What important principles have you discovered this past year that can make a dramatic impact on your life and business in the future?

I know it can seem cliché at the end of the year to reflect on the past year and set goals for the next year.

However, it is critical to our businesses and to each of us individually to stop, take a moment and reflect on the year that has just past and determine the things that have made the biggest impact on us, our business and our family.

What are those things?

Have you learned from them?

Are you making changes in your life or business to leverage these important things?

We do not do this so we can set some New Year’s resolution that we are never going to keep. We are asking these questions because this process has a way of igniting our creativity and positioning us to make the most out of every situation that we encounter and circumstances that we experience.

As I did some reflecting recently over the past year, I realized that the standout moments I have had were not necessarily new, but were a reinforcement of important principles that I often overlook or take for granted.

I realized that I need to apply these principles in a more disciplined and systematic fashion. Taking a strategic approach to any one of these principles can completely revolutionize your business and your life.

Principles for a business breakthrough

The 10% rule – take 10% of your time, 10% of your resources, and 10% of your expertise and invest them into a charitable cause, a business, a venture, an idea or a concept. Don’t end your day when you “clock out” of your 9 to 5 job. You have so much more potential and so much more to give! Some people listen to good advice – very few take action; be the small percentage that takes action. I see this every day. Stellar advice is provided to businesses and organizations and most people listen to the advice but very few people act on it. It is the few that take action that sees breakthroughs in their businesses, get the promotions, land the big sale, etc. Processes and automation works – Establish processes and automation wherever you can in your business and in your daily routines. Tweak these processes and become as efficient as possible. This drives cost out of your business and increases repeatability, reliability and quality. These are key ingredients that all customers are willing to pay for. Strive to have multiple streams of income – The oil and gas economy was hit hard by the downturn over the last few years. Many businesses have disappeared and many people have lost their jobs. Unemployment locally is above 10%. It is critical in today’s world to have multiple and diversified streams of income for your business as well as personally so you can weather these economic storms. Be ready for surprises. Life is full of surprises. Some are good and some are not. Some can accelerate your business and life and some can be devastating. The best way to deal with surprises is to build contingencies into your life. Make sure you have some money set aside for emergencies or opportunities. Build margin into your schedule so you have time to deal with issues or opportunities. Have an advisor’s network set up that you can turn to for advice when you run into an extraordinary problem or opportunity.

Take action

Any of these principles can profoundly change your business and your life. Applying all of them concurrently will accelerate you and your business to a whole new level!

Spend some time this week reflecting on your past year. What have you learned this year? Did you change some things and what was the result? Are changes still required to prepare yourself and your business for the coming year?

Man was designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness. – Zig Ziglar

What have you learned this year? Let me know in the comment section below!

Download a free copy of my new Ebook: 12 Steps to Business Transformation. If you are interested in a business assessment to help kick off your business transformation, contact me at info@thinkingbusinessblog.com or at 587-227-5179. Be sure to sign up at www.thinkingbusinessblog.com for weekly blog updates delivered to your inbox.

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