We’ve all been there. We make a New Year’s Resolution. And the first time, our resolution is challenged, we give up on it.

Moments of truth are these events that trigger challenges to meeting our goals. We know some things about these moments of truth:

• They are often predictable
• They can be won with a plan developed in advance
• Failing to win one moment of truth shouldn’t lead to an abandonment of your goal.

Here’s a strategy for winning the moment of truth:

1. Make a list of all the things that you can imagine that might create a moment of truth.
2. For each of the items listed in Step 1, write out what you will do should the situation arise.
3. Should the moment of truth arise, document what you did to confront the challenge you faced and what you learned from the experience. This idea is to always do better in confronting these.
4. Don’t let a setback caused by a lost moment of truth change your goal. If necessary, you might want to adjust your goal.

You can think about winning the moment of truth in the same way very talented golfers develop their skill. They hope every drive is perfect, but they also practice how to get out of trouble if the drive wasn’t what they wanted.