If you don’t already know why – if not how – your 2015 will be better than your 2014, then you are setting yourself up to fail. Coming out of one year and into another, unless you want to finish next year right where you are today, means having a distinct plan that will help you get ahead in the new year.

1 – Keep doing what you’re doing

Yes, we are turning that old saw on its head. Guru after guru will tell you to change something up. To do more of this or less of that or this and that different just to be “better.” Forget all that noise. You need to be doing what you do well and KEEP doing that stuff better than your competition. One of the easiest and most predictable ways to fail is to take something that works and change it just for the sake of change. Never change just to be different. Changes must always have a profit-driven reason. A SPECIFIC profit-driven reason. So don’t give up on what got you where you are just because it “feels like it’s time to change.” Bottom line, as you are making necessary adjustments and additions in the new year, don’t just put your earlier successes on auto-pilot.

2 – Learn something new

The day you stop learning is the day you start failing. Status quo is nothing to brag about. Sure you want to keep your machine humming, but there’s nothing wrong with getting yet another machine humming. And, to do that, you need to expose yourself to information and situations that you are currently less than operationally savvy about.

3 – Attack a new market

Did you know that, by 2015, millennials will inject more than $2.45 trillion into the marketplace? Would you like a piece of that action? Well, why not find a way to earn that market share? And that’s just one of many different market segments you could be missing. While each day more than 10,000 people turn 21, in that same time span more than 1,000 people reach retirement age. Two massive population groups on either end of the market spectrum. Why not find a way to appeal to both?

Following these tips from us at the Ronn Torossian Foundation won’t guarantee that something unforeseen might pop up out of nowhere, but even if (when) it does, you will be better prepared.