It was hard to find much to cheer about in 2009. People and institutions seemed to let us down on a regular basis. Rather than place blame, let’s figure out what we can do to make 2010 a better year than the one we just left.

Get better. Get better at making promises, keeping promises and delivering more than you promise.

Get real. Find facts and face them. Face facts and deal with them. Deal with facts and take action on them.

Get moving. If you can’t run, walk. Put one foot in front of the other. And if that’s more speed than you can handle, take baby steps, just keep moving.

Listen more: Listen to what you don’t want to hear. Listen to what you need to hear. Listen to clarify, to understand, to fill the gap between what you see and what others see differently than you.

Agree more. Find reasons to agree, occasions when you share common ground, and times when there’s more that connects than separates you from one another.

Trust more. Trust facts. Trust others. Trust your gut. Trust more than you doubt, more than you dare, and more than you care to admit.

Open up more: Wherever you are, be there. Let people see who you are, know what you want, acknowledge how you feel and why you care as much as you do.

Clarify. Say what you mean. Say what you want. Say why it’s important to you.

Deliver. If you say it, do it. If you do it, do it right. If you do it right, do it on time. If you do it on time, do it with grace.

Confront. Go there. Be there. Address the issue that stands between where you are and where you could be. Find a way to accommodate what you want with what someone else needs.

Resolve. Get it done. Get it finished. Get it out of the way to make room for what’s next.

Work smart. Put most of your time where you get most of the benefit. Put most of your effort where you put most of your time.

Work hard. Work on what is worthwhile. Work on what you value. Work on what creates value for others.

Turn your talent into strengths. Turn what you do most easily into what you can consistently do well. Turn what is a gift into a treasure. Shape what you take for granted into what defines you.

Work more in your strengths: Do more with what you do best. Learn more about what you enjoy most. Give more of what is easiest for you to give.

Be credible: Create more substance than style, more actions than words, more outcome than expectation.

Be relevant: Stay in the conversation. Stay in the game. Learn more today than you knew yesterday. Advance your thinking by expanding your perspective.