Happy New Year!
Ugh! The thought of making another list of New Year’s Resolutions can make some of us cringe. So, I thought I’d make just one New Year’s resolution this year.
Did you know only 44% of Americans made resolutions in 2015? And of that probably 1 in 3 abandon them by the end of January? So I decided to ditch the list and come up with something different and at the same time increase my profit.
Just yesterday I was going over the past year and making a plan as to how I was going to make this year better professionally. I’m sure all of you were inundated with everything from emails to Twitter and Facebook posts on New Year’s Resolutions, from how to keep them, to the lists to make, apps that remind you about them and what to do when you fail at keeping them, etc. It was this that prompted me to want to write this quick New Year’s post.
Making a list of resolutions can lead to a lot of negativity because when we don’t hold up our end of the bargain and don’t keep to a promise we made to ourselves, guilt sets in, and we get down on ourselves. Who wants that guilt trip immediately into the New Year? Not I and I know you don’t either. Entrepreneurially speaking, when you’re in business for yourself, failure is not an option and neither should be “good enough”.
So here’s what I propose we do instead. This one thing is all you have to do and I know you will have a great, guilt-free year. Day by day you’ll notice a difference in your outlook and your self-confidence. I wouldn’t call it a New Year resolution; I’d call it a shift in perspective because this doesn’t have to anything to do with a list. It has everything to do with our daily perspective.
Here it is; go the extra mile. We’ve all heard it before, but do we actually do it? Every day we are committed to doing things: projects, reports, schedules, meetings, emails, etc. Sometimes we are so pressed for time that “good enough” becomes our best. Don’t let that happen this year!
As Zig Ziglar once said, “There are no traffic jams on the extra mile.”
How will this affect your profit? Simple, when you go the extra mile for your clients, they notice. In return, you will gain not only an increase in your self-confidence but also an increase in the loyalty of your customers. People want to do business with people they like, know and trust.
So if you have a project you have to oversee, is it running well? Or is it just good enough to get by? Take that extra few minutes, clear your head, focus and think about what’s in front of you. Ask yourself, “What can I do that takes this from “good enough” to great? If you apply this one thing with each task, you’ll feel great, you won’t feel that you did just enough to get by.
Being professional means going that extra mile, doing your best. So this year, rise above the crowd that makes lists of resolutions and keep it simple. Make just one New Year’s resolution – go the extra mile.
Stats from an article written by Mona Chalabi – a lead writer for FiveThirtyEight. (http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/only-44-percent-of-americans-made-new-years-resolutions/)
