At the top of the year many of you—working or retired, seniors or teens, traditionally employed or self-employed— will develop a list of goals you’d like to pursue and achieve over the next 12 months. You know that identifying a purpose that inspires, motivates and gives direction to your professional or personal life makes you feel confident and is a cornerstone of how you define success.

To get started on your annual plans, dedicate a block of time and use it to make an objective assessment of where you are now and where you’d like to be at this time next year. Commit to writing the rough draft of your emerging goals and begin to flesh out the proposed actions and time lines to carry them out, whether you scribble on the back of an envelope or record your ideas on a white board at a company meeting. You’ll find it useful to include monthly or quarterly milestones as a way to document your progress and perhaps make adjustments as you observe the impact of your action plans on the strategies you’ve developed.

Below are a list of hacks (the good kind!) that I hope will nudge you in the right direction and serve as a general road map for your 2024 annual plans.

1. 5:00 AM wake-up

In the cold, dark winter even those who love early morning can struggle to greet the day before sunrise but you’ll soon learn that the sacrifice will be quickly immediately rewarded with a noticeable spike in productivity that will encourage you to maintain the habit. Here’s the earlier riser secret—as the days gradually get longer and brighter throughout late February and early March, set your alarm to wake up 30 minutes earlier than usual. Every week or two, change the wake-up call to half an hour earlier until you’re waking up at 5:00 AM. Whether you prefer to start the day with a mug of hot tea and a review of email or with exercise, you’ll be off to the races and you’ll win every time.

2. Define your success

Goals help you focus your time and energy and it’s wise to spend adequate time determining the business results you’d like to achieve, followed by creating strategies, action plans and a timetable that serve as the engine to move your plans forward. It’s useful to revisit the previous year’s goals and objectives as you define what success could look like in 2024—you can perhaps build on previous successes or modify that which remains relevant but could benefit from a re-calibration. Your challenge will be to identify reasonable, ambitious, achievable goals for your company and to understand the purpose, impact and ROI of each goal. Finally, you’ll need objective measures for determining success and experts agree that SMART goals are still the best—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely.

3. Follow the money

To properly manage your business you must understand its financial metrics and heed what those metrics indicate. You don’t have to be an accountant to understand the numbers, but I’ve found that my best and most profitable clients know their numbers. They monitor sales revenue weekly or monthly; they analyze cash-flow reports weekly or monthly; they calculate costs associated with client acquisition; they determine profit margins for their products and/or services and price accordingly. Furthermore, those who operate a service business will calculate the hours devoted to billable and non-billable work that’s performed each week or month. It will also be a good time to reconfirm or reconfigure the metrics, i.e. the KPIs, that will most accurately reflect the performance of any new goals or other initiatives you’ll put into place this year.

4. Nurture client relationships

Clients are the lifeblood of your business and it is obvious that cultivating and nurturing client relationships is of utmost importance. Video meetings, telephone calls and emails are the easiest contact methods available and each has a place in a comprehensive client outreach strategy; however, the most impactful relationship-building activity is a face2face visit. There is nothing like the warm and friendly rush of a big smile and a handshake. You may have had innumerable phone conversations with a client or prospect, and a video call or two as well, but can you say you’ve met him/her until you’ve met and talked in real time? You may find that you develop deeper and longer-term relationships when you meet people face to face.

Online meetings absolutely serve a purpose, but humans (and animals) respond most intensely to physical contact. That psychological fact should give you the motivation needed to attend business and professional association meetings, drop into networking events, or simply invite a client or serious prospect to meet for lunch or coffee.

5. Skills development

Ensure that you have the wherewithal to evaluate and, where appropriate, utilize resources offered by emerging technologies and leadership practices that will benefit your business. You can pay to take professional development courses and/or attend conferences but if keeping costs low is a priority, you have other means to keep your skills current.

For starters, make it a ritual to peruse at least weekly the business section of your local newspaper, so that you’ll obtain information that pertains to your local marketplace. Read also at least one national business-themed publication to keep yourself apprised of national trends and happenings that might eventually impact how you do business or influence how your clients might respond to your products and services.

In addition, promise yourself to read at least two business books in 2024. Improve your understanding of financial management and how that knowledge can be applied to grow your business when you read Financial Intelligence (Karen Berman, Joe Knight & John Case, 2006) https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/financial-intelligence-revised-edition-karen-berman/1110913346 . You’ll thank yourself for reading Good Charts: The Harvard Business Review Guide to Data Visualization (Scott Berinato, 2016) https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/good-charts-scott-berinato/1122655992 when you learn how to design and present charts and graphs that enhance your next client meeting or speaking engagement. Last, here’s an international list of 25 top-rated consulting themed podcasts for your edification https://podcasts.feedspot.com/consulting_business_podcasts/.

6. Exercise

Numerous studies demonstrate that regular vigorous exercise contributes to a healthy body, greater energy and stamina and sharper cognitive skills. You might play a sport and make a date to play once or twice a week and visit the gym on other days. Or, you might swim, bike or run twice a week and lift weights once or twice each week. If the weather interferes with outdoor workouts, you can always find an online class. The point is to exercise regularly. Early morning workouts are an unbeatable way to wake up and get your energy and creativity flowing. Since you’ll wake up at 5:00 AM, why not start your workout of choice at 6:00 AM?

7. Embrace AI

Exploring how to most efficiently use Artificial Intelligence will probably dominate the technology strategy of most of you this year. You may get some insight from the marketing automation and bookkeeping/ accounting software that you use. Expect a continued rollout of AI tools that will save you time and help business productivity. You will be wise to devote a significant amount of time researching and staying up to speed on these very fast-moving developments. Keep an eye on Microsoft, they are in the lead.

8. Strategize growth with your accountant

Your accountant is uniquely qualified to counsel you on ways to promote the stability and profitability of your business entity. All you have to do is ask. Moreover, if you’re percolating an idea of making any major capital investments, or if you envision growth and expansion as goals you’d like to kick-off in the next 12-18 months, a face2face talk with your accountant is your first step. Make it a tradition to meet twice a year with your financial guiding light; May and September seem like good months for a money talk.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: ©️ Getty Images. Jennifer Capriati won the women’s singles title at Roland Garros/ French Open in 2001