Part 2: I Don’t Make New Year’s Resolutions

In Part 1 of this series, I covered how business great Tim Ferris does his version of New Year’s resolutions.

How do other successful business leaders use this time to set their yearly goals?

What New Year strategies do they and others use to stay focused in the year ahead?

Bill Gates: Founder of Microsoft

Every year Bill Gates conducts his “end-of-year assessment”. He reflects on

• “What was I excited about?” and
• “What could I have done better?”

He also asks himself other questions about his life such as:

• “Did I devote enough time to my family?”
• “Did I learn enough new things?” and
• “Did I develop new friendships and deepen old ones?”

Siimon Reynolds: Co-Founder of Photon Group

Siimon Reynolds does a short exercise. He allocates 10 minutes to ask himself the following two questions:

1. What are the top 3 areas of my business where I really need to lift my standards?
2. In each area, what’s the one best way of doing it?

This exercise works well because it increases your clarity. It also doesn’t overwhelm you with a huge To Do List (that often never gets done). You end up with a small handful of actions that will make a difference to your business success.

US ‘Shark Tank’ investor Robert Herjavec

“I live and die by my calendar.” Robert Herjavec has an end-of-year ritual that sets him up for success: organising his calendar for the whole next year.

”It allows me to manage my time and priorities.”

He said planning 12 months ahead of time maximises his productivity.

“It doesn’t mean that everything on the calendar needs to be locked in,” he said, “but it gives me an idea of where I’m going to be, and when, so I can get the most out of my time.”

“Set aside time to do a full calendar review six months, or a year out, to make sure you are on track with your yearly goals as well,” he told Fortune Magazine.