Here we are taking 2020 down as this Friday starts 2021, a New Year. Let me start by wishing you all an early Happy New Year. I know a lot of you that are reading this today are happy that we’re turning the year’s clock over. However, here’s something to ponder as you’re heading into the new year.
It’s no secret that 2020 was a challenging year for all of us, however, many of us had the ability to pivot and still experienced some pretty successful years. Those of you that experienced great years, congratulations to you.
This turn of the year is also a time that professional as well as college football are having their playoffs of where every team wants to be crowned the champion. They want to be the best. With this in mind, what I challenge in you is to reflect on how you can be your best in 2021. As you venture into the new year and if you desire to compete to be a champion in business, as an entrepreneur, and/or a leader, gauge yourself against your best you.
Olympic champions want to be the best. They are always looking to tweak their time to best their best. Every day, every practice, every routine they work on getting just a little bit better, as when they finally get to the Olympics, they just might be the best.
Here’s something to look at as you’re going through this year getting clear on what you want to accomplish in 2021, hopefully you’re planning for 2021 if you’ve not have done so already. I encourage you to invest the time to look at everything you’ve accomplished in your business in the past, your best numbers, your best week, your best month, your best margins, your best team effort, whatever it may be in your business. You can also measure other best like how many rings before the phone is answered. We can measure delivery times, customer satisfaction, number of transactions, average sale, new client conversions. We can measure employee retention and engagement.
Share these statistics with your team. Challenge your team to go back and look at their best performances, their best sales records, their best months, have them document them as their internal competition that they can challenge themself against in 2021.
What are some of your personal best that you can measure? Your best weight? Your best physical shape? How many books did you read last year? These are all bests that can be tracked, measured and conquered in 2021. We can also measure our relationships simply by the response we get from those we are closest to.
As you document all your personal and professional bests. You can now use this as your barometer for 2021. Jot them all down and have those be your goals for you to beat. When you beat them, that becomes your new best, that becomes your new watermark of excellence that you want to beat moving forward.
When we really truly understand that our only true competition is us, our team and our organization at our extreme best, only then will we be able to focus more on what really matters and where we need to direct our attention.
Let’s face it 2020, there was a lot of things we couldn’t control. However, there’s one thing we can always control, how we think and how we show up. Ask yourself, no matter what happens in 2021, whatever the environment deals us, how are you going to show up and how are you going to work on being the best version of yourself? The best way to achieving this goal is to simply document all your bests, challenge yourself, and beat them. That is how you become a champion. I wish you Happy New Year. Let 2021 be your best year yet.
COACH MICHAEL DILL is an Award-Winning, Certified, Business Coach, Speaker, and Trainer. He brings more than 40 years of business and entrepreneurial experience in his leadership, team training, and mentoring practice. Michael’s passion is to both encourage and challenge business owners and entrepreneurs to become their best selves both personally and professionally to obtain all they want in their business and life. Businesscoachmichaeldill.com