The past year has forced many of us to revisit our assumptions about the world and about financial security. The most important lesson we can take from our experience is that we can't control what others do, only the actions we take. The beginning of a new year is a good time to review our goals and adjust our plans. It's time to sit down and evaluate how we did last year and adjust our expectations for the coming year to reflect the reality around us. You might even want to open those retirement account statements sitting on the desk and verify the damage. Remember, you can't change the economy but you can change your approach.

As a coach, I've seen how easy it is to adopt a goal and how difficult it is to develop a plan to reach that goal - let alone take the actions every day that will allow you to actually achieve it. I'm a believer in "baby steps" - small actions that you take every day to move you closer to your goal, things that allow you to measure progress.

We all want to know that we are making progress, but sometimes what we choose to measure makes it impossible to actually see the progress. For example, if your goal is $240,000 in revenue for the year, you might be looking at $20,000 as a monthly goal. If, in the first two months you have revenue of $32,000 and $8,000 are you reaching your goals? It's hard to tell.

What if we look at the same situation in a different way? What is your plan for reaching that yearly goal? What steps are you taking every week? Every day? Every hour? The smaller the pieces, the better you are able to focus on actions - the actions you need to take to reach your goals. It's no longer just one big goal, or 12 smaller goals but a series of small achievable actions that you can measure every day. If you establish a realistic goal and develop a sensible plan, you will quickly see the progress you are making or the things you need to change. That's how successful people manage their days, by measuring their actions. From the outside it looks like giant leaps, but inside it's just baby steps.

Take some time to reflect on what you want your world to look like a year from now. Establish your goals, develop your plans and decide what actions you will need to take every day to make progress. Focus on the actions and the results will follow. If this makes sense to you, send me an email request with your name and address and I'll mail you a pad of custom sticky notes that you can use to remind yourself of the three most important tasks you need to accomplish each day.

Have you thought about your sales force lately? Even if you have no employees you still have a sales force. They could be selling for you or for your competition, but they'll be spending every day selling. It's all those people who know you and know your business. What are they telling the people they meet? That's something you control, so take the time to formulate a message and broadcast it by word and deed. You'll be surprised how many people will speak highly of you if you give them something good to work with.

What's the best question you can be asked at a networking event? It is: "How would I know if someone is a good referral for you?" The goal is to get the person you are talking to to ask you that question. It's not that difficult and you can probably get it to happen 80 percent of the time.

You've probably noticed that people tend to respond to your question by answering it and then asking the same question of you. In a good conversation there's an active exchange of information, moving from the general to the specific. If you show a genuine interest, they will probably show the same level of interest. As you develop a rapport you have the opportunity to ask questions that guide the conversation. Eventually, you can ask your "goal" question and then wait expectantly for them to ask you the same. This is your golden opportunity, so make sure your answer has been prepared in advance.