It’s the age-old question that many of us ask, but how do you really get what you want in life? The start of a new year is always a great time to assess your current situation and seek out areas for improvement, but the refinements don’t have to stop there.

In fact, the biggest mistake most people make when they’re looking to improve their lives is that they believe it’s a one-time process.

In reality, life goals are constantly ebbing and flowing throughout your life and that means satisfaction is a dynamic process. Therefore, if you’re looking to start a new business venture or take an exciting business to new heights in 2016, you have to be prepared to work for it and, importantly, keep working for it.

However, as you know, every great journey starts with a single step. So, with this in mind, here are some of our top tips to getting what you want in business this year.

Recognise Your Needs

One of the most important things you can do to help improve your business outlook in 2016 is to look inside and into the future. Only by recognising your current thoughts and feelings can you then look towards the future to get a clear picture of how you can improve things.

According to The Circle, you can only know if it’s time to change if you focus on three main areas of your life and follow six simple steps. From your home and family life to relationships and your current career, you need to look at each area, assess the current dynamics and then set yourself an achievable end goal.

As an aspiring entrepreneur this could be a better bottom-line, a more efficient marketing program you need to identify where you’re weak and then complete The Circle’s six-step plan:

• Take your time to consider what needs changing

• Plan how you are going to make these changes

• Discuss and ask for support from friends and family

• Give yourself a date or time to achieve this

• Focus on the end goal

• Take the first step

Leverage Your Position

Assuming you already have a business, another way you get what you want in 2016 is by maximising your leverage. This is basically the advantage a business party has in an arrangement and it’s something you should be striving for in all your deals in 2016.

Again, as with your business goals in general, you first need to assess where you sit before you look to improve your leverage. Essentially, if you don’t know if you have leverage in a situation then it’s likely you don’t. However, you can change that.

By understanding the needs and motives of your clients and partners, you can tailor your services to suit their needs. For example, if a customer wants cheaper prices then you can leverage your position by cutting costs where possible and passing these on in the form of cheaper prices.

One point that’s worth noting is that leverage is dynamic. What may have given you leverage once won’t always, so it’s important to constantly reassess your situation in order to maintain valuable leverage.

Gain Their Respect

According to Apple’s Steve Jobs, the key to any business is respect. Before you can leverage your position, innovate and become a household name you need to gain the respect of your peers and customers.

Of course, getting respect from everyone is a tricky task for anyone. However, for Jobs, the solution was simple: hard work. Despite suffering from Kidney stones in 1996, Jobs would work from 7am until 9pm every day alongside his colleagues to ensure his operating system was not only stable but a market leader.

This act not only helped create a product that would make Apple one of the biggest companies in the world, but it earned Jobs the respect of his peers and after that they would follow his instructions implicitly.

Basically, if you want to achieve your business goals in 2016 you need to assess your personal circumstances, find your leverage point and work harder than everyone else around you. Simple.