Now is a great time to consider your business and personal intentions for the upcoming year.

I believe “intention” is a more deliberate form of internal planning and has more staying power than resolutions, which we all know can be easily broken or ignored.

Here are some of my favorite intentions:

1. Be strategically creative - set aside time each week to clear your mind and brainstorm “crazy” ideas.

2. Hire smart - employ people who have different skill sets and new perspectives. Then delegate, delegate, delegate. Be sure to give them meaningful work.

3. Embrace technology - don’t ‘make do’ with aging equipment, buy a new one. And for goodness sake, back up your business data on a regular basis!

4. Learn and grow - information is power. Read more. Learn to use those little orange RSS icons to get news on the Internet. Subscribe to industry magazines, blogs and podcasts. Read a bestseller.

5. Be grateful - where would your business be without your employees, your customers, your vendors and suppliers? Gratitude is free - thank them!

6. Do pro bono work - make the place you live a better place. Find a cause you believe in and give what you can - time, money knowledge.

7. Be green - replace those light bulbs, take a walk, carpool, recycle paper, wear a sweater. You’ll feel better and your grandchildren will appreciate it someday.

8. Schedule time for you - make dates with yourself to recharge and refresh, and put them in your calendar. If you don’t invest in yourself, who will?

9. Envision your future - where do you want to be, both personally and professionally, the Friday before Christmas next year? If you can’t see it, you can’t make it happen.

10. Move on - stop investing precious time on ideas, practices, beliefs and goals that just aren’t working. Don’t worry, something better will turn up.