New Year, Fresh Start

2016 is here and under way. While you can hit the proverbial "reset" button at any point in your life or during the year, this is typically the time of year most of us reflect on the past 12 months, and look forward to the next 12 and beyond. We plan, prepare, write out goals and on paper make our next 12 months the best we've had yet. And then life happens, we get distracted or other things come up, and we lose sight of what our plans were; lost until we look back at the end of the next year, only then to see we fell off the track half way through January. Here are a few tips to keep that from happening to you.

1. Start With Clarity - Be completely clear about what you want to achieve this year (and beyond). Vague ideas will only confuse you and you'll let yourself get pulled in a million different directions. Know what you want, clearly define it, and make a plan as to how you'll get there. Only then can you get focused and get to work.
2. Set Realistic Goals - What I'm not saying here is to set the bar low so you won't be disappointed. What I am saying is be realistic on what you can accomplish in a year. Absolutely you can make a ton of progress in a year. But you need to fully evaluate your current situation. What is your knowledge base and does it need to increase in certain areas? What are your available resources? What is your available time? What does your current job or business look like? If you currently work 60 hours a week making $40,000 for the year, you're probably not being realistic in setting a goal to be a millionaire by the end of the year. Your goals should stretch the limits of what you think is possible, but still be in that realm of what is likely, and more importantly what you think can be done. Remember, you're not motivated to work towards something if you don't actually think you'll achieve it. And as you achieve, the definition of what you think is possible will grow and expand as well, leading to bigger goals and possibilities.
3. Give Yourself Realistic Daily and Weekly Tasks - Again, the key is realistic. We all have way too many items on our "to do" list, so simply acknowledge that and know they won't all get done. The key is to prioritize the tasks that are necessary to your job or business (outsource or hire out the easier tasks if at all possible), as well as the highest impact tasks. The rest can wait until later. Log your thoughts and tasks in an organized way so they're not clogging up your brain while you're trying to focus on your current tasks. Don't overbook your schedule or just try to cram them all in on your calendar. Just because they're all on your calendar doesn't mean you'll have the time to get them all done, and you'll be stressed out all the time trying to do so. Be realistic about how long each task will take, and book enough time. If it doesn't fit for today, or for this week, it needs to wait, and you have to be ok with that.
4. Track Your Progress - Again, you're not going to be one of those who looks back in 12 months and wonders what happened. The way to avoid that is to continually be tracking your progress towards your goals. I review my goals every morning before I start my day. As I hit certain milestones or achieve certain tasks, I log it and it's impact on my larger goal. I personally use Goals On Track to track my progress, in addition to a couple apps on my IPhone to track some of my daily or weekly tasks I need to perform.
5. Don't Give Up if You Fall Behind - Let's be honest. We're all super busy, and likely at some point you'll fall behind in at least one aspect of your goals (and you'll know that, because you're tracking and reviewing it on a regular basis, right?). Don't kick yourself and get down that you're not keeping up. Evaluate what could be causing it, adjust, and continue forward. Continually reviewing and adjusting is part of the game.  Don't give up just because you're lagging behind. Also remember, if you're a business owner, likely you have some up and down trends, so lagging behind on an annual revenue goal, for instance, could just mean you need to really focus and produce during an upcoming busy period.

Follow these 5 tips and I promise you will see a difference in your results. You'll be one that's looking back excitedly at the end of 2016 saying "wow, look what I did!" instead of looking back with frustration saying "look what I was supposed to do".

5 Things to Reflect on Going Into 2016

Believe it or not, 2016 is just a couple weeks away. If you're like me, you're shocked at how quickly this past year has gone by. Regardless, here it is, and as we head into the new year everyone, or at least everyone who has a sense of wanting to improve themselves and their performance this past year, is reflecting on the last 12 months and looking at what they can do to improve and do even better in 2016. Here are 5 areas that you need to include in your reflection.

• Personal Development - What one area do you want to massively improve upon this year? Pick one and only one. This doesn't mean you can't read or study other topics, but picking one thing you're going to master this year will help you focus and create huge results in that area. What's the one thing that will make the biggest difference in your life and business? Is it increasing productivity or organization? Is it your relationships? Is it negotiation? Leadership? Whatever will make the biggest impact, identify that and make that your main study for the new year. Commit to mastery.
• Health - Are you healthy? Did your quality of health increase or decrease this last year? What can you do in 2016 to do better in this area? If your body is not running to the best of it's ability, every other area of your life will not be as effective as it could be.
• Relationships - Are your relationships what they could be, or could they be better? Are your closest relationships deep, or are they all shallow and surface-level? Evaluate the relationships you have. Choose the ones you want to deepen, and identify any that are toxic or counterproductive and limit or eliminate them. You become who you spend time with. Make sure those you're spending time with are who you want to be like. Make sure those you love the most know that. Show them and tell them daily, and make them a priority.
• Contribution & Service - Are you making a positive impact on the community and world around you? Do you leave things better than they were, or do you leave a trail of negativity and destruction in your wake? Are you involved in anything bigger than yourself? Life without contribution and making a difference, with only living for yourself, is empty.
• Your Environment - This is everything you're surrounded with day to day. From your neighborhood to the car you drive, from the people you're with daily to the weather and climate where you live. Are these things what you want? Most people take a lot of these things as they come without even thinking about it. You know what? If you don't like the cold, and you live in a cold climate...MOVE. If you don't like the people you work with, figure out a way to get out, whether it's finding a new job or starting your own business. We all have the ability to change our environment. We're not stuck wherever we are right now. If it's not what you want, figure out a way to change it.

In every area, I encourage you to do the following:

1. Identify what was good this year, and what needs to change. Be specific
2. Come up with a structured plan of what you're going to do this year. This includes daily, weekly or monthly tasks. Pick the specific things you will do this year that will create the most results. Make sure you can measure your progress, and make sure you do so on a regular basis. Schedule check-in points up front.
3. Find accountability - Find a friend or colleague that will you trust and can be honest with, and who will hold you accountable. Make it clear that it's ok to call you out when you're not performing or accomplishing what you said you would, and that you won't hold it against them when they do. And then let them.

I'm going to make 2016 my best year yet. How about you?