Happy New Year!

I've never been a fan of 31st December celebrations. My birthday is just before Christmas, then there's the chaos of the festive season itself, and by the 28th I'm just exhausted with it all and want to curl up in a ball, PJs on, in front of a cheesy film. I didn't even like New Year's Eve when I was younger - it seemed ridiculous to be celebrating new beginnings in the middle of winter, invariably a cold, wet and murky day, very rarely crisply twinkling with snow and dappled light. Winter to me is a time for hibernation, for hunkering down, layering up so that the seeds of ideas that that have fallen the previous year or that have been carefully planted can germinate, and begin the process of creating strong roots. Whilst that all may sound a bit lyrical, bear with me - there's a logic to it!

You see January hasn't always been the start of the new year. Not until 45BC did January 1st gain it's status as the herald of all things new, as Julius Caesar introduced the Roman calendar. Before that the start of the Spring Equinox in March was celebrated for its acknowledgement of new beginnings, and that makes much more sense to me. You just have to look around at this time of year, even in the most urban of settings, to see green shoots sprouting, buds forming, birds livening up (and waking us all up much earlier!) then there's the whole lighter mornings and evenings thing, with even more hours during which to be productive to add into the mix....... And in so many calendars, the Spring is seen as a time of rebirth and renewal, a time to put past mistakes behind us, and to once again get excited about new possibilities ahead.

So for me, the start of the new financial year has always been more thrilling than that dreary old 1st January. It always involves a trip to the stationery shop - new pens, note pads, post its, all gearing me up for the bursting forth of new ideas. For the majority of British businesses it also heralds the start of new budgets (hopefully with a nice healthy surplus being carried forward) including training and development budgets, which offer the thrilling prospect of developing skills and capabilities, learning new ways of doing things, challenging our thinking. Fresh starts abound, new ways of doing things, new partnerships, new objectives. Anne of Greengables (always a fave book for getting me back on track) said 'Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it yet'; well so it the new financial year! It's a time to (having learnt from our mistakes) move forward, try different ways of doing things, and in some cases, draw a line.

So instead of thinking about those New Year resolutions hastily set at five to midnight on 31st December, why not think about setting some personal goals for the new financial year in the same light? OK so that may not be losing weight or doing Dry January, but it COULD be setting aside some time in the working week for personal development, or ensuring that your team has a monthly focus on mental health and wellbeing, or establishing some new organisational cultural norms like reading hours, peer support groups, accountability buddies. This to me seems the PERFECT time for establishing some new working habits that will make you more productive, yes, but also more content and engaged, more inspired, more motivated.

So whether it's setting small personal goals like ensuring your desk is tidy and ready for a fresh week each Friday afternoon (getting all those pens in order!), or really quite big ones like gaining clarity over your future career aspirations, professional goals such as going for a promotion or funding for a new project, development goals, and they could be anything from attending a time management seminar to finally getting that Masters on track, or financial goals around increasing sales and cutting fixed overheads, why not see 6th April as an alternative New Year, get out the bunting, and celebrate new possibilities.

Happy New Year!