5 New Year’s resolutions for startup founders

Each new beginning can serve as inspiration for both your personal and professional life. Whether you’re just starting out or a seasoned entrepreneur, these resolutions can help you stay focused, motivated and achieve your business goals:

1. Organize Yourself Better:

Getting yourself in order is the first obvious step to getting your business in order.

It can be a New Year’s resolution to start using and stick to a productivity system.

Getting Things Done by David Allen, for example, is a classic and well suited for startup founders.

Of course, there are many other viable methods of self-organization. Once you find the one that works best for you, it’s hard to stick with it (as is the case with most New Year’s resolutions).

Productivity systems are great not only because they help you get more done, but also because they help you keep up with the demands of your business and avoid burnout. This leads us to the second New Year’s resolution in this list:

2. Take Better Care Of Yourself:

Getting yourself in order doesn’t just mean organizing your priorities, tasks and agenda. It means keeping your body and mind healthy.

Since the average entrepreneur is 50% more likely to have mental health problems such as anxiety and depression than the average person, this is easier said than done.

Nevertheless, there are plenty of things you can do to keep your sanity in check as a startup founder.

Of course, making this a priority will not only help you better control your business, but it will also improve your overall well-being and enjoyment of life.

3. Look for New Business Opportunities:

Make a commitment to continuous learning and staying abreast of industry trends and best practices.

It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day running of your business and lose sight of the big picture. It’s a great idea to take time out to research other industries and companies because it’s a great way to look for ways to expand your own business and find new sources of income, which is crucial in the long run.

4. Set Clear Goals:

Identify specific, measurable goals for your business and create a plan to achieve them.

For example, the goal could be “to grow our sales by 50%”, and the strategy could be to open a new product line for a niche market you know.

You can also choose to focus on customer satisfaction, which is always the right approach building and growing a startup.

To make the goal clear, it’s a good idea to start measuring your customer satisfaction and think about strategies and tactics to increase your score over the next year.

5. Improve Your Management Skills:

The first step in building a cohesive, collaborative team culture within your startup is leading by example, and to do that it pays to actively work on improving yourself.

If there’s one skill most important to success as a founder, it’s your ability to communicate effectively and influence people.

That’s why it can be a good resolution to look for opportunities to learn and grow as a leader and mentor to your team in the coming year.

Of course, these are just a few ideas for you to choose from. Any specific resolution startup founders can make depends on their individual goals and priorities, so choose carefully based on your own situation and aspirations!