The recent holiday season provided a time to reflect, though I suspect most of us didn’t get much time to do that. The start of the year is also a time when many of us set new goals. In fact, we have been encouraging everyone in our company community to do just that.

US speaker and author Anthony Iannarino wrote an article on his site The Sales Blog over the holiday period: “The primary reason New Year’s resolutions fail is because the person making the resolution hasn’t broken the goal down into the small, manageable actions they need to take every day.”

As we break down our goals into manageable actions in order to bring them to life, it’s also important to know why, and steadfastly hold onto it whatever life throws at you.

Everyone’s sense of purpose is different. It could be linked to you, your family or your aspirations for your career – or all three.

I love being part of the travel industry because it’s filled with people who are passionate about what they do – passionate about travel and their customers, and often possessing a natural flair for supporting, helping and caring for others. And when we combine passion with purpose, we can create something powerful – a legacy.

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to this since the beginning of the new year. A real legacy involves building a culture and community in which everyone feels valued and trusted; is inspiring, supportive and encourages others to be the very best versions of themselves; and helps as many people as possible create their own legacy.

As you look towards a new year, I would encourage you to consider what you want your legacy to be, both in your personal and professional lives, and how you can take those small, manageable actions to get there.

As you set your goals for 2019, it’s worth remembering that you will always have something unique and special to offer – you, your passion for travel and your passion for giving your customers great experiences.

While we can’t always predict what a new year will bring us – as individuals or as an industry – we can be sure this year will bring ample opportunity to highlight the value of the skills, knowledge and expertise experienced travel professionals provide for their customers.

Couple this with the care and attention creating holidays deserves, and we all have something extremely special to give to our customers. Good advice, and showing you care – in times when our customers may be struggling to make sense of issues affecting their travel to and from Europe – will prove invaluable.

If the year brings rocky roads to navigate, we’ll remember that tough times never last, but tough people do.

So here’s to a happy new year with our goals resolved clearly in our minds. Whatever the year has in store for us as individuals, colleagues and members of the travel industry, we all have a lot to look forward to.