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Once you know what your life is all about, plan where you want to spend your time over the next year in order to reflect your full potential. Come up with an annual focus which can serve as the basis for all your daily plans. For you, the next year will be well spent if you:

What''s your real sweet spot for success and happiness? It will be at the intersection of your strengths, weaknesses, differences and passions. If you can zero in on activities which lie at or near that intersection, your year will be productive and enjoyable because that''s where your power lies.

To be specific:

No. 1 Over the coming year, you should play a game which aligns with your strengths

You should aspire to play the game you know you can win, even if that involves reinventing yourself to position yourself better. Entrepreneurs start their own companies so they can build companies which play to their unique strengths. They change the rules of the game in their favor. A large consulting firm may spend tens of thousands of dollars pitching a glossy proposal to a client but if you sit down with the project manager and design the proposal to her exact criteria, you can beat the bigger firm every time-at a fraction of the cost. That''s inventing a game you can win.

No. 2 Over the coming year, put yourself into a position where your weaknesses are an asset

Highly productive people embrace their weaknesses and you should do the same. It doesn''t matter what you''re weak at. You can be successful in spite of your quirks. All you''ve got to do is find a place where those weaknesses become the source of your power. It can be done because successful people all around you are doing that all the time. Your quirks will become the secret to your power if you position yourself advantageously.

No. 3 Over the coming year, forget about trying to blend in-assert your differences

Today, every industry you can name is highly competitive.

Standing out and being different is the only way to win. If you try and do what everyone else is already doing, all you''ve really done is increase the pool of competition-and you become dispensable because there''s many others who can take your place. Instead of trying to fit in, stand out. Break the mold by being true to yourself and you''ll become indispensable.

Key Thoughts"Face it: you''re different. And the sooner you appreciate it and assert it, the more successful you''ll be. The same goes for your business."

—Peter Bregman

No. 4 Over the coming year aspire to work on projects you feel genuinely passionate about

Passion is hard to define because it''s so individualistic. The simple fact is if you do something you''re passionate about, you are more likely to succeed. Some guidelines in this area:

One good indicator of passion is to ask: "What do I do in my spare time?" The answer to that question will be a reasonable pointer to your passions. Create a career where you do what you already do on your days off and you''ll have a huge incentive to work hard and do well. In fact, it won''t feel like work at all. It will feel like you''re playing all day every day.

Another good indicator of passion is persistence. The only way to become a great marketer, for example, is to spend years being a lousy marketer and learning from your mistakes. Unless you''re prepared to hang in there while you''re earning your stripes, you won''t succeed. Look for something you''re prepared to persist with because it''s important to you.

Throw yourself into something you adore or that you do with people you really like. Spending your life in a career that excites you will be invigorating. When you do work which you enjoy so much it feels effortless, you position yourself to excel.

At some point in your life, you''re going to come face-to-face with the fact your life is for a limited time only. Like the old cliche states, the only certainties in life are death and taxes.

With this in mind, you should plan towards doing something in the coming year which will have meaning to you. Do something that matters and that resonates with your personal values. This is also an integral part of passion.

Whatever you''re passionate about, you will feel an intense desire to keep working at even in the face of initial failure.

Look for things which challenge you and which you can''t do the first time around but must keep working at. Passionate people always have a growth mindset because the two go hand-in-hand. If you''re passionate about something, you''ll be prepared to set high goals where you have a 50 to 70percent chance of failure and then work hard to move the odds in your favor. You''ll figure out what you need to do differently next time around. Learning is a pretty good indicator of passion.

If you''re passionate about something, you will get into action even in the face of an uncertain future. You won''t feel paralyzed by that uncertainty-it will add impetus and meaning to your journey. You will feel motivated to work on something because it''s meaningful, challenging and involves working with people you like and respect.

Imagine what it would be like to spend the coming year working only on projects you feel passionate about. You''d look forward to going to work every day. It''s not an impossible dream-you can and should make it happen in your life.

The world is chock full of interesting things you could do in the next year-interesting people to work with, enjoyable activities, worthwhile causes and compelling opportunities. If you try and do it all, however, all you''ll end up with is you''ll become frantic, depleted and overwhelmed. The secret to thriving in life is actually to be strategic and to choose just a few important things to focus on in the coming year.

More specifically, if you can focus on five things that matter-perhaps three work related and two personal-you''ll be doing well. A year is the right-sized chunk for a long-term goal because it''s not too long and it''s not too short. We''re used to thinking in terms of a yearly cycle for lots of things already so this works in with the way you work already.

To make your five areas of focus come to life, what you then do is build your daily to-do list around those five areas. Make a personal commitment you will spend 95 percent of your time and energies on things that are aligned with your five areas of focus.

The other 5 percent of your time is for all the other miscellaneous stuff you have to do.

Remember, these are ve areas of focus rather than goals.

You''ve made the tough but intentional decision this is where you want to spend your most valuable asset-your time. Deciding on your five will be hard because there are so many possibilities.

Just make sure your set of five areas of focus leverage your strengths, embrace your weaknesses, assert your differences, and reflect your personal passions.