It’s never too early to start planning and preparing for the year ahead, or even the next year. While most people start thinking about this in December, for many of us the year is dictated by when our company’s financial year ends. So, to help you get ahead of the game, here are a few ways to prepare your business for the year ahead.

Celebrate your accomplishments

Taking the time to review the current year’s accomplishments is a great way to start. We often focus on the things that didn’t go according to plan or the mistakes made along the way. If we direct our energy on the negative we set ourselves up for more of the same. No matter how much went wrong this year, there are always things that went right. Find time to reflect on what those things are.

Review what’s working and what isn’t

Often, you need to reflect on your achievements (and those you missed) to see where you can make changes. Identify the things you want to achieve in the coming year and think about what you can change to reach your goals. This might be changing how you communicate internally or with clients and customers, or it might mean reducing the number of meetings you have each year. The latter is particularly relevant, with recent research from STL highlighting the amount of time we waste in meetings every year.

Identify required resources

We all need help of some sort to make our goals a reality. If things didn’t go according to plan, then it’s time to think about who or what you need in your business to get you where you want to be. What help our resources would have made life easier for you in the previous year? Think about the resources you need, whether they’re technological, financial or otherwise, and put a plan in place to help you get them.

Set 1 or 2 primary goals

We often don’t achieve the things we wanted to in a year because we overestimate what can be done. We end up feeling overwhelmed with all the things we want to achieve, and the result is that we do even less than we planned. Instead of having 10 goals that you want to achieve next year, pick one or two major goals that you want to focus on.