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Productivity

12 New Year’s productivity resolution ideas

We handpicked and asked 12 experts what they're determined to accomplish in the coming year. Here are their New Year's resolutions.

First published

22.12.2022

Last edited

23.01.2024

Read time

8 minutes


    By James

    James has seven years' experience as a Content Marketer, bylines on Left Foot Forward, Submittable, and INOMICS, and a Master's in History. In his free time he likes to read, play guitar, and write for his personal blog.

    2024 is right around the corner, which means now's the perfect time to pause and reflect on the past year as well as create a list of attainable resolutions for a productive new year.

    To help you with the latter, we handpicked and asked 12 experts what they're determined to accomplish in the coming year. Here are their answers:

    Top New Year's goals

    • Stop Procrastination: Focus on planning time effectively to complete tasks promptly.
    • Eliminate Distractions: Create a calm workspace and minimize unnecessary digital engagement.
    • Make Better To-Do Lists: Use innovative tools and methods to stay organized and motivated.
    • Maintain a Regular Sleeping Pattern: Follow a consistent sleep schedule for improved focus.
    • Delegate: Invest time in setting up processes and finding the right team for delegation.
    • Stop Obsessing Over Others: Concentrate on personal work rhythms and rest for higher productivity.
    • Improve Workplace Culture: Foster an environment that reduces stress and encourages open communication.
    • Organize Inbox: Use tools to manage emails and maintain a clutter-free inbox.
    • Cut Down on Multitasking: Focus on one task at a time for better quality and efficiency.
    • Performance Management System: Implement systems to track and enhance team performance.
    • Improve Email Sorting: Keep emails organized for better time management and productivity.
    • Automate and Batch Tasks: Embrace technology for automating tasks and batching similar activities for efficiency.

    Stop procrastinating and get more done

    I know I'm not alone when I say that I have a tendency to put off tasks until the very last minute.

    And then, when I finally sit down to do them, they take longer than they should because I'm rushing and not being as thorough as I could be.

    This year, my goal is to get better at planning my time so that I can get more done in less time.

    I want to be able to take on more projects at work, as well as at home—and not let them pile up for months before getting around to them!

    Jacob Butler, Founder, Hunter Gather

    Jacob Butler, Founder, Hunter Gather

    Find more ways to eliminate distractions

    Identifying the things that distract you and coming up with strategies to minimize or eliminate them altogether helps you stay focused and improves your time efficiency in the workplace.

    This may include simple things such as finding a quiet place to work or closing unnecessary tabs on your computer.

    Keeping your environment distraction-free will ensure a productive workflow.

    Ben Walker, Owner, Ditto Transcript

    Ben Walker, Owner, Ditto Transcript

    Make better to-do lists

    An graphic representing tasks in an inbox

    To-do lists are an excellent tool for ensuring that all of your responsibilities are met while simultaneously providing you with a sense of fulfillment and an increase in the amount of both the neurotransmitter dopamine that the brain produces as a result of your success.

    If you've tried to-do lists in the past but haven't been able to keep up with them, you should experiment with a different method or tool. There are a lot of different to-do list apps, planners, and methods for developing lists, so you should have no trouble finding one that performs for you.

    Josh Pelletier, Chief Marketing Officer, BarBend

    Josh Pelletier, Chief Marketing Officer, BarBend

    Maintain a regular sleeping pattern

    It doesn't matter if you're an early bird or a night owl; getting enough sleep and keeping a consistent schedule for when you go to bed and when you wake up is essential to maintaining your productivity.

    Waking up at different times of the day and night makes it difficult to schedule your time wisely.

    Having an inconsistent timeline throws off your circadian rhythms, which can lead to grogginess and difficulty focusing.

    When planning your daily routine, be sure to take into account the times of day when you are most productive.

    Once you've settled on a consistent time for going to bed, you can make it easier for yourself to stick to it by avoiding using your mobile in bed and switching off all of your electronic devices at least an hour before you plan to go to sleep.

    Andrew Priobrazhenskyi, CEO, DiscountReactor

    Andrew Priobrazhenskyi, CEO, DiscountReactor

    Your Inbox, Smarter

    Designed for business owners and freelancers using Outlook, Gmail and Apple Mail.

    Delegate

    Most business owners have this as a goal every year. Unfortunately, it is much easier said than done.

    This is because delegation requires focused time spent preparing your process, procedures, goals, and expectations before you can even consider delegating an important project.

    Once that is done, you still need to find and hire the right person based on their skills, experience, culture-fit, and availability so you can start to delegate.

    As you can see, there are 100 decisions in this one goal. You also need a lot of focused time and commitment to achieve it.

    Christopher Glarner, Owner, ChrisGlarner.com

    Christopher Glarner, Owner, ChrisGlarner.com

    Stop obsessing over what other people are doing

    A graphic of someone climbing a ladder

    My personal productivity resolution is to stop obsessing over what other people are doing.

    We have the 5AM club, dedicated hustlers, and cold shower fanatics, and I simply can’t believe that business professionals truly believe there is a universal formula for success and productivity.

    I would try to prioritize rest more because, although it seems counterintuitive, rest is what will make you more productive in the end. It’s all about listening to what your body needs and not ignoring the first signs of burnout.

