Happy New Year & Welcome 2024
“The book is called Opportunity, and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” ~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce
As you leave 2023 and enter 2024, the boundless encounters of opportunities are right in front of you. You just have to be open-minded and challenge the norms for the unusual for what people want and need. If you’ve been experiencing uncertainty for the last few years, prepare to change that this year. Hopefully, you won’t have any negatives to contend with.
“Approach the New Year with resolve to find the opportunities hidden in each new day.”~ Michael Josephson
Before you do anything else, think about what you need to keep and hold onto and what you need to let go. Both of these have to do with what is not making you productive and what will allow you to be more productive than you are right now.
Not letting go of what you don’t need can come with a cost to your productivity. This is where you need to make difficult decisions whether they be habits that don’t serve you well or changing your mindset for what lies ahead. These may come as opportunities to take advantage of.
As 2023 closes, welcome 2024 with all the optimism to grow your business beyond where it is right now. As the year begins to unfold, most New Year’s resolutions will quickly fall by the wayside. Now is the time, however, to get serious about the New Year’s resolutions that will make a difference in your business success.
The kinds of changes that will make your business more successful, enjoyable, and collaborative can be made at any time, but there is a psychological impact to making formal resolutions at the beginning of the year.
Throughout the world, people use the first month of the New Year to announce their resolve that the rest of the year will be better than the year that just ended. That sense of optimism and opportunity provides a good start for implanting long-term changes or resolutions.
Reset Your Business for a Winning Streak
“Often out of periods of losing come the greatest strivings toward a new winning streak.”~ Fred Rogers
Identify the practices, people, and/or processes that may be holding you back, giving you the space for new thinking and establishing business goals that will set you on the path to success. Hitting the reset button in your business allows you to take stock of what is working, as well as consider what isn’t working.
How you keep track of what’s new and updated requires you to do things differently than you’ve done before. These will allow you greater success and decision making to move you forward.
Keep a Notebook/Binder
With the new year just beginning, how are you going to meet and surpass challenges? What opportunities will you look for to move your company into the future?
Prepare yourself for the ups and downs of uncertainty by having a notebook of how you can tackle the challenges you may encounter. You never know if and when you may need to take action on things you don’t expect.
As a Leader
“Leadership is the ability to get extraordinary achievement from ordinary people.” ~ Brian Tracy
Be a visible leader in your company and invite employees to express ideas for the company to pursue. A common misconception of leaders is that they have to know what to do all the time, especially in times of crisis or uncertainty. Some leaders get caught in the trap of thinking they have to have all the answers and then they put pressure on themselves to figure things out on their own.
A comfort zone challenge is a great way to show what happens when you get to know your employees. Leaders encounter challenges on a regular basis. Give yourself a break. Start asking your employees questions to find out how they would answer the same questions you are asked. This allows you to get to know your employees and they you. You never know who will have the next great idea.
Embrace Simplification
“In order to work with difficult outer circumstances, you need to gather your inner strength. If even ten or twenty minutes of meditation a day helps you to do this, go for it.”~ Pema Chödrön
Hitting the reset button on your business allows you to start the year out by looking at what processes and systems can be streamlined. Eliminate unnecessary tasks and get to the work that matters. Start making work less complex and start thinking more openly for greater possibilities. Being more open in your thinking will help you think of doing things on a simple basis and change the processes you have now.
Will You Make the Necessary Changes You Need for a Successful 2024?
“You get a new year, you get a new start, you get a new opportunity.” ~ Billy Butler
No one actually has a crystal ball. Major forecasts for the new year are mixed. Some sectors are about to see spurring growth while others will see shrinkage. Many organizations are revising how they do business. The challenges may need to be revisited for new solutions(solve what?). You may not be able to use what you’ve done in the past. A winning business mindset sees you view challenge as opportunity and mistakes as the chance to learn.
“As you wrap up the year and reset for a new year ahead, Reminder: Don’t be so busy judging the package that you miss the gift.” ~ Rob Hill Sr.
Here’s to a winning 2024!