I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and, if possible, spent it with your loved ones.
It’s now time to start thinking about next year – if you
haven’t already – so you will be ready to jump straight back in on January 4th, knowing exactly what needs to be done.
Here a few simple things you can do to plan ahead:
- Put important dates into your diary now - events you need/want to attend including your holidays. If you don't plan your holiday's in they
could easily get pushed aside for various reasons (time, cost, project dates, etc.), but if they're in your diary as definite events, your subconscious will work towards them and you will plan round them.
- Set the goals you want to achieve during 2016 and write them into your planner/diary. Rather than having one big goal you want to achieve by the end of the year, break it into smaller sub-goals that you will
achieve every quarter or even monthly, so that you can see your progress more easily and feel like you're regularly achieving success. This will help to keep driving you forward.
- Plan your self-development. What courses do you want to attend? What books do you want to read? At least have them listed so you can keep your eyes peeled for appropriate opportunities, or better still, find the courses and get them
booked.
- Plan time into your diary each day (ideally but definitely each week) when you can work ON your business and do whatever needs to be done to move your business forward towards achieving your goals (in point 2). If you don't schedule specific time your days will disappear and by the end of the month you won't be any nearer to the goal.
If you didn't have time to do this planning before Christmas make sure you find a few hours over the next few days to plan for next year. It's not really work and will definitely be time well spent in terms of the focus you will gain for 2016.
To your success
Noel Guilford
Noel Guilford is the principal of Guilford Accounting a small business accountancy practice specialising in advising owner-managed businesses on current accounting, finance, and tax matters. You can reach him via email at noel@guilfordaccounting.co.uk or by phone at 01244 660866. He is the author of the best selling book 'Figure it out - an entrepreneurs guide to understanding your business numbers' which you can obtain by visiting http://guilfordaccounting.co.uk/figureit out.