My first five recommendations for positive, life-enhancing New Year's resolutions will make your year. This second five recommended New Year's resolutions will seal your success.
Practice professional courage by stepping out of your comfort zone. You know when you are in your comfort zone. An issue occurs. You hear yourself making up excuses in your mind about “why” you don’t need to speak, or “why” taking a stand on an issue will get you “in trouble.” Just once, when you find yourself in this situation, state what you are really thinking. After the shock wears off, your coworkers will admire you. It is so important that organization members provide honest feedback and participate in needed conflict to improve your products or services for customers.
Once you have begun breaking through your own self-imposed barriers, you will find that stating your mind gets easier and easier. Why? Because you will find you survived the experience. In fact, your career may thrive as a result of you leaving your comfortable home. Most people who practice professional courage, expected the worst, but found they were rewarded for their new stance. If you find yourself getting beaten up instead, perhaps it’s time to look for different employment. After all, wouldn’t you really rather work where you can safely speak your mind?
Listen more than you talk. The old adage about one mouth and two ears is generally true. As a manager, you spend much of your time in problem-solving activities and efforts. Plan this year, to listen to all that your coworkers are saying; they may want a sounding board, not advice or problem solving. You may find you don’t have to take the monkeys on your back. Your listening may empower them to solve their own problems. When they feel completely heard out and listened to, they are more likely to move from “stuck” to action. In Stephen Covey’s words, seek first to understand, then to be understood.
Develop a method to track your life goals, your daily engagements, and your to do list. Using a planner, whether in Microsoft Office Outlook on your laptop or on your smartphone, allows you to empty much of the daily detail from your mind. This gives your mind room for more important thinking.
I purchased a PDA/cellphone a few years ago and reveled in the convenience of daily task items rolling electronically to the next day. My next purchase will be a smartphone to synch with Outlook and read email.
Whether you choose a paper method or an electronic method, tracking your daily activities against your most important goals is critical. You do want to ensure you accomplish your most important priorities. Right?
Read voraciously to continue to learn and grow. I aim to read a couple of business books a month plus periodicals, online journals and the Wall Street Journal. I don’t always reach that goal, but it’s always there for me. Try to read widely and broadly. Get out of the business books once in awhile to see how other subjects enhance your point of view.
Take up a new hobby or activity this year. Maybe this is the year you begin your collection. My husband recently renewed his interest in amateur radio. (Unfortunately, he tells me we don’t have enough antennas - BIG antennas!) I have started to write a cooking website. If something has always intrigued you and piqued your interest, resolve to take the first steps in participating this year. You’ll add a new dimension to your world.
Take yourself a little less seriously. As we strive for business success, we can get bogged down in serious deliberation, advising and problem solving. Take time to laugh. Take time to smell cookies and bread baking. Smile when you hear stories about what all of your crazy employees are doing; you don’t need to be the “mom” or “dad” all the time. Enjoy them for all their little quirks and differences. (Okay, I lied. For those of you who counted, there are actually eleven resolutions here, and I can’t bear to give up any of the earlier ones! Is this an example of "get a life?")
With warm regards, and great best wishes for your success, I wish you a happy, healthy, prosperous, outstanding new year as you adopt these New Year's resolutions and more of your own.
More Resources
- The Awesome Power of Goal Setting—Ten Tips for Triumph
- Beyond Traditional SMART Goals
- The Darker Side of Goal Setting: Why Goal Setting Fails ...
- The Top Ten Resolutions for Your Possible New Year
- Build a Strategic Framework: Mission Statement, Vision, Values ...
- Build a Value-Based Organization
- Quotations About Goal Setting
