The New Year is here and this is the perfect time to re-evaluate your business, your personal life and make plans for the next 12 months.

Maybe last week you made some resolutions.  Where are they?  Are they in your head?  Are they now buried under a pile of paper (if you even wrote them down)?  Have you thought about the processes and the steps necessary to reach those goals?  Follow these 6 tips to help you reach your goals!

1. Write them down.  But don’t just write them down and file them away.  Keep them visible where you can see them.  Be specific with each goal/resolution.  If you want to lose weight, how much?  What’s your deadline?  If it’s to obtain more clients, how many?  If it’s to make more money, how much?  By when?
2. Think about why you want to reach these goals.  What are the benefits you’ll see?  Write those down, too.  If you want to lose weight, maybe it’s so you’ll fit into your clothes, be healthier, be the envy of all the girls or guys, or just look great.
3. What are the steps necessary to achieve your goal?  To lose weight, you might walk three days a week, change your diet, go to the gym two days a week, or join Zumba class.  If it’s building your business, what steps do you need to take to achieve that goal?  Maybe you’re going to do some local networking or Facebook advertising or even get started with social media.
4. What actions are necessary for each of the above steps?  If you’re wanting to lose weight, you might need to research gyms or Zumba classes, learn better nutrition, decide what days, where and how far you’ll walk.  For your business building goal, investigate networking organizations in your area, create your Facebook ad, decide on a budget, educate yourself on social media, or hire someone to help you with it.
5. Schedule the action items into your calendar.  Tomorrow from 1:00 to 2:00 Google local networking sites.  What’s the cost?  How often do they meet?  Where do they meet?  What are their requirements? Make a decision on at least one and start going.  Visit the gyms in your area and find out the cost, the hours and check out their equipment.
6. Have someone you’re accountable to.  It’s tough trying to reach these goals alone, so don’t do it by yourself!  You could hire a coach.  Or do you have someone you can count on to give you a good kick in the butt when you need it?  Ask them to hold you accountable for taking the actions and steps necessary to really reach your goals!

Take some time right now and get your pen and paper out and work through the process and TAKE ACTION!  Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all. Norman Vincent Peale, Clergyman.