Ready, Set, Go... to where?

Ahhhhh - the new year - January - fresh start - this is it - this is THE year - things are going to be DIFFERENT!

We've all felt like this. We've all said these things. And we have even meant them, but.... then life happens. We default to doing what we know, doing what we have been doing, doing what we have done before. As a result, things do not change, we do not make changes, we do not achieve our goals, and that fresh start quickly becomes more of the "same ol', same ol'..."

Human nature, and boy oh boy are we ever human!

• First of all, give yourself a "way to go!," for making it through another year.
• Next, accept that you are human, and that it is 100% OK to be human.
• Finally, how about trying something different this year, even just one thing, to move yourself towards a very specific goal.

I once heard that a one percent change, applied daily and consistently, has a more significant impact than a total change applied for a short period of time. You can apply this in your personal life and in your business. I am here to tell you that it actually works!

We have a spot in our bedroom where we put the folded laundry. My husband always puts away his folded clothes the day they appear on the bench. Until 2022, my folded clothes often sat on this bench for at least a day, sometimes for 4 to 5 days, before I put them away. This bench sits right at the door of the closet, so there is no reason for the laundry to not make it into the closet, other than I just did not do it.

At the beginning of 2022, I decided that the bench would be clear of my folded laundry every single night before I went to bed. Did I manage this 100% of the year? Nope, there were days when I just did not get it done. Ok, ok, ok - but the folded clothes sat for more than 24 hours less than 5 times over the entire year. And now at the beginning of 2023, I have a well-formed habit of putting away any folded laundry, so much so that I do not even think about it. I just do it. Every. Single. Day.

What habit would you like to change or form to help you in your business this year?

• Return work emails with 4 hours
• Process inventory the day it arrives from your suppliers
• Make at least X outbound sales calls every week
• Put things away and clean off the work space at the end of your work day
• Set up the machine with the right thread colors for the next job at the end of each day
• Post on a social media platform
• Send a thank you email or card to a customer
• Send a "Saw this product, thought it would work great for you," email or note to a customer
• Post all transactions to your bookkeeping system
• Assign places for all your essential tools, and put them back there every time you use them

There are so many possibilities! Pick one thing, and figure out what your "ideal" would be. Decide what you need to do every day to make that one aspect of your day or your business ideal. DO IT! Every. Single. Day. In 30 days, take a candid look and evaluate if you are accomplishing the desired results. Make adjustments, if necessary, until you hit that tipping point where you make that one "ideal" happen on a daily basis as a habit, instead of it feeling like an effort.

Once you have one habit locked in, consider adding a new challenge. Pick another "ideal," and begin building that new habit into your day. Do not take on more than one new ideal at a time. Just do the one thing, and keep at it until becomes ingrained and is your "normal" process.

If you picked your bookkeeping, at the end of the year, doing your taxes will be a snap. If you cleared your work surfaces, your production over the course of the year will probably be higher than it was last year. If you finally wrangled your scissors and snips, you have many fewer pokes in your fingers and hands from doing the "pat pat" move to find them.

I would love to hear what one ideal you are going to change this year, and how it is going - post it in the comments below?