It’s that time of year where you are probably starting to think about resolutions for 2021. 

If so, you’re going to want to watch this week’s episode of “Mind Your Own Business” This week on “Mind Your Own Business,” I want to talk to you about New Year’s resolutions and specifically how you can use an excellent, straightforward framework called “Stop-Start Keep” to bring your New Year’s resolutions to life and to make them a little bit more interesting and a lot more useful.

This is the way it works: grab a piece of paper and put three headings on: Stop, Start, Keep, and what you’re going to do is you’re going to identify the things that you’re going to stop doing the things that you’re going to start doing and things that you’re going to keep doing in 2021.

 I really like this framework; it’s a little bit more holistic, it’s much more simple than coming up with like 20 new things that you’re going to do over the next 12 months, and in my experience, you stand a much better chance of actually following through using this tool so let’s talk about the things that you need to stop doing.

 First, If you can identify the things that you need to stop doing, then you’re going to be in a position where you can start to create space and bandwidth for the new things; what are the things that you know are holding you back some of the bad habits that you’ve developed that you need to work on to stop doing in 2021.

 Next up, what do you need to start doing and take this to the next level and make it much more realistic and easy to implement. What I’d like you to do is just in brackets; next to whatever you write down, just identify the first step that you need to take to implement that particular new thing.

 So, for example, if what you’d like to start doing is exercising regularly, then in brackets, it’s something like, find a personal trainer or join the local football club or whatever it is for you.

 What are the things that you want to keep doing in 2021? It’s really important to take stock of all of those good habits that you’ve established and to make sure that you keep on top of those new habits because what you don’t want to do is start all this new stuff and then just slowly forget about all of the good stuff that’s serving you well and helping you you know to perform at your best right now.

 So that’s the framework. It’s straightforward what you need to stop doing, what you need to start doing, and what you need to keep doing to have a great start to 202.

If you’re looking for more new business advice, then we’d like to see you every week on “Mind Your Own Business,”

Marco Soares is an award-winning business coach based in Sussex and is available if you’d like help implementing any of the tactics from “Mind Your Own Business”.