An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Entering the New Year
Goodbye 2016.
And to speak on behalf of a lot of you… good riddance!
2016 felt like one of the longest years, in particular for a lot of the entrepreneurs I know, work with or whose articles I read.
The consensus seems that a lot of us struggled through this year. Whether reaching that next level of growth, juggling new responsibilities, adjusting to new client pressures, managing scale or financial burdens… difficulty was felt all around.
And even if this year wasn’t rough on your psyche, you’re tired. I know, because I’m tired.
The every (literally) day grind of being an entrepreneur, of pushing your dreams, of trying to actualize your goals, is just plain exhausting. There are no two ways about it. You’re counting down the moments to when you can try to sleep in or do something else with your time. Or you’re like me, and you’re still at the office during your official holiday. (But at least you’re gonna go home early right?)
Nonetheless the rest of the internet is trending around 2016 being the year never to be mentioned again. Celebrity deaths almost daily, unfavorable election results, growing human rights concerns. Everything seems to be going pear shaped.
Now is the perfect time to step back and assess where you what you can do better going forward. The last 3 weeks I was heading towards burnout but had to shift my mentality to enter 2017 on a high despite the challenges.
We’re gonna skip over that whole new year, new me dribble.
Below are a few steps to make sure you grow and progress heading into a new year:
Work Harder Than You Think You Did in 2016
Firstly, let’s do an honest assessment of how you did this year.
What did you actually achieve?
How hard did you truly work? Really?
They say a great measure to growth is to imagine repeating today everyday for the next 365 days. Your own version of Groundhog Day.
Where would you be? Any closer to your target? To “success”?
Or day after day be wasted? On hitting the snooze alarm? On time spent in unnecessary meeting? Another 4 hour binge of your favorite reality show? Another day where you failed to action your dream idea?
Now I’m not saying never take a break (The Walking Dead is my guilty pleasure.) However, if that’s your life every day? You don’t get to complain. You don’t get to tell me things aren’t as they should be. If you gave up the mind numbing activities, you’d have the time to do what you really care about.
So have a firm, calculated look at how you did this year. It’s easy to fake the funk in this life. If we judged you by your Instagram posts or Snaps we’d think you worked 32 hours a day. It’s easy to fool us, but don’t lie to yourself.
It’s easy to pat ourselves on the back. To be the first one in, last one out. But what was the quality of that time? What were the results of that grind? Anything tangible?
How much did you set out to do? How much did you actually achieve? How many solid hours did you actually put in? How much growth did you actually achieve?
Compare your day to a body builder or professional athlete. The dream body or the championship marking success. Every single day has to be one step closer to the goal. In the hours you put in, the quality of those hours, how you took care of yourself despite it. All of that matters to succeed.
Assess.
Then ramp it up.
Despite the imaginary battles you might have with invisible entrepreneurs and competitors, your only real competition is the old version of you. Your only competition is you yesterday, last week, last month, last year. Be better than that guy.
Make a list of all the personal and professional improvements you’d like to make. Then make a list of daily achievable goals related to it. Add some measurables to your life. Push harder and more focused. Hit 2017 with renewed passion and energy to be the hardest working you there has ever been.
Smash the hell out what you did yesterday.
Invest in Yourself
“Generally speaking, investing in yourself is the best thing you can do. Anything that improves your own talents; nobody can tax it or take it away from you. They can run up huge deficits and the dollar can become worth far less. You can have all kinds of things happen. But if you’ve got talent yourself, and you’ve maximized your talent, you’ve got a tremendous asset that can return ten-fold.” — Warren Buffet
Warren Buffet has been right about a lot of investments in his life. So much so that it’s net him 60 billion dollars. So he knows a thing or two about where to invest you money. Nonetheless, the 3rd richest person in the world still believes the greatest investment you can ever make, is in yourself.
Your greatest investment will always always always be in yourself. It has a guaranteed return. Everytime.
