new year – Career Life Institute

Committing To Your Business Success

Looking at yourself and your business is part of the New Year process. An honest assessment each year is essential—looking at what worked and was profitable and what didn't work, and getting clear about where you want to take your business during the next year.

Making a conscious commitment of time and energy to your business will determine your success in the new year. And having an updated goal plan for your business as well as a personal goal plan for yourself will enable you to focus your time and energy, allowing you to take action and to maximize all your resources.

Get "Savvy" with Technology

Acquire or upgrade whatever computer equipment and software you need to do your business more efficiently. Get e-mail and explore the Internet.

Improve Your Skills

Take a look at what strengths you have and what areas you are weak in, and take specific classes and workshops that will improve your skills and enhance your business.

Stay Focused on Your Business

Figure out what your core business is—your services and/or products—and put most of your time and energy on this.

Tap into All Your Resources

Seek out help when you need it. Look to all your community resources (SBDC, RREDC, AEDC, WEI, BC, etc.) and use outside consultants when appropriate.

Streamline Your Office

Eliminate the Clutter. Clean out old files and get better organized. Look into a 'contact database' that might help you with efficiency and follow-up.

Give More Attention to Current Customers

Give better service to your existing customers with timely follow-up contacts and offering services and products they may need.

Do More of What Worked Well

Do more of the marketing that brought you tangible business and positive exposure. Provide the services and products that got a great response.

Expect to Do Well

Set yourself up to succeed by having realistic, achievable goals that challenge and excite you, and expect to do well with your business. What you expect is usually what you get!

Daily Planning

This time of year I feel a stronger urge to hibernate than any other, a desire to be still and enjoy these precious days when the sun arcs across the southern sky and fills my kitchen. I'm drawn to sit there, like a cat, or to work quietly in my journal.

But the days in which I work-for clients, employers, friends, myself–I revert to a time management tool I learned in a goal setting class many years ago, daily planning. Since learning it (and even teaching it in time management classes for a couple of years), I've found it to be the simplest "trick" for getting tasks prioritized and accomplished.

Start by gathering your calendars and "to-do" lists.
On your calendar pages for the next week, write down all the things you are already scheduled to do in the times they're scheduled-business appointment, dentist appointments, and driving the carpool. Don't forget preparation time for business appointments.
Next, block out time each day (preferably in the morning) that you would like to have a ten-minute daily planning session with yourself in which you'll do this exercise. Make sure it's at a time that you can work uninterrupted. Write it in the appropriate time on your calendar. Then commit yourself to keeping this appointment!
Now look at the rest of the list and think about your schedule for the next few days. Write tasks on the daily calendar only when you think you can realistically accomplish them. For instance, if you have several errands to run, write them together on the day when you anticipate having time for them.
If you have a big project to get ready for next week, include a small block of time each day to accomplish part of it.
Can any of your tasks be delegated to someone else?
Make sure each day contains some personal as well as professional tasks-time with your children, spouse, friends, yourself. Adding personal "appointment" it a good way to balance your calendar and your life. Be sure to put the family appointment on your calendar–kids'' plays, spouse's business dinners, movies.
Use your daily planner as a tickler file-when someone's birthday is coming up, write a note the week before to buy a birthday card.
Try to keep from moving unfinished tasks forward everyday. Instead, during your daily planning session, thoughtfully consider when you can really accomplish something. If you find you're moving a task forward every day, write the task on a post-it or on a bigger goals list-this may not be the season you really want to accomplish it!

This is the bare-bones list, and if you just do this daily planning exercise at the same time everyday, you'll be amazed at the "extra" time you seem to create for yourself.

Completing the Year

As we move into each new year, it's smart to recognize who, what and where we've been. In our personal lives, as well as our careers, taking time to recognize and appreciate our personal foundation lets us continue to create goals in alignment with our vision for the future.

Here are some great questions you can use to:

remind you of what you've accomplished
recognize things that you have completed
create completion on things yet undone
recognize what you'd rather not 'do' anymore!
re-evaluate the vision of what you desire/want

We encourage you to play big here, jump in and have fun doing this…get some real answers and enjoy the process along the way.

Ready to play?

____________Completing This Year______________

Think about what you created this year. Which have given you satisfaction and joy? Which ones didn't turn out the way you wanted? Which would you like to change?
Now think about what have you completed (accomplished) this year. As you identify what you've completed, ask yourself what did you learn as a result? And how has that increased or solidified your foundation?
Is there anything that is incomplete for which you would like completion? What will it take to be complete, finished, over?
Now ask yourself, what are you through learning – that you don't ever have to learn again? And how has that added to your foundational strength?

