It’s that time of year again!

No, I’m not talking about Christmas, and everything that goes with it.

I am talking about that time of year when we start turning our attention to what we want to achieve next year, how we can make the coming new year better, bigger, brighter and more successful than the one that is now drawing to a close.

There is one thing we all know for sure. 

If next year is going to be different, there’s no point in just repeating everything you did last year – you will get the same results – you know this right? Something has to change. 

The big question though is – What? What do you need to be doing differently?  What can you do that will get you better results? [bctt tweet=”What do you need to do differently over the next 12 months to get better results? “] It makes a whole lot of sense to me that before you start planning out next year, and setting your business and income goals, you need to take some time out to review the past year.

There are clues in what you did, or didn’t do, that will show you what you need to change, and the following questions will help you to uncover those clues.

  • What have you accomplished so far in your business?  Even if you think things didn’t go as well as you had hoped, you will have made some progress. It’s important you acknowledge your accomplishments, and also to consider how they came about.
  • What have been the things that have really worked for you?  Was a certain Networking Group a good source of clients?  Did you get enquiries from your Social Media activities – if so, which ones?
  • What do you need to do more of?  Whatever has been working should be repeated again and again!  Also, if you only tried something once, do you need to do it again to really test if it works?
  • What needs to stay the same? Not everything needs to change! What have you got in place that supports you, that you would want to maintain?
  • What were the best decisions that you made?  Some decisions are a turning point, some empower us, some seem small but have a big impact.  Look back at your achievements and success and identify the decisions that led to them.
  • How can you make more of the best decisions?  Makes sense to don’t you think?  What led you to make those good choices, what state were you in?  How can you re-create that state?
  • What do you need to do less of? What should you stop doing altogether?  Some things that you are doing are just not getting you results, and if they are not getting you results, then don’t do them.  This applies on both a business and personal level.
  • In your business, what doesn’t actually need to be done that can just be pushed out completely or what should you stop doing but still needs to be done that you could outsource to someone else who could probably do it better and quicker than you.
  • On a personal level, how to you sabotage yourself, how do your hold yourself back, what is it that you do within your thought and behaviour patterns on a regular basis that you need to stop doing?
  • What have been the worst decisions that you have made? What did you learn from them?  Don’t beat yourself up here.  Look objectively at why you made the decision and the consequences and results, and take the lesson forward.
  • Now – What could you have done differently?

Tackling these questions will give you a deeper insight into your business, and the way you operate.  Your answers will help you to approach planning your next year from a fresh perspective.