New Year is an excellent time to reflect on the past, evaluate where you are in both your professional and personal life, and set goals for yourself.

Planning can help you progress towards achieving your goals and help you make tangible changes to your routine. This blog post will provide a step-by-step guide to help you effectively set up New Year resolutions that include both personal and professional objectives.

Step 1: Reflect on Your Current Situation

Before setting any goals for the upcoming year, it's essential to take some time to reflect on your current situation.

Take a few moments to think about what has been working for you and what could use improvement. This will give you a better idea of what areas need more attention or focus to reach your desired outcome.

Being honest with yourself and identifying what needs to change is the first step in setting effective New Year resolutions.

Step 2: Set SMART Goals

Once you know what needs to be done, the next step is to create specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals that will help you work toward success.

Consider both short-term and long-term goals when crafting yours. These goals will help keep you motivated and accountable throughout the year and help boost your productivity.  

Step 3: Break Down Your Goals into Actionable Steps

Once you've determined which objectives should be prioritized, break them down into smaller, more manageable steps. This helps ensure that tasks can be completed within a reasonable timeframe while keeping track of progress along the way. Religiously tracking KPIs can help in this situation.

For example, if one of your personal goals is to exercise five days a week, create a schedule with specific days and times dedicated towards physical activity each week for it to become part of your routine.

Another example within a professional setting could be setting an output goal for a project. Set target time frames for each project stage, and make sure to track your progress along the way.

Step 4: Automate Where Possible

Finally, finding ways to automate specific processes can free up additional time so that you can focus on other areas that need attention or energy invested in them.

Automation technology such as Blue Onion can help streamline manual accounting data processing, like bank reconciliation, so accounting teams can spend their valuable time leveraging data insights and focusing on other strategic initiatives.

This is the opposite of what most do, spending too much time chasing numbers from hundreds of spreadsheets every month-end.

While some people are scared of embracing automation and artificial intelligence, the truth is that it can be a powerful ally in achieving your goals.

Achieving Your Goals: Unleash Your Best New Year Yet

New Year resolutions offer an excellent opportunity for individuals, both professionally and personally, to achieve their desired outcomes while making measurable progress over one year or longer when appropriately executed with forethought and planning.

To get started, follow the above steps to ensure that you're setting SMART goals and breaking them into actionable steps. Don't be afraid to leverage resources such as automation technology to help lighten the workload and make achieving your goals easier.

Finally, remember that with commitment and dedication, anything is possible! Here's to a prosperous year!