    Being productive comes down to having rhythm, i.e. achieving the balance between work and play. That’s how you get into the flow and are able to deliver top-quality work.

    Nebojsa Savicic, Co-Founder, Plainly

    Nebojsa Savicic, Co-Founder, Plainly

    Improve my workplace culture

    My New Year's productivity resolution is to improve my workplace culture.

    I want to foster a positive and healthy work culture. It will make my employees comfortable and happy.

    To create a positive workplace culture, I will adopt ways to reduce my employees' stress or mental pressure. I will also encourage them to communicate any issues with me.

    If they can't take on a task or project, I will assign people to help them. Plus, I will introduce flexible deadlines.

    I will also encourage my employees to take breaks from work. I am sure it will significantly increase their productivity in the workplace.

    Daniel Thompson, Co-Founder, Salt Water Digital

    Daniel Thompson, Co-Founder, Salt Water Digital

    Organize my inbox

    Our email inboxes are so busy these days. Sometimes, I feel like my entire job is just responding to emails. That’s why there are so many new productive AI tools designed to help you organize your inbox and be productive while using it.

    I love and have embraced this tech in order to make my work a little bit more logical.

    I’ve begun using SaneBox. SaneBox has helped me manage my mailbox and is now keeping me sane.

    One of my New Year’s resolutions is to explore other inbox management tools. Mailbutler is definitely at the top of my to-consider list. Aside from inbox management, email parsing can also be useful. You can easily export your emails and extract relevant data into a spreadsheet through certain software tools.

    Jonathan Marshall, Founder, The Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall

    Jonathan Marshall, Founder, The Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall

    Cut down on multitasking

    I am a great juggler at work, but I have realized that too much multitasking means I don't always complete certain tasks with the quality I would like.

    In 2024, I resolve to focus on individual tasks and make sure they are done perfectly and to my satisfaction before moving on to the next one.

    Keeping my multitasking to a minimum means I can focus on a few things at a time and improve both my completion rate and my effectiveness at doing all my tasks at a high level.

    Anthony Martin, Founder and CEO, Choice Mutual

    Jonathan Marshall, Founder, The Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall

    Create a system for performance management

    My goal for the coming year, 2024, is to establish a system for performance management.

    My staff plays a significant role in the success of my company, which can be helped along or held back by their performance.

    If you want to have a sense of safety even while you're not at work, I strongly recommend that you make use of a performance-management program.

    Your team's commitment to the goals of the company can be bolstered by the use of this tool. You will be able to determine who among your employees requires extra training and who has the potential to take on a leadership role.

    Emir Bacic, Co-Founder, Pricelisto

    Emir Bacic, Co-Founder, Pricelisto

    Improve email sorting

    I like to outline to all my employees that keeping their inboxes clean and email folders sorted will keep productivity high and consistent. Sometimes, I struggle with it myself due to the sheer volume of emails that keep coming in and the amount of work that has to be done.

    And when emails pile up, important messages get skipped by accident.

    So, if I were to make a New Year's resolution that's focused on productivity and efficiency, it would be to finally sort through every email address and every single message I have and keep it that way for a whole year.

    Goran Luledzija, CEO, Localizely

    Goran Luledzija, CEO, Localizely

    Keep my eyes out for potential areas of automation

    Everyday, technology simplifies our lives, but are you reaping its benefits for your company?

    Investigate potential areas of automation in your company.

    Invoicing, stock management, customer support, accounting, sales, and emails can be automated with the help of the right software.

    In addition to reducing the likelihood of human error, this also frees up your and your team's time to focus on other priorities.

    Automating more processes is definitely something I'll look into in 2024.

    Tia Campbell, Director of Marketing, Practice Reasoning Tests

    Consider batching some of your tasks

    A lot of the time what distracts us the most is notifications from Slack or Gmail reminding us of due dates and colleagues we need to get back to.

    So, if we are writing a piece of content, automating a few social media tasks, or preparing a presentation for a meeting, we get distracted by these notifications which wind up ruining what Cal Newport calls our "deep work" stage. This is a state of distraction-free concentration that allows us to reach our maximum potential when focusing on one task.

    A good solution worth trying would be to batch your tasks and mute notifications. So, you could answer all emails and slack messages during one hour of the day, have another hour for team meetings, and schedule time out for your deep work.

    This will mean that the time you do spend working will not leave you juggling between tasks but focusing all your efforts on one. If you find it hard to explain to your teammates why you cannot always be "on-call", consider showing them the research that backs this way of thinking.

    Sam Meenasian, Director of Operations, Business Insurance USA

    Sam Meenasian, Director of Operations, Business Insurance USA

    Bonus New Year goals

    Prioritize self-care

    A vital New Year's goal is to prioritize self-care. This includes dedicating time to activities that rejuvenate and relax you, such as reading, meditation, or hobbies. The benefit of this goal is a better mental and emotional state, leading to increased productivity and a more balanced life.

    Learn a new skill

    Another productive resolution is to learn a new skill. This could be anything from a new language to a professional course relevant to your career. The benefit here is twofold: it enhances your personal development and potentially opens up new opportunities in your professional life.

    Summary

    So there you have it - 12 great New Year's productivity resolution ideas you can steal and adjust to your personal needs and preferences.

    Cheers to health, happiness, and prosperity in 2024!

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