Personally, I don’t set New Year’s resolutions. I prefer to set goals for myself throughout the year that are combination of short and long-term. I set goals that work for where I want to be in life and actively strive towards them, be it my physical fitness levels, where I want to take my career in the Canadian Forces, what I want to do with my civilian career as a self-professed community youth engagement advocate and business administrator, to the future I envision for Youth Beyond Enterprises. It helps me to keep always working towards something instead of resting on my laurels, as I am a true believer in lifelong learning and development.

Some people need to set New Years Resolutions to keep them motivated because they are part of a tribe of others on the same or similar journey. I get and respect that completely. Some of us also must make these due to the way our fiscal calendars fall for tax and accounting purposes.

But what are some good goals to set for yourself and either your business or you as a professional? Let’s look at some!

1. Get your budget up to par. 

  • Make a monthly budget and stick to it! For your business, this could be the difference between being in business and not being in business. For you personally, it could be the difference between being able to afford food or to have a little bit of fun, or not.
  • For your budget, use the most realistic numbers available, such as the average income you generate for a month. Know your bill dates, especially if you get paid bi-weekly. Make sure you are building in a savings or investment portion off the top and then build the rest of the budget around the rest. I (and lots of other people) recommend 10% off the top.

2. Improve your credit.

  • Know your personal as well as your company’s credit.
  • This is an absolute necessity, as it increases your credibility and will be required when you apply for loans, grants, and work with vendors & suppliers.

3. Get a mission statement. 

  • If you have employees or other partners, work with them to develop a solid description of your company’s values. For example, BOQYE’s is

  • Youth Beyond Enterprises encourages and embraces youth entrepreneurship and innovation. Working with members of the rural Ontario business community and the entrepreneurial community in general, Youth Beyond Enterprises strives to assist followers either enhance existing businesses or to create new sustainable businesses through thought-provoking and timely articles & information.

  • This will help provide you with direction and purpose. It’s a nice thing to be able to reflect on when you are feeling down and a great thing to enhance your motivation when you are firing on all cylinders.

4. Decrease stress levels.  

  • Schedule downtime for hobbies and personal relationships. If a vacation or extended time away isn’t a possibility right now, make sure that you are taking times to rejuvenate.
  • If there are tight deadlines, this can even be as simple as walking around the block or ordering/making your favourite meal. Too much stress for too long is awful for your health and wellbeing. Speaking of this…

5. Think more about your health.  

  • It’s important to keep current with your health. I am probably the guiltiest person I know for avoiding the doctor or clinic. I don’t go generally until my boss strongly suggests that I go get something looked at or if I have no choice (shout out to my boss for never ordering me!).
  • If your health is poor, it becomes exceedingly difficult to focus on what needs to be accomplished, and you run the risk of making mistakes that will need to be fixed either by you when you are better or by someone else down the road.

6. Improve customer engagement. 

  • Figure out where your customers are looking and frequenting, either online or in person. For example, I seem to get the most amount of traffic from Facebook, but the most engagement comes from Instagram.
  • This knowledge tells me that I need to zero in on improving my offerings on these sites in order to drive traffic to my site and encourage people to engage with me directly on these platforms.

7. Become more invaluable at your job. 

  • I am a HUGE believer in lifelong learning and professional development. I’m a pretty big advocate for it and am constantly looking to build on my skills & experiences. I even sat down with my boss a few months ago to go over the fact that I am seeking growth opportunities within our department and organization.
  • Learn a new skill that you can apply to your job. You’ll meet new people and expand your repertoire. Sites like Linda.com and Udemy offer lots of free or low-cost courses for you to take and wow yourself, colleagues, boss(es) if you have them, and customers!

These come courtesy of Entrepreneur.com’s 50 Easy Business and Personal Goals Everyone Should Be Doing This Year. I poured through the list and pulled the ones I thought would speak the most to my readers. Also, check out 10 Ways to Set Your Young Self Up For Success and Financial Tips for Young Entrepreneurs for further inspiration going into 2019!

Special shout out and thanks SheEO and Like a Boss Girls for the use of the term “tribe” to describe the group of people you surround yourself that are focused on bettering themselves and others in a positive way. A further thanks to Like a Boss Girls’ Meredith Reed for the chance to write 8 Proven Ways To Break Through Creative Block & Get Your Ideas Flowing Again in July. This allowed me to achieve both a personal and professional goal of guest writing on a major website and increase my credibility!