Happy New Year!

The first week of the year has already passed. The Christmas and New Year festivities are fast becoming a distant memory. But, what of the New Year Resolutions? Did you make any? And, if so, how is your resolve in keeping them so far?

Have you already given up or are you still hanging on in there? Perhaps you’ve tried before, and you found yourself failing almost before you had even started.
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How best can we keep to the resolutions we make on that strike of midnight that sees in the New Year? What about new disciplines for our business? How can we keep to the resolutions we make for our business to be more efficient, more streamlined and more profitable? Here are a few thoughts and ideas:

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How realistic are our resolutions?

The chances of us keeping to resolutions that are unrealistic are slim. We want to make a change, make a situation for ourselves better. However, setting a goal that is unrealistic, even unachievable will likely result in failure, disappointment and remind us of why we avoid making resolutions in the first place.

Perhaps a resolution to achieve an ultimate goal can be helped by it being broken down in to manageable stages; smaller achievements that can be checked off as points of success along the way.

Document your progress

Setting down your resolution in writing helps to make your plan seem more real. It also helps with the process of developing manageable stages. Headings and subheadings with projections on timescales, resources required, and anticipated completion dates help too with managing your goal. This also helps with documenting the journey to reaching your goal and to keeping your resolution. Crossing off the manageable stages as you go can be particularly satisfying.

Stay focused

Depending upon the size and complexity of your goal the keeping of your New Year resolution may seem overwhelming and you may therefore be subject to distraction and a lack of focus. This will be when the groundwork you did in setting a realistic goal, breaking it down in to manageable stages and documenting achievements along the way will really pay off. There is no doubt, however, that allowing yourself to be distracted will ultimately compromise on your ability to reach and accomplish your goal and to keep your resolution. Let’s use all our planning and documenting to stay focused.
 
Believe!

You may remember that mysterious voice in the cornfield: “If you build it, he will come.”    Though from the fictional movie, ‘Field of Dreams’ the point is made that accomplishment requires belief – regardless of whether or not others around you share in your belief.

Referring to what you set down in writing at the start will enable you to recapture how you felt when you made your resolution and how important it was to you at the time. This will help to reinforce your belief. Believe!

Rome wasn’t built in a day!

​Your resolution will be important to you. At least, it was when you made it! The importance of your resolution means it will be worth working for. But, we all know that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Your accomplishment won’t be an overnight result. It will be a success over time. Having set a realistic goal at the outset it’s important to also set a realistic timescale.