolution is an indicator of executive thinking. A little added effort now yields much more value and predictability down the road. Because most people are wired to take the path of least resistance in almost any endeavor, this little added up-front effort is often skipped right over. But even with something as seemingly trivial as a New Year's resolution, Mr. Zuckerberg makes this effort.

On a much smaller scale, I like that his resolution is specific, both with the areas of emphasis and that he calls out "new" books (presumably meaning he's ruling out re-reading old books). I also like that his resolution is measurable, with the specification of reading one book every other week. It's just a solid resolution.

My lesson here is that successful people are successful not because they find some tricks that work in the office, or they use some jargon or tool sets that impress their colleagues, or they were first on a bus that just happened to get popular. Successful people think and act in ways that maximize their chance of success and minimize their chance of failure. Sometimes it's something as simple as taking a little time up front to explicitly define what is most important, then enjoying the confidence that ensuing efforts are taking you exactly where you want to go.