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The Lean Start-up: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries

The lean philosophy focuses exclusively on the end customer, cutting away expenditure and resources that don’t work towards this goal. Eric Ries expands on the core concept of closely monitoring the customer’s needs, drawing on his many years of experience in the start-up world. His advice is particularly relevant for eCommerce businesses, where the user experience governs everything from the website layout to the product design.

The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen

The Innovator’s Dilemma tackles the tricky subject of evolving your business to accommodate new technology and business models. Too many companies dismiss and fail to adapt to new innovations as their customers cannot currently use them, without having the foresight to anticipate their future value. This means a number of great ideas never fulfil their potential and can cause a business to lose market dominance. Christensen is a Harvard professor and businessman, using both his theoretical knowledge, as well as real-world business acumen, to create a road map for continued success.

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Despite being almost 80 years old, this business classic continues to influence and inspire entrepreneurs and business people around the world. Its lesson focus on key areas such as goal setting, with timeless advice and ideas that have the power to change your life. It breaks the path to success into 13 key stages, providing you with a philosophy of personal achievement.

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Blink explores the science behind decision-making, with the main concept being “thin-slicing”. This is the idea that spontaneous decisions are equal to, or even better than, planned and prepared ones. This can be valuable when building an online business, with a focus on instinct as a way to avoid “analysis paralysis” and react to new technologies quickly and proactively.

Lucky or Smart? by Bo Peabody

Bo Peabody was an Internet multi-millionaire by the age of 27. He had grown five different companies across a range of industries, and steered them through economic twists and turns. In this book, he lays out the 50 most important things he has learnt and how he knows that being lucky is as important as being smart. This book is designed to help entrepreneurs put themselves in the position to take advantage of opportunities and create your own luck.

Sound familiar? Let’s look at how you can STICK to your New Year’s resolutions and make 2016 your best year yet.

Step 1 – Tell somebody

“But I’ve told my mum,” you say. Yeah…that’s not quite what we mean.

See, while your mum is perfectly lovely, she’s bound to support you unconditionally,regardless of whether you fail to make progress on your resolutions. And that just won’t do. You need some Tough Love. And that means going PUBLIC with your resolutions. No, we don’t mean you need to declare your intentions to the whole office in a drunken stupor at the Christmas party. Try one of these options instead:

• If you have a blog, it’s a great place to announce those resolutions to the world or your group of followers (and once the new year hits, post regular updates – see Step 2 below)
• Post your intentions to your social network – LinkedIn or Twitter are particularly useful if you want to keep the audience limited/professional
• Alternatively, if you want to keep your intentions private from colleagues, find someone reliable outside of family to share the plan with. A good friend or close work colleague perhaps.

Remember, once it’s out in ‘public’, the closer it is to becoming a reality.

Step 2 – Track your progress

The first step was easy. Now you actually have to hold up your end of the bargain. You need to record your progress so you can see how you’re tracking against your goals.

• If you’re fond of the old-school Dale Carnegie approach, I recommend grabbing a notebook and scribbling achievements as they happen at the back. It’s also a really great excuse to get yourself a fancy Moleskine.
• Get social on it – create a hashtag so people can follow your story on social media
• Bloggers – Make video updates with your iPhone or webcam or design a monthly newsletter for your subscribers.

Step 3 – Make it a competition

There are undoubtedly hundreds of others in the same boat, either at your own workplace or competing workplaces. Get HR on board and devise an intra-office or inter-workplace competition with regular check-ins and a nice juicy reward at the end.

Step 4 – Get creative with the penalties!

The key to any successful New Year’s Resolution is to ensure there is a fallout of notfollowing through. For example:

• If you slip up you’re on coffee duty for the rest of the week
• Offer to do everyone’s paperwork if you miss a check-in/target/milestone
• Promise you’ll look after the interns for the whole day if you don’t follow-through
• Tell IT to cancel your work Spotify subscription for the rest of the year (I know it’s cruel but I’m trying to help).

Step 5 – Reward yourself

Here at WorkflowMax we’re all about positive reinforcement! And the best way to reward yourself for staying on track is to make sure you schedule in regular treats along the way. It might be something as small as a voucher, or as elaborate as a fancy dinner out…most importantly, remember to have some fun.

So, in the interests of your mental health, we’ve put together the top five ways to ensure you relax this Christmas, because – just like other achievements – relaxing takes planning.

1. Prepare for your holiday, don’t just take it

If you run into your holidays at full speed, it could take half of your time off just to unwind. Take some time before your holiday to prepare: if you’re going away, pack ahead of time and build the anticipation. When you do this, you can go into day one of your vacation fully rested and ready to enjoy.

2. Equip your team, and yourself, for your break

Leaving work behind is difficult. If you can, spend at least two weeks before you leave asking yourself questions like “what needs to be completed so that very little needs doing while I’m away?” and “ do those remaining at work have what they need to do it?”. By having these things sorted before you leave, you can have peace of mind knowing that everything will be okay in your absence.

3. Pick a goal for your holidays

Work tends to fill a void, so you are more likely to chill out if you have another goal. Nothing too strenuous; it could be something as simple as reading a few books, taking pictures, or a fitness goal like walking each day. You’ll feel less restless and more rested if you have some easy, relaxing goals.

4. Make sure your out-of-office auto-replies are on before you leave

Otherwise you’ll have to log into your email while you’re on leave and you’ll be straight back in work mode again.

5. Check out the Christmas lights

Finally – nothing takes you to the parallel Christmas universe faster than checking out the Christmas lights, especially if you have kids.