Today is the first of 5 working days during which I will be predominantly based in my office at home (The Barrow Bunker) and investing time in preparation for 2016.

The successful habit here is to book a week in your calendar, every 3 months, where you do not have to pursue sales, productivity and your unique ability – and have some room in which to think and plan.

Depending on your circumstances, this could include meetings with your business partners, managers or support team.

In my case, the activity this week will mainly be solo.

I’m going to finalise my calendar for 2016, with 12 weeks of vacation (that’s been in my plan since 1996), a preparation day (Monday) every working week and the remaining days allocated to my clients.

My personal cash flow forecast for next year will be completed by close of play on Wednesday, so that I will have an accurate projection of expenses for the year, then to be updated with actual expenditure every Sunday morning.

This will also be an opportunity to think about who I want to show up as in 2016 – using Tom Morris’s definition of True Success, I will be asking myself what has to happen for me to love what I do, when I do it and who I do it with.

If I can get that right, the sales and profitability will follow.

In spite of my solo week, I am part of a growing team at 7connections and I’ll be asking myself how I intend to perform and behave as a partner, a leader and a manager in that team.

I’ve noticed a new addition to the thinking agenda in recent years, asking myself how technology and the IoT will assist in my development?

Finally (and by no means least) a consideration of the lives that my clients will lead next year.

For what problems will they require solutions?

How can 7connections help them to create those solutions?

In what way can our solutions be simple and elegant?

I’m excited about working ON my business and about having the space and time to THINK about a bigger future.