It has come to that time, again, when many of us decide that we must set ourselves some personal objectives to improve our lifestyles; the dreaded New Year Resolutions. Research statistics tell us that they have a functioning ‘life’ of about 5/6 weeks before we slip back into our more comfortable habits of the previous year. But, why should that be? We start out with good intentions. But we all know the road, to which destination, is paved with those.
The problem with New Year Resolutions is that they, almost, write themselves. We all know our bad habits and those things that we know we should give up or, at least, moderate. For example, it is self-evident that giving up smoking is a good thing. But reforming smokers rarely examine, in detail, why they, specifically are giving up the ‘dreaded weed’. Defining and, indeed, recording the specific reasons for embarking on a New Year Resolution can give you a range of powerful reasons why you should ‘stay on the straight and narrow’.
My advice is to call upon your knowledge and skills, as a manager, to manage the process. When we set ourselves objectives, in our working life, we do so:
Within specific key result areas of our job.
- By defining performance standards so that we know when our objective(s) have been achieved.
- Establishing a clear action plan.
- Monitoring our progress as we go along.
- Evaluating results against performance standards.
You might argue that you can’t define your lifestyle in terms of a job description. Heaven forbid that we should run our lives on the basis of a written lifestyle description, but the general principles apply.
In no particular order, the Key Result Areas might be:
- Health
- Relationships
- Money
- Work
- Leisure
You can choose to define any number of resolutions in these key areas of your life. However, the impact of a resolution and your ability to stick with it is greatly enhanced if the achievement of its results impacts in more than one area of your life. For example, giving up smoking means that you will be healthier and fitter (Health), socially more acceptable (Relationships), financially better off (Money), avoid having to, regularly, go out in the cold, from your workplace to ‘have a fag’ (Work) and enjoy more active leisure pursuits (Leisure).
The secret of success is not to take on too much. Ensure that your resolutions are well within your capability to achieve. Finally, persevere with your action plan to achieve your New Year resolutions. Failure is not an option.
May I take this opportunity to wish all readers of my monthly ‘ramblings’,
A Very Happy Christmas and a Prosperous and Peaceful New Year