Happy New Year! Yes, everyone 2016 is now upon us! It’s back to work time! Now the big question arises; how are you going to make this year, 2016 “Your Best Year Yet!”
As business owners, we all may have several goals that I’m sure we wish to accomplish, whether it with our company or us personally. Do we want to retire at a certain age? Perhaps we want our company to represent a specific monetary value. Or maybe our goal is to generate a certain amount of revenues or more importantly a certain amount of profits this year. It could be to continue our journey to be the best in our industry, to stand out, to be unique. We can make the decision to make 2016 “Our Best Year Yet” for us, our team, our customers and our business. Here are a few pointers to keep us on track.
First, we must recap and take inventory of our prior year, our experiences that made us grow, our accomplishments and our short falls (we may want to carry over to this year). In addition it’s also important to write down everything that we are grateful for, everything big and small. Living in the Attitude of Gratitude is always a great place to be.
Second, let’s get clear on exactly what you want to create in 2016. Take the time to define your goals and write them down both personally and for your business. Make sure that they are SMART Goals; Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results Oriented and Time Lined. It may be helpful to add that a study done at the Dominican University in California revealed that writing down your goals contributed to a 42% increase in goal achievement. Hmm, not a bad reason to write our goals down, don’t you think?
Next define your goal with specific end results. Saying “I want to earn more money” is a dream. Instead, assign a value to your goal. “I want to earn an extra $50,000 this year.” This is much more concrete and specific. Next have a plan with steps to reach that end goal. If your goal is to earn that extra $50,000, what do you need to do each month, week and day differently this year to reach that goal?
Another strategy to help you make 2016 “Your Best Year Yet” is to create systems for your business. Time is our most valuable asset and implementing better systems will help us create more efficiency in our business which will soon create more time for us to do what we do best.
Lastly, now knowing that writing down your goals can contribute to a 42% increase in goal achievement, understand that more importantly in adding an accountability partner like a coach can increase goal achievement by 78%. Engaging the help of a business coach can help you make 2016 “Your Best Year Yet” for your business. A business coach will help you to uncover areas that need improvement and keep you on course when you get side tracked. He or she will help you objectively observe and analyze the situation without getting blinded by emotions and tell you what you need to do to make tweaks and improvements in your tactics.
Although we may have successful businesses already, anyone of us can improve and create an even better version of ourselves with a professional unbiased accountability partner.
Understand that an Olympic athlete hires a coach to help them win the gold and not to come in third. This makes us realize that it just may be time to get that extra push to make 2016 “Our Best Year Yet!