Hoping your business will become what you want it to be is not going to cut it. To make 2025 the best year yet, you are going to have to get specific about what you want and start employing behaviors that make it possible.Here are five steps that will help you get there.Figure out what you want more of (and what you want less of)Shaping your business into something that truly works for you isn’t something that happens accidentally. It takes a great deal of intentionality and a willingness to identify with clarity what you expect from it. Determining what you want from your business – and what you absolutely don’t want from it – are the first steps in bending it to your will. I recommend writing a job description that defines what your business is supposed to do for you. In the same way that you have specific expectations for an employee or contractor, you should have clearly defined expectations for your business so you can hold it accountable to those outcomes.Identify activities and behaviors that are getting in the way Once you know what you expect from your business, you can start optimizing by identifying the best ways to invest your precious time, energy, and focus. Are your day-to-day behaviors making it more and less likely that your business will be able to help you get more of what you want? Are you busying yourself with work that feels good or are you focusing your efforts on activities that propel you toward your desired outcomes? Are you accomplishing work that only you can do, or are you allowing less valuable pursuits to distract from this essential work? How does someone who already has what you want invest their time, energy, and focus?Create documentation for activities you need to delegateNow that you have a clear picture of what you want from your business and how to best spend your time, energy, and focus, it’s time to ensure you have the systems and documentation in place to offload as much of the other stuff as you can. It’s okay to start small, but start. Make a list of the work you need to let go of and start documenting how do them. Write them in a google doc, create a handwritten checklist, use a tool like Loom to record a screencast as you demonstrate the activity… There are many ways to capture these instructions but don’t get hung up on perfection, just get started. You can improve them as you go. Waiting until you know how to do it perfectly is the true mistake.Identify employees, contractors, or software to whom you can delegateYou are likely not going to be able to offload everything immediately. It’s going to take some time, but the very best way to get there is to start identifying the kind of people (or tools) you need. Is there someone on your current team that could absorb some of these activities? Do you need to explore adding employees or finding contractors who could help in a fractional capacity? Are there software tools that could take these activities off your plate or at least simplify them to the point that they are easier to delegate?If you begin to focus your mind on opportunities to delegate – instead of all the reasons why you can’t – you will be amazed at how many possibilities exist.Review your progressBuilding a business that works for you isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it kind of project. You are going to have to measure your progress and course correct over and over again to get where you are going.I recommend creating “Workday Startup,” “Workday Shutdown,” and “Weekly Review” rituals to help you stay consistently oriented to your priorities.I’m going to address each of these rituals in greater detail in the coming weeks, but here are some quick examples:If you want 2025 to be different, you’re going to have to behave differently.