As a project manager I just love starting a new project; I have a blank page and can start creating my own framework for management and reporting (obviously within the client’s methodology 🙂 ), planning the project, building the team etc.  The issues log is blank and everyone is excited about the almost endless possibilities that lie ahead!

It is also the one and only time the project manager has to make his mark and set standards for the rest of the project.  A time of optimism which sets the scene for the rest of the project.  A project doesn’t fail at the end; it fails at the beginning because the correct preparation was not done!

And so it is with a New Year.  Think of January as the initiation of a new project which is your life in 2011.  Try and spend some time this month planning the way ahead.  Set yourself some milestones and targets to achieve.  Make sure you have a plan for the year, whether this is job related, personal development or where you are going to go on holiday it matters not.  The key is to know where you are going and roughly how you are planning to get there, but avoiding getting to September and realising 3/4 or the year has gone and you haven’t done half as much as you wanted.