Tag Archives: New Year Resolution

Ask Yourself These 3 Questions About Your New Year’s Resolutions

Reflections,

I posted most of this just about a year ago. It was during that delightfully quiet last week before the new year begins. I was sipping a really good cup of coffee, listening to some of my favorite music, and thinking about New Year’s resolutions.

Business or personal, it’s no coincidence that a lot of us look to the turning of the new year for leverage to turn some new leaves. We focus on what we want to change.

Let’s do it differently this year. Let’s do it better. It’s a new beginning, a new morning.

There are three fundamentals of business planning that apply very well to those New Year’s Resolutions. Test yourself and your resolutions with these three business planning questions:

1.  Is it realistic?

Unrealistic goals don’t work. In business planning, unrealistically optimistic projections don’t work. When the bar is too high, reasonable people don’t jump. For example, don’t resolve to lose 100 pounds, or win the Boston Marathon, or not get angry; resolve instead to eat healthier, get regular exercise, or count to pause and breathe when you’re angry. Look for achievable steps.

2.  Is it strategic?

You can’t do everything so you want to focus on doing the right thing. In business planning, the more the priorities, the less the chance of implementation. In New Year’s Resolutions, the more you make, the less you keep.  Don’t resolve to remake everything. Resolve to do one thing that’s really important.

3.  Is it measurable?

Being human, we need to see progress.  Good business planning needs metrics, tasks, numbers, concrete specifics we can use to track progress towards goals. So do New Year’s Resolutions. Boil those bigger goals into manageable pieces. For example, resolve to lose two pounds a month, not 25 pounds; or resolve to spend an hour a week reading, not to stop all television. Good luck with it, and best wishes to you for the New Year.

(Image: mum62/Shutterstock)

This New Year’s Resolution is About Time

Advice, Reflections, Work Life Balance, , , ,

On this last working day of this year, staring 2011 in the face, I’m reminded: Time is the scarcest resource. Don’t waste it.

In the 1987 Wall Street movie, as they board his private jet, Gordon Gekko tells Bud Fox:

Real wealth is not having to waste time.

Meanwhile, somebody suggested to me that we can all tell our real priorities by tracking how we spend our free time.

Sure, like you probably do too, I spend most of my time getting work done, sleeping, eating, traveling, and so on (no Gordon-Gekko-like wealth for me). But how much of my free time do I spend on the people and pursuits I value most? How would my downtime like television compare to time for relationships, or exercise, or writing, or reading? How would that look for you?

But that line of thought gets ugly fast.  Let’s move on.

And do you allow enough time for settling things? Do you get enough silent time to hear yourself think? How much time are you alone without the txt, email, music, video, or web? How much time are you alone with people you care about?

So what’s my resolution? I’m working on it. Give me some time.  

3 Fundamental Questions For Your New Year’s Resolutions

Advice,

On this Tuesday morning, during that delightfully quiet last week before the new year begins, sipping a really good cup of coffee, listening to some of my favorite music, I’m thinking about New Year’s resolutions.

Business or personal, it’s no coincidence that a lot of us look to the turning of the new year for leverage to turn some new leaves. We focus on what we want to change. Let’s do it differently this year. Let’s do it better. It’s a new beginning, a new morning.

There are three fundamentals of business planning that apply very well to those New Year’s Resolutions. Test yourself and your resolutions with these three business planning questions:

1.  Is it realistic?

Unrealistic goals don’t work. In business planning, unrealistically optimistic projections don’t work. When the bar is too high, reasonable people don’t jump. For example, don’t resolve to lose 100 pounds, or win the Boston Marathon, or not get angry; resolve instead to eat healthier, get regular exercise, or count to pause and breathe when you’re angry. Look for achievable steps.

2.  Is it strategic?

You can’t do everything so you want to focus on doing the right thing. In business planning, the more the priorities, the less the chance of implementation. In New Year’s Resolutions, the more you make, the less you keep.  Don’t resolve to remake everything. Resolve to do one thing that’s really important.

3.  Is it measurable?

Being human, we need to see progress.  Good business planning needs metrics, tasks, numbers, concrete specifics we can use to track progress towards goals. So do New Year’s Resolutions. Boil those bigger goals into manageable pieces. For example, resolve to lose two pounds a month, not 25 pounds; or resolve to spend an hour a week reading, not to stop all television.

Good luck with it, and best wishes to you for the New Year.

(Image: mum62/Shutterstock)