Archive for category Trends & Ideas

The new year is upon us!  Thousands of bloggers are discussing new year’s resolutions and its a great time to set up goals, renew efforts and get back into the swing of things.  Renewal is powerful and what a better time than following a long holiday vacation, the rejuvenation there from, and a new tax year.  Which brings me to my point today!  What are some areas to remember in business while making your resolutions and starting out in 2010?  Lets list them out:

• Get organized! – possibly a more common goal is to get organized.  The opportunity to re-look at your systems and methods of tracking the stuff that needs to get done is one that should not be missed.  Look at the tools you use, the concepts and tenets you follow (i.e. GTD, 7 Habits, etc.) and the schedule (work, home, balance) you keep.  We will be unveiling a new system and tool to help with this over the next few months called Akomplish.  I’m excited for what it will do and the flexibility it will offer for you to live and work the way YOU want to.
• re-address your tax planning – With 2009 said and done, it is a great time to look at how you do taxes, bookkeeping, and financial accountability and tracking.  It will be much easier to start now than shift gears mid-year and cause confusion and chaos for yourself and your accountants.  Look at the past year and see what expenses could have been written off but were lost in the minutiae of living.  I know, I know, accounting sucks and is no fun (unless you actually ARE an accountant, then it might be okay to you although you also may not like it!).  The advantages of doing it right the first time and from the beginning will pay off, no doubt about it.
• 2009 in review – Take a look at what was done and not done in 2009.  What could you have done better?  What should you have done but didn’t? What bold moves do you wish you’d taken?  Well, lets do them this year!! How can this information and introspection be incorporated into your new year’s resolutions?
• Life Balance – Well, you work too much or too little.  You probably don’t have any hobbies but “family” or something cliche like that.  By the way, family is not a ‘hobby’, although important to you.  What do you do with them?  What can you do to unwind and breakup the life of work?  Having hobbies will prove invaluable as stress mounts from other money-generating areas of life.  For myself, I find this solace in photography, painting, mountain biking, and the like.  In fact, my wife would contend that I have too many hobbies!  Either way, having a good way to be productive without ‘work’ or pay (this does NOT include watching TV or wasting time) is an important part of balance.  Now, maybe you are lucky enough to do what you love for a living! Yay, hooray! I don’t care… find another hobby as well.  That doesn’t mean you quit loving work but you don’t want work to burn you out of loving it anymore.  For that reason, find a hobby!  Now don’t neglect your family for this hobby, again we are discussing BALANCE.  Maybe share your hobby with them or find some other way to balance.

Well, there you go.  Four points to consider with your New Year’s resolutions!!  Any other major points that we all ought to consider?