It's a new year!
The books on last year are closed. Whether 2017 was a great year or one with unfulfilled potential, we all start today from the same starting position. How can you set the stage for a great 2018? Here are four tips I've learned over the years to help you get out of the blocks fast.
1. FOCUS
The majority of us engaged in an age-old right of passage by developing our annual business plan for 2018. If you haven't already created your plan for this year you can stop reading now. If your business plan is already done, great, you got yourself to the starting line and in the set position. But what do you do when the starter's pistol goes off? That's where Focus comes in.
Having an annual plan is fantastic. It's a necessity to give you direction for the year. But, it's time frame is far too long to give any focus. It's like trying to take a driving trip and only looking at your GPS screen, you know where you need to end up but by not focusing on the road right in front of you it is likely you will run into a ditch (or several of them) along the way. You need to focus on the visible horizon. In business that horizon is often the next 30 days. So, take your 2018 business plan and determine what you can do - or need to do - to get a quick start on your year's goals. At the end of the first month, repeat for the next 30 days..and so on, and so on...
2. CONTROL
Breaking your annual plan into 30 day chunks seems easy, doesn't it? It is simple in some ways, however, determining exactly WHAT to focus on can be a little more difficult. For me, the key there is Control. What are the things that YOU can control that will help you move forward in the next 30 days? In reality there are only a few things that each of us has control over - our actions, our attitude, our appearance, and our health. We can't control the investment markets, government policy, or other people's thoughts, words, or behaviors. Yet it's these uncontrollable factors that often take up a meaningful chunk of many people's time and thoughts. Identifying only things that you can control within your 30-day plan will ensure that you are maximizing your effort in getting a great start to your year. Continuing to focus on these "controllable" items in each successive 30-day plan throughout the year will set you up for record-breaking results.
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3. BE ACCOUNTABLE
You've created a 30-day plan, you've focused on only things you can control, but there's one more way to booster charge your start. Make sure that every item you will be focusing on in that plan is specific and measurable. Saying, "I'm going to contact clients for referrals," sounds good, right? I mean, that's a goal we all have and focusing on it in the first 30 days makes perfect sense. Yet with a slight rewording - "I have a goal of getting 3 new referrals from existing clients" - supercharges your goal, you know exactly how many referrals you are striving to achieve. Having specific and measurable goals allows you to be accountable to yourself, your team, and your organization and accountability is possibly the most under-appreciated yet critical components to generating consistent business growth.
4. CELEBRATE
You don't hear this success tip often enough. Don't just check your achievements off the list, truly Celebrate them! Acknowledgement of the positive emotional impacts of successes is extremely powerful. It gives you a little extra boost to take on your next goal and creates a craving for that next success. Don't wait until the end of the year to celebrate, generating mini-celebrations in the initial 30 days and throughout the year will lead to a giant blowout party at year's end!
We're all at the starting line for 2018 - Ready . Our feet are in the blocks and we know where the finish line is (our business plan) - Set . The starter is raising his pistol, apply these four tips to get out of the blocks as fast as possible - Go!