The first step to investing in yourself is to keep learning. Whether you read, take extra classes, learn an instrument, research a topic, do something today that gives you some more knowledge.
I’ve got a friend who reads research papers monthly on the global decline of bee populations. Not particularly riveting material to me, but why does she do it? Just to keep learning.
Go to the bookstore today. Pick up anything and just read.
Exploring is another easy way to invest in yourself. This could be in a new language, new music, travel or simply a new neighborhood.
Have you ever been driving and seen something interesting out of the corner of your eye? We never stop do we? We’re too busy have too much to do.
Next time, stop, take a u-turn. Go explore whatever interested you. Those few moment you take to push your curiosity will pay off with rewarding experiences.
Trust your gut. This might not be clear but every time you honor your intuition and natural feeling about something something inside of you grows. It helps you make better, faster and smarter decisions. It has to be fed or it withers away.
This is especially true in business. Your intuition draws from a lot more information, data and past decisions more than your rational mind does. That immediate feeling that says yes or this doesn’t feel right. That has to be trusted. Reason will tell you one thing and justify it, but your instincts will always lead you the right direction. Invest in yourself by investing in your internal decision maker.
When you invest in yourself, a world of opportunities will open up for you. The more you invest in yourself the more your self worth grows. Whether this bee emotionally, physically or financially investing in yourself will always result in a better version of you. Its guaranteed returns, maybe not tomorrow but worth the wait.
So get in your own garden today. Plant some seeds. Pull some weeds. Get dirty. Prick your fingers. Water and nourish your plants. Prepare for the harvest!
Give Some Things Up
No matter how many goals you set up for yourself, if your habits aren’t cleaned up you aren’t going anywhere.
Every new year millions of people make resolutions to start new goals. 94% of them go nowhere. Instead of focusing on adding new diets to your regime focus on removing these 3 habits that have been keeping you back:
Fear
It’s scary being an entrepreneur and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by fear.
You have no idea when it’s gonna pay off and by how much. You got no idea how long it’ll take. That the market will expose you! That no one will want your product. That it just won’t work. Fear it might work too well! That we won’t know what to do with it all.
Plain ol’ fear of the unknown.
It’s exhausting and draining but it’s also just scary sometime.
But it can debilitating too.
It can keep you from ever jumping. From ever starting.From taking on the client that will really change the game.
Let go of all of those fears in 2017.
Excuses
I’m waiting for the perfect time.
I haven’t learned enough yet.
I don’t feel ready.
Our clients didn’t pay on time.
The team didn’t deliver what I asked them to.
We can’t find anyone to fund us.
This life is 100% yours.
Own it. Your situation. Your life. Your decisions.
No one is coming to save you, no one is going to figure it out for you. The lottery isn’t going to hit.The dream mentor isn’t coming. There’s no easy way out.
Own the good and the bad in 2017. Kill off the excuses.
Negativity
There’s one entrepreneur I know who is forever negative. Always has a reason life isn’t going right, why things won’t work, why she can’t do it.
That negativity has consumed her life. It’s consumed her and her life.
And the saddest part is she’s one of the most capable and impressive people I know. Everyone agrees, she’s incredible. But the power of negativity has taken it all away from her.
Beware of what you let out of your mouth. Of how you look at each day. The more you dwell in negativity the more it festers.
Failure will happen. Bad days are inevitable. Sometimes this entrepreneur life just sucks.
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill
Position yourself for the comeback and speak with positivity and faith!
What are you hoping to achieve in 2017 for yourself and your business? I’d be grateful to hear what you are going to do different.
Leave a note in the comments!
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Be sure to check out some other recent posts I have written:
Three Reasons I Can’t Go Back to Working for Someone Else
3 Lessons in Greatness from 3 NBA Legends
Conquering Your Day: Building the Perfect Daily Launch Sequence
3 🔑’s to Success Top Entrepreneurs All Have in Common
