The dawn of January can be an inspiring time. From the upswing of gym memberships to the reality of the new year setting in. This time of year provides you with the perfect opportunity to implement positive change and reset your priorities. Whether that’s improving aspects of your personal life or re-vamping your business plan, everyone has unique goals for 2019. Here are some overarching ways for everyone to start the new year off right:

Review Last Year

Take a moment to collect your thoughts and reflect on 2018. Ask yourself questions like:

·         What were your greatest accomplishments?

·         What were there areas where you could have improved?

·         What were your biggest break-throughs?

·         Did you develop any new skills?

·         What lessons did you learn?

You can write down your answers to these questions and refer back at the end of next year for an enlightening look at how far you’ve come. This exercise will help you put 2018 into perspective so you can learn from the past and then focus on the future.

Use SMART Objectives

New Year’s Resolutions are controversial. People either love or hate them. If you’re on team hate, re-consider by using the “SMART” technique. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely. It is also literally a smart way to outline your goals for the upcoming year. Here’s a breakdown of the technique using the goal of “Make more money”:

Specific – Instead of having a broad goal like: “Make more money”, contemplate specific ways that can help you make more money like cutting costs on advertising by using social media instead.

Measurable - Make sure this goal is measurable by specifying how much revenue you’d like to make per month. That way, you’ll know exactly when you’ve accomplished your specific goal and you can celebrate. Inversely, if you haven’t accomplished it, you can re-evaluate and try again.

Achievable – Of course it’s important to aim high when it comes to setting goals but if your goals aren’t realistic, you’ll end up disappointed. If you run a start-up, your goal shouldn’t be to make a billion dollars in 2019. Instead come up with a specific, measurable and achievable amount you’d like to make so you can feel accomplished when you reach your goal.

Relevant – Think about why you’d like to accomplish the goals you’re setting. If achieving your goal of making more money means you’ll be able to give back to your community, afford to hire more team members or have another favourable outcome, you’ll know it is relevant.

Timely – Having a deadline to keep in mind can help you keep track of all of your goals. Think about where you’d like to be at this time next year and what you need to do in the meantime to get there. This could mean setting monthly budgets for yourself or closely tracking your expenses several times a week. This last step in the SMART technique ties everything together and sets you up for success in the new year.

If you’re an entrepreneur or small business owner, working at a coworking space can be a fantastic way to take your company to the next level. If finding a headquarters for your business is on your list of goals for 2019, book a tour of Project Spaces today. We hope everyone’s year is their best yet!

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