It’s easy to scoff at the idea of New Year’s resolutions. Resolutions to drink less, eat better and exercise more are repeated every year around Australia just as the television is flooded with weight loss programs and gym membership ads.
New Year’s resolutions are the pie crust promise of our time, easily made and easily broken.
But setting a New Year’s resolution for your business is not so foolish. Research shows the very act of articulating a goal or ambition makes it much more likely to happen. It’s even better if you write that goal or ambition down.
Now is an ideal time to set a resolution for your business this year and make sure that goal is SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed.
This means no airy fairy goals like “to improve my business”, instead try something specific like “learn how to use social media to communicate with my clients”.
If you need some inspiration, check out these goals for 2014 by some of the winners in the Smart50 awards.
Of course you could set a goal any time of year, but a significant date like a new quarter or new financial year gives added impetus to your goal and will help you track how you’ve gone in achieving that resolution.
Happy New Year everyone – let’s make this the year that you make your company smarter. A resolution or two might just help.
Cara Waters is a former SmartCompany editor. Previously, Cara was a senior reporter for the Financial Times’ website and worked for The Sunday Times in London.
