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It’s Only Common Sense: Turning Over a New Page

One year ends, and another begins. We’re turning over a new page. It’s refreshing and brings a feeling of renewal. Throw out all of those old calendars and planners, and open up the new ones. There is a whole new year ahead of us filled with the hope, anticipation, and excitement that always comes with a new beginning. Man, I love that! This is a wonderful time to review what happened in the previous year and set goals for the new year. As we face 2019, here are some things to think about to ensure this year will be good, productive, and profitable.

So, sit back, and think for a few minutes about what you want for yourself and your company during the next 12 months. The future is yours, and as a wise man once said, “If you don’t control your future, someone else will do it for you.”

Here are few ideas for making 2019 the best year yet!

• Build on what you have already accomplished: Sure, it’s a new year, but don’t be tempted to throw everything out and start over as many people do. Some people like new plans so much that they start over every year with a brand new plan. It is better to be in a productive third year of a plan than to be perpetually in the first year, every year. A plan is only as good as its implementation. People who like to have a brand new start and a ground-zero plan every January never get anywhere. A good plan is one that is in constant implementation with minor adjustments year to year. Don’t be an attention deficit disorder manager, or you will never get anywhere.
• Use the new year to energize yourself and your team: Get your people excited about what they can accomplish with the passionate rejuvenation that comes with the new year. Use that energy to psyche up your troops. Get them excited about that clean slate of accomplishment numbers, and drive them to face the new year with productive enthusiasm.
• Set goals for the new year: Where do you want to be in six, nine, or 12 months? Fix these goals firmly in your mind. Write them down, and then develop your tactics, defining the steps you will take to make those goals. Set timed milestones along the way—checkpoints where you can stop, evaluate your progress, and make adjustments. Goals are just goals until you take the right steps to achieve them.
• Be flexible: Things are never going to go the way you want them to. There will always be obstacles along the way, so you have to be prepared to overcome those obstacles—whatever they may be. Be prepared to make changes and adapt to any situation that comes your way, and you will succeed in the end. Perseverance is the key to all success, and stubborn determination is its advocate. As the saying goes, “Expect the best and prepare for the worst.”
• Encourage creativity: Welcome new ideas from your team; not only encourage them but provoke them to be more creative. The more freedom your team is given to try new things, the more effective they will be. Don’t make your proverbial box so rigid that no one is allowed to think outside of it. Foster a questioning atmosphere (as long as the questioning is productive). You are not dealing with robots when it comes to sales. You are dealing with creative, passionate people, so use that to make your people and sales team the best they can be.
• Look for new and better ways to do things: Don’t settle for the way you have always done it. Even if that old way has been successful, there is always room for improvement. Because of our fast-changing world, what was a good way of doing things 24 or even 12 months ago might not be the best way to do them today.
• Be courageous: This is a hard one for many of us who love the warmth and coziness of our comfort zones—those of us who would like the world to stop spinning for just a minute so that we can catch our breath. Remember that the world has to spin to stay on its axis, and if it stops, we all die; it’s the same with your company. If you stop moving, learning, creating, and (most importantly) growing, you will die. It might be a slow and inconspicuous death, but it will be death just the same.

This is the best time of the year. Now is the time to reinvent and recreate yourself, your team, and your company. Face the new year with all of the cockeyed optimism you can render, and it will be a great one. I promise you.

It’s only common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.