My book, Learn to Power Think, has been published in several countries, and in our virtual world podcasts, videos and articles can be seen by all. I love that. I get emails and sometimes even calls from people sharing how the words in that book, or the business building ideas in a video or podcast made a difference for them. I am genuinely touched. I am given a huge dose of positive energy, or what I like to call positive emotional capital. It makes me feel like Wonder Woman®, and that all the hours are really worth it. We benefit greatly from the positive emotional capital we can gain from our business.

I encourage you to work for more then just monetary capital. Positive emotional capital is powerful. Those who do not have it get burnt out and stressed out— even when they are making a ton of money—because impacting people and uplifting their lives or their businesses is my greatest reward. It is better than any paycheck. Are you getting enough emotional capital? What can you do to get more?

I love the new year! I love resolutions, and I love the optimism and possibility thinking that goes along with them. I have seen many times that they can work and believe in making them. Just like in your personal life you probably have some ideas for what you want to be different this year in your business.

As you make resolutions and do your business planning for this year, apply these principles to ensure that your business is more solid, more prosperous and running smoother this time next year.

Know The Truth
Often times business owners make plans and set goals before they have sat down and taken a good look at the truth of what really happened in their business for the proceeding year. Do you know your cost of goods sold or how many marketing dollars it takes to acquire a new client? Can you say what percentage of your business is repeat business? Are you aware of what percentage of your revenue was generated by which products or services? These are just a few of the many questions to answer to better formulate your goals and plans for this year.

Be Optimistic
If you are a positive person, an optimist, you might even be avoiding planning right now because you do not want to set any goals because of you is afraid you might not achieve them due to the current economic reality. Plan and set goals anyway.

Attitude matters a great deal in business. Everyday, make sure you and everyone you work with has a positive disposition. It will result in more productivity and a better business experience. Hold the intention to be positive in the running of your business. You will feel better and have more fun.

Cultivate a Team of Super Stars
To truly have a business breakthrough, most businesses would benefit from focusing on this area. Are you happy with your webmaster, your accountant, your strategic alliance partners, your business coach or consultant? Can you say that they are doing a great job for you? If you are not thrilled with everyone that helps you meet your business objectives, then make a change. Finding good people who are experts at what they do, who do their work with a positive attitude and who genuinely care that you are successful, are the kinds of people you want on your success team. Do not settle for less because you are too busy to find someone better. It will be worth you’re the investment of your time and attention.

Thinking and Planning
Taking time for thinking and planning is key to moving your business forward. Thinking and planning should be a daily success practice: something you do everyday to have a productive day today, while also moving you toward your longer-term goals. Find your optimal time for thinking and planning. Both the beginning and the end of the day work great. Choose one and stick with it.

Review Regularly
When I ask a client what there goal is for an area of their business – sales, new clients, new products – and they have to find their goal sheet or file before they can answer my question, I know they are nowhere near their goal even before they respond. I have seen this hundreds of times. You want to review your mission/objectives/goals and plans at least daily – twice a day is better. The more your goals are in your head as well as on paper, the more momentum, focus and great ideas will flow to support you in getting where you want to go.

Minimize The Grabbing The Shiny Objects
One thing that happens when you are a successful business owner is that everybody wants to partner with you, offer you a business opportunity, share their latest venture with you and get you somehow involved.

Even though sometimes you might say “yes,” learn to say “no.” Remain focused on what you have set out to do. These exciting opportunities can be considered if they are in alignment with your mission, vision and goals. You have to be diligent in determining if an opportunity is something that will help your move forward or if it is something that is clearly a distraction.

Follow The Energy
Everything you do takes not only time, it also take physical energy, and mental brainpower and focus. The more things on your plate, the more mentally scattered you could feel. That’s why too many things on your plate can be a deterrent to your business success.

The other thing about energy is that you want to pay attention to what in your business draws you. What you go to first, what you do with enthusiasm and what feels like a struggle or hard work.

Energy is a great assessment tool. Use it to determine the truth about where you should put your energy in your business and where you should take your energy and attention off to maximize your effectiveness.

Stay the Course
One of the great things about having your own business is that you can change something in your business in an instant. You can add or subtract a new product or service rather quickly.

This can sometimes be a big mistake. If you try something once and it is not a huge success, do not scrap it. Instead upgrade it from what you learned the first time and try it a couple more times to get a true read if it is right for your business. What have you done in the past that deserves another shot?

The Old Adage Still Applies
There is a lot of talk about work less – make more, and ways to build a profitable business in only a few hours a week.
I love the concepts and principles and they are worth exploring and applying to your business as appropriate.

The old adage that there is no substitute for hard work still applies. Hard work still works. You do have to show up most of the time to accomplish what you want in your business. Hopefully, you love your work so much that there are times it feels more like a privilege then work. This is the place you want to get to. I mean, really how long can you lay on the beach with an umbrella beverage before it feels boring? I give it a week –maybe 10 days.

Apply the principles outlined above and you will find that this time next year you are happier, wealthier and ready for your next resolution.

Paying Attention to Your Self-talk
Everything you say to yourself either serves you or sabotages you. Do you tell yourself you can do it, do you tell yourself you deserve it or do you tell yourself something different, something less supportive? Turn those thoughts around and replace them with positive self talk. Positive thoughts add vitality to your body- negative thoughts deplete your vitality- it is the physiological truth.

Take Time at the End of Each Day to Plan for The Next Day
Take 15 minutes to clear your desk and make a list of the top three-five things you need to get done tomorrow. Then once you get those done, you can go back and pick five more. The truth is our brains can’t handle more than a few main things at a time.

Focus on One Thing at a Time
Work on one project, one set of phone calls, one proposal, at a time. It is more productive. Ignore all those emails coming in and get that proposal done and out the door, or make those follow-up/check-in calls you have been putting off. Then move on to the next most important thing. Yes, I know we all (especially women) like to think that we can dance with the myriad of tasks on our voluminous To Do List.  The truth is, we can get a lot more done by focusing on one thing at a time. Also, you will be surprised at how much less time that big project will take when you put your full attention on it.

And lastly, laugh and have a little fun every day. Life it to enjoy.

Feel free to post a question in the comments area and I will do my best to respond in a future blog entry. Also, let me know what you think about the above ideas.