__________Moving into the New Year___________
Now, think about who and where you are today. What do you want to create in the next year? What do you want to accomplish? What do you want to start?
What do you want to complete (from 1999 – or earlier!!) and what are you finally ready to let go of once and for all?
And finally, as you think about the next year, who do you need to become in order to have your life be exactly the way you want?

The most important step to creating the life you love is clarity – about who you are and what you want. Who you become creates the environment for having what you want. And remember, this as a work in progress, rather than a finished piece (just like life!!).

You can start whenever you'd like.Personally, I like to take stock each year on my birthday, rather than on December 31. It is the beginning of my Personal New Year. Many businesses use April 1 or July 1 as the beginning of their new year.

What matters is that you take stock and chose the path that takes you where you want to go.

Thanks to Business and Personal Coach, Alison Hendren (www.transitioning.com) for suggesting this process and providing some foundational questions that led to this article.

Clearing Out Your Mental Attic

While many people have been busy creating their New Years resolutions, this year I find myself doing exactly the opposite. For the past few months I have been clearing out the physical stuff and clutter I've accumulated in my life and my home. I've taken books to the used bookstore, clothing and bedding to the local shelter, given my daughter all those things I've saved for her over the years, and thrown out things I just never got around to fixing or repairing.

Along the way, something interesting happened. As I began to get more room in my own life, I discovered a freshness to my thinking. And as I thought about this more, I began to wonder how much mental clutter I was carrying around.

Just as carrying around a backpack full of books takes a certain amount of energy, the same is true when we carry around old thoughts, beliefs, and ideas. Scientists have found that ideas have a kind of weight or pressure. And all thoughts require energy to maintain.

We are most creative, loving and responsive when we're in the moment. If we're thinking about what we should have said, what we haven't finished, or worrying about what we're supposed to do tomorrow, it's almost impossible to be available for what's happening in our lives right now. When we're worrying or upset about something that happened at work, we're too distracted to really be with our family or friends.

What was that dream or idea you had when you were in high school or college that you now realize you're never going to accomplish? How about that promise you've been making for the last five years that you never get around to starting? Or that great idea you started working on a few years ago that got stuck so you put it away "temporarily"? Or that belief you adopted as you looked at the world from 5 or 12 or 17 year-old eyes? Every one of these requires attention on some level of consciousness. And that means energy that's being taken away from the present. Maybe it's time to give ourselves a break and let go of some of those old ideas that we've been dragging around.

When I was a child I wanted to be a school teacher. Due to circumstances, I was unable to complete college, even though I kept at it for several years. At some point I realized I was probably not going to finish college, and therefore, would probably never be a school teacher, so I reluctantly decided to let that dream go. Imagine my surprise a couple of years later when I realized I had actually fulfilled my original intent: I had become a trainer for the State of California, and although I wasn't teaching children, I was actually getting paid a lot more to teach adults. Letting go of the original dream allowed me to follow the opportunities present in my life, and my love of sharing ideas resurfaced in a different (and much more satisfying) way.

Now I've never been one to write New Year's resolutions. I think it's valuable to review periodically where I am and what I'm up to, but for me that's an ongoing process. I especially like to do this around my birthday, when my personal "New Year" starts.

So this year, instead of adding more obligations to my life, I decided to purposely examine and let go of the "unfinished projects" and outdated beliefs cluttering up my mental attic. Just like a too-small sweater, some I can simply look at and know they no longer fit (like I'm never going to be a professional dancer). Some I need to examine a little more closely to see if they fit my current lifestyle, direction, needs and wants. And the ones in the trunk by the window? Who knows, they could be full of moth holes, or end up being the perfect compliment to what I'm doing right now. But first I need to examine them to find out.

What about the ones that we feel obligated to hold on to? Well, dust them off and take a good look. If they still "fit", then bring them back out into the light of day and use them. If they don't, and you're uncomfortable simply tossing them, ask yourself, what do I need to change about them, or what do they need in order to be complete? Even a commitment you made can be renegotiated, so ask yourself honestly what's the cost to continue dragging around something that's lost its usefulness? If it's a weight and an obligation, take care of it and free up that energy!!

The quickest way to energize yourself is by first giving away or releasing the old ideas that no longer serve you. This creates the room for you to expore new ideas and opportunities through classes, books, and people. Ask yourself if the thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and ideas you are carrying around energize you or feel like a burden. If they're a burden, get rid of them!! Don't even worry about changing them – toss them out and you'll have room for ones that support you better.

Remember, as one door closes, another opens. And in our busy lives, even the busiest of us only has room for a certain number of open doors at any one time.