The No BS Guide to Business Resolutions That Work

I’ll repeat, I love New Year’s Resolutions.

Sure there are smart folks that are using today curb stomp resolutions.  My reply?  A good New Year Resolution is like sex.  If you don’t like it, you aren’t doing it right.  While, my answer might sound a bit cavalier, I’m being serious.  Writing realistic, in-your-face, practical resolutions today, will have you hoisting an expensive bottle of your preferred beverage on Dec 31, 2013.

Here’s my PS – No BS Guide to Business Resolutions That Work

It’s All About the Money

Profit makes business happens. Just accept this and move on.  I’m tired of seeing people going bankrupt following a distorted view of ‘passionate business’.  Use this year to focus your attention on finally seeing your bank account grow not shrink.

Writing a resolution like “Start a business I’m passionate about” is unnecessary.  You’ll do that anyway.  You’ll pick a skill, cause, or challenge that you are naturally drawn toward.   So placating the Unicorn Union with your passionate resolution is a waste of space.

Instead, pick an income figure.  Divide it by 12. Create 12 resolutions that achieve those 12 income numbers.  We don’t get to sing Kumbaya, but this year on New Years’ Eve you’ll have the cash to hire a Kumbaya Quartet.

One at a Time

Write as many resolutions as you want but only work on them one at a time.  Lists are bittersweet.  Long lists feel complete.  Long lists also stomp the god-loving life out of you.  I refuse to write long lists for myself because I am sure that it won’t get accomplished.

A list of 10 Resolutions works the same way.  If you see the list at one time, you’ll immediately begin to sabotage your progress.  You’ll try and tackle, the easy, safe, and insignificant resolutions first.  You’ll fail and deduce that if you can’t achieve the small stuff, you’ll screw up the big stuff.

So write each of your resolutions on an index card. Put them in a grocery bag.  Have someone else hold the bag as you close your eyes, reach in and grab a resolution.  The person, then goes and hides the bag.  Next…

30-Day Deadline

Give yourself 30-days to achieve your resolution.  Yep, you might have a problem on your hands.  What about the “Achieve profitability” business resolution?  It sucks.  Rewrite it.  “Earn a Profit in January” works better.

Wait.  Don’t convince your partner to hand over the bag for you to rewrite all your resolutions.  You can rewrite each every month.

You have 30 days.

Frankly, you and I both know that if you don’t see progress in a month, you’ll start rationalizing failure.  30-days is a perfect amount of time to create a new habit, start and implement a new plan, kick serious butt.

If you fail, then decide what went wrong.  Here are places to look for clues – time, expertise, or tools.  Your goal was too big for the time allotted.  If this is the case, rewrite the resolution and start again.  You didn’t have the expertise to pull off the goal.  If it will take more than 30 days to learn the expertise, get help, and start again.  Or you didn’t have the right tools to complete the resolution. Again, another easy answer – invest in the tools.

Accountability.

Remember that friend with the bag of resolutions?  Set a lunch date, on the same day every month to talk about your progress, and choose to reach in the bag for a new resolution or keep working on the current one.

As extra incentive, you pay for the lunch if you fall short.

That’s it.  Like I said, I don’t like long lists.

One more thought though…

You can achieve every resolution in that grocery bag. Thankfully it will take a staggering amount of determination, focus, and hard work.  If it didn’t your competition would have already done it.

If you really want this year to be different – than BE different.  Dare, Invest, Focus, Repeatedly.

P.S. Tell me about one of your Business Resolutions.  I would love to hear about what you’ll accomplish in 2013.