Stick with your business goals

When January goes past, chances are some of your personal New Year’s resolutions have already fallen by the wayside. Don’t let the same thing happen to your business goals. Strategic attainable professional resolutions can help you determine where you are now — and where you want to go, says Liz Hughes, excecutive director at Office Team, an administrative staffing firm in Meno Park, Calif. Unfortunately, she says, “Professional goals often take a backseat to daily workloads and other priorities.”

It doesn’t have to be that way. Hughes offers the following advice to help you stick with your program:

• Keep your goals handy. Write them down and keep the information visible.
• Buddy up. Enlist the help of friends and colleagues to keep you on track. If your goal is to expand your Rolodex, for example, invite an associate to attend a networking function with you.
• Break them up. Overly ambitious or time-consuming goals are doomed to fail. Instead, break your objectives into manageable bites, and outline targets for each quarter.
• Be flexible. Setbacks will happen. Be prepared to adopt a new strategy when the old one isn’t working.
• Consider your goals a work in progress. As you accomplish your goals, cross them off your list. Remember to add new ones during the year.