There are now only 71 more sleeps until Christmas.
Don’t groan especially if you don’t see this article until Monday 17 October because then they’ll be just 68 sleeps!
As much as I love Christmas I prefer the New Year celebrations. It’s a way of reviewing the 12 months just gone and looking forward to the New Year ahead.
In business terms now is the perfect time to start preparing for New Year. Setting out your goals and objectives, marketing plans, financial strategies and budgets.
It pays to plan and that saying was brought back home to me recently when I bumped into an old friend, Dom, from my RAF days.
Dom was always late, often in minor trouble and generally a nice bloke but with little drive and even less ambition. No one expected him to do much with his life to be honest.
Expecting an older, heavier and greyer version of his younger self I was really surprised to see the now dynamic Dom of 2016.
He was still easily likeable but was more confident, assured and drove a brand spanking new Mercedes.
Over a couple of Gin and Tonics he explained to me how he had gone from being last onto the parade square to owning a hugely successful property development company which spans North West England.
He said: “I was 28 years old and going nowhere and one day I just realised it was because I had no idea of which direction I was headed. I went on a course and the guy running it spoke about the importance of planning and setting measurable goals which you write down.
“It struck a chord with me and ever since then I made goal setting and planning ahead a key part of what I do in my personal and business life. It’s played a massive part in me achieving things. There’s a white board in my office and a journal at my home with all the goals written down. It really works when you do it.”
We talked for at least an hour but below is a summary of Dom’s key tips for planning for success:
Create a Vision
The first step to creating a goal is to figure out what you want. If you don’t know what you want, you don’t know what you need to achieve to get there. Don’t be afraid to think big. Take fifteen minutes and write it all down.
Make it Measurable
Take your vision and turn it into a written list of concrete goals. Choose an achievable time frame to accomplish your goals, as well as measurable details, so you know exactly when you’ve achieved them.
Set Benchmarks
Most of our goals are a build-up of small achievements, sometimes even years of many small successes. Break your goals into small actionable steps and assign realistic time frames to each.
Celebrate Your Success
An important part of goal-setting is celebrating your successes. How will you reward yourself for hitting your benchmarks along the way? How will you celebrate once you’ve reached your goal?
Dom’s final message was when you work hard make sure you treat yourself.
So with that in mind I’ll have to start putting my Christmas list together and planning my New Year celebrations.
But I’ve also began sitting down with my team and planning how we are going to make 2017 our company’s best ever.
Thanks for reading,
Nik
PS: If you haven’t got your marketing plans for your business in 2017 set out yet give me a call and one of our team can help you get the most from your advertising budget.
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