Better Mondays begin on Sunday. You don’t need a perfect plan. But you do need to start with clarity about where you’re headed. Set the tone. Sharpen the focus. Most of the week’s drama is just poor planning in disguise.

Most New Year's Resolutions only last the first three weeks of January, but that doesn't have to be you. I'm thinking about how to turn dreams into reality this year. ow.ly/fvSA50MungV

Stories can help you persuade people but you don't need a library of ‘war stories’ to illustrate your point. Asking them to imagine what the future would be like or describing what you think a course of action would entail can be just as effective. ow.ly/CJ2k50M7cTi

Remember: often what we ask people to do in a crisis, or in any high-stakes situation are things they don't want to do. No one wants to go onto prime-time TV and apologize. Or fire their COO. So how do we get them to do the hard things? ow.ly/aKOi50M7cM4

Sometimes, you know your audience is going to need a lot of convincing. That’s when you need to bring your A-game and be your most persuasive. ow.ly/xrsy50M7cF6

To be most effective as advisors and leaders, we need to be inquisitive and curious, innovative and thoughtful, employ great questions, and be deliberate in our decision-making. But if we’re not persuasive, our great ideas will fall on deaf ears. ow.ly/vpHk50M736y

Three things that make a big difference to your persuasiveness are your delivery, the stories you tell and how you frame things. ow.ly/3ZUY50M7327

Complex challenges are difficult enough to solve but allowing biases, group think, and naval gazin to creep in will only make things harder. Ensure you are in the right frame of mind, and clear headed as you tackle your most pressing problems. ow.ly/prLg50LP8Wf

Seeing the sequence ‘circle, triangle, square’ a couple of times might help you identify a pattern to solve a problem. Unfortunately, complex problems aren’t so straightforward so don’t let your patterns lead you astray.

Complex problems require the right mindset and tools to solve because there aren’t any easy answers. Often, your role will be to determine the least bad option and make that work. ow.ly/uV4750LP8HO

Patterns are powerful tools and will form a major part of your toolkit as a strategic advisor and thinker. Just keep their limitations in mind and dedicate time to studying to build your pattern library. ow.ly/F01550LP8yB

Three techniques to help you cultivate a strategic mindset are daydreaming, reading the right books and asking great questions but also paying attention to your environment. A chaotic setting won’t allow you the mental space to think clearly ow.ly/4AGQ50LJaWg

A pre-requisite for strategic thinking is distraction-free time. Put aside some 'thinking time' to look at your issues from a strategic perspective. But you don't need hours of Zen-like meditation: even 30 minutes each day will give you enough time. ow.ly/a39450LJaVq

Protect yourself and the other decision-makers from distractions when you're trying to conduct strategic thinking. Create space between you and any distractions (and remember that a hangry decision-maker is a poor decision-maker) ow.ly/vFKP50LJaUB

A tactical frame of mind just isn’t going to cut it in some situations.

No matter what you’re doing, always keep the Central Question at the front of your mind. Keep asking “What is the key problem we are trying to solve?” to ensure you don’t lose sight of what’s important. ow.ly/Z9lV50LpHb9

The Five Why’s. The ‘R’ Question. The Central Question. These are my favorite great questions: what are yours?