It’s the new year and by now everyone has made their New Year Resolutions. Hopefully most of us are sticking to them, but let’s be honest– most of us have already moved on and gave up on that resolution. Some people say it takes 30 days to break a bad habit or start a new one. I say it takes commitment. Commitment to your goals and accepting change. Your comfort zone is nice, but nothing ever grows there.

Highlight the areas in you work life where you can improve on. Everyone has them, even though they may not want to admit they do. Start with little things like being more organized, time management, or even allowing yourself more time in the morning to properly fuel your body. Then move onto highlighting future events or projects you’d like to do well in. Those smaller goals will prepare you for the bigger goals to come.

Write it down. Writing down your goals or things you need to improve on works wonders, especially for people who are visual learners. That’s why vision boards are so popular, your goals or ideas on display for you to see all the time. You can list daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly goals. Whatever it may be, write them down, and speak them into existence. They aren’t just something in your mind anymore. These goals and habits are real, and they are going to happen. When they do, you can have the satisfaction of crossing them off your list.

Trust the process. Practice is controlled failure. If your goal is to grow your networking skills, then you should be practicing every chance you get. Take opportunities to meet new people and partake in conversations you usually wouldn’t. When the time comes to meet someone whom you’d like to do business with you will be more comfortable, because it will be something that comes natural to you. Starting new habits isn’t going to be easy and there are going to be hard days, so stay tough and push yourself to stay committed. You will surprise yourself with how susceptible to change you can be, especially when it is benefiting your career.

Reclaim your time. What they say is right, TIME IS MONEY. If you feel like you are investing your time into something that isn’t beneficial to your career then recognize that. Learn how manage your time for the goals or habits that need more attention. Use that new time you’ve acquired and put it towards business plans and invest it elsewhere. Your time is valuable and it should be treated as such.

Learn to accept failure. You are going to experience failure numerous times in your life. Great people have ran into failure hundreds of times. Don’t have a negative relationship with failure, because it is a massive part of being successful. Failure is where all of the lessons are, and it helps you recognize the areas where you need to evolve. Learn from those mistakes, and apply those lessons you learned into achieving your goals.

-Guest writer, Dee Caples