Could 2023 be your best year in business to date?
How are you thinking about 2023? As you approach the new year are you excited, apprehensive, optimistic, maybe terrified? I attended a workshop last week on business growth. Their view is it’s a great time to be in business. Inflation is an indicator that too much money is chasing too few goods and services. This is a great perspective to have for your company because, whatever the economic circumstances being experienced, it is still possible to have your best year yet. It is also important to be clear on what it means to achieve it.
“For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” ~ African Proverb
To have your best year yet it is essential that you have a plan. In order to plan you have to make time. As I speak to business owners and CEOs there is the constant tyranny of fitting all you have to do in the time available. To change that requires you to make time to work on the business or organisation you lead.
The process of planning enables you to organise your thinking. In order to organise your thinking it must be written down in some way. The act of writing makes the plan visible. It can be seen and thought through, changes can be made. Start writing and then you can organise it.
Your plans will be your road map. No-one gets into a car to travel to somewhere they have never been before without some kind of map. When will you draw your map for 2023?
“Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right!” – Henry Ford
One of the things I enjoy most as I coach leaders is the light bulb moments when a change of perspective or thinking takes place. This quote from Henry Ford seems simple on the face of it but is actually quite profound. The way you think about something dictates the outcome. The impact of the mind on the actions you take is key. When you realise this, it leads to significant change. Choose to work on your mindset, this will enable you to succeed in 2023.
Summary of 5 Hacks to Achieving Your Best Year Yet
1. Know where you are going
If you are to achieve your best year yet, then you must know what that success looks like. What is your vision? If not yet written down, get it on paper. Make sure it is something you can easily articulate and that others will understand. Direction is key. If you don’t know where you are headed then all destinations will equally compete.
2. Mindset
I have mentioned it already, but it bears repeating. Your conscious mind processes at a slower speed than your unconscious. It means that things seem to happen by chance. However, a lot more than you realise is governed by the onboard way in which your thinking has been trained, by the where you grew up, your view of yourself, and the culture you are in. To change this, you must make your thinking visible. Then limiting beliefs can be tackled.
3. Plan
If you fail to plan then you plan to fail. You can’t anticipate everything, but planning helps you to think about what resources need to be where and when. Planning makes the thinking visible it is important to have all voices in the team the chance to contribute as they bring their unique view of the situation.
4. Execute the plan
This is confession time for me. I love the discussion that goes on around planning and vision. A few years ago, I was applying for a CEO job and a friend reviewed my application – his main comment was what about the implementation? Great question! When you have the strategy, you need a plan in place to execute it or its just words on paper. To get the plan executed requires accountability.
5. Review and adjust
Any General will tell you that plans rarely stay the same after contact with the enemy. The same is true of your business plan. It needs to be there, but it also needs to be flexible. Evaluation, review, and adjustment are all needed to stay on track to get to where you want to be. How will you do that?
“Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.” ~ Tom Landry
I would love to discuss how you can achieve your best year yet. Book a 30-minute discovery call to see how to get started.
