Christmas is about the only time that most of us get at least a few days off to over indulge, pick fluff from our belly buttons, catch up on sleep and generally put our feet up. But apart from a time to chill out, it’s also a great time to sit back and reflect on the year that was in both our business and our personal lives.

I like to use this time to clarify a few things. I like to look back on the year and figure out what I did that I’m really proud of? What were my greatest achievements in this year? Who did I help? How did I make the planet better in some way? How have I grown as a human being? These are the good things and we all need to give ourselves a gentle pat on the back for a job well done.

I also like to think about the things I didn’t do so well, not to beat myself up, but so I have something to improve on in the coming year. I ask questions along the lines of what could I have done better this year? What are the things that I didn’t get done? What decisions did I make that weren’t very good decisions? What are the things I shouldn’t have done?

Then I make a short list of what I have learnt from the year that is ending. This covers the good and the not so good, in all aspects of my life. This helps me to learn from my mistakes and at the same time it reminds me to celebrate my victories, two things that we often don’t do enough of.

Once I have done my reflecting and learning I like to spend some time visualising the year ahead. I ask myself how do I want 2012 to look for me? What do I want to achieve both personally and professionally? Who do I want in my life? Who don’t I want in my life? What am I going to do to help others? What are my big goals? What are my small goals? What types of projects do I want to work on? What are the skills I want to learn?

The reality is that most people work way too hard these days, especially business owners. For many it is a real luxury to spend time reflecting and planning, but it is a real necessity. We need to feel some measure of progress to reinforce the fact that we are “getting there”, wherever “there” may be for you. We need to put some perspective around the year and we need to start 2012 a little smarter than we left 2011.

But most of all, now is the time to get excited about the future. To make plans, to set goals, to figure out how you are going to achieve these goals and to get fired up.

This might sound simple and as my new tag line for life states, the problem with common sense is that it just aint that common any more.

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Most small businesses have key personal. This is normally the owner or manger and they seem to be the person or the people that receive a hundred phone calls a day, a pile of faxes, emails , letters and other forms of communication. If you are one of those people you will know and completely understand that at times it is very hard to move forward in your business because you get so bogged down in the day to day activities.

This is an area that I have often struggled with over the years. It is often easier to do things yourself rather than take the time to explain to a staff member how to do a particular job and then follow up to make sure that it is done.

One of the most surprising observations that I have made of successful business people is that often they are not actually that busy. Their day is full but they tend to start work at reasonable hours and finish work at a reasonable hour and they have a strong support team around them. They don’t waste time doing small or repetitive jobs that waste their time. They expend their energy and personal resources on making decisions and moving the business forward.

A prime example of this is something as simple as using a courier. For years I would find myself driving all over town dropping off documents for clients. By the time I got myself organised, got in the car, found the premises, stopped and had a chat, did a few other chores and then headed back to the office I was wasting at least one hour for every drop off I did. Now during a week I would probably have to make ten to fifteen deliveries like this so I was losing upwards of ten to fifteen hours per week in what I thought, was an attempt to save a few dollars. Then when I sat down and realised that I was losing so much work time each week I quickly adopted the services of a courier who charges a few dollars for each delivery, saving me a lot of time where I can actually be making money.

Now I know that this must seem obvious however it really wasn’t. When I started my business I would only do one or two drop offs each week so it really wasn’t a big deal and to be honest it was nice to get out of the office. But over several years, business increased and before I knew it I was spending far more time doing a task that was basically sending me broke.

Delegation is a hard skill to learn and one that does not come naturally for many people. There are courses that can be done in virtually any city around the world and there are also some excellent books that cover the subject in detail. Some of my clients have found it particularly helpful to talk to friends and associates who are good at delegating to ask for tips and advice.

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