Thoughts on planning for the New Year
The holidays are always a great time to gather and enjoy spending time with friends and family. You worked hard all year and what better way to embrace, share, and celebrate than with loved ones.
I am sure you also know that New Year resolutions are right around the corner. This is nothing to dread. We all make promises to ourselves and swear we will do better this time around the sun. Some promises are kept, others are quickly discarded. You are not alone in this regard. We have all been there, done that.
A few years ago, I wrote about planning for “peaks and valleys” and setting the proper balance, planning for setbacks, and establishing a 90-day burst of momentum and actionables. I still recommend this approach. However, I want to add and promote a simple idea to make your New Year resolutions easier to achieve: Don’t overpromise! Always commit and have the self-discipline to be consistent—just don’t overdo it.
Here is the trick—focus your goal setting on lead measures (doing the work) versus lag measures (what we typically define as our goals).
For example, if you want to improve your overall fitness, setting a target weight, body composition, and a personal record are understandable goals. However, that should never be your true focus. First, these are all lag measures since you must do the work before you see the result. Second, progress toward these types of goals will have several breakthroughs and setbacks. This can be discouraging when you are doing the work, and nothing seems to be happening.
Instead, focus on lead measures or things you can easily commit to each day. In the fitness example, this could be logging 10,000 steps a day. It doesn’t matter whether you run or walk, just put in the steps. Focus on doing the work that brings you to achieving the goal. I guarantee with this approach, you will end up doing what you set out to do and a whole lot more.
So, what kind of lead measures can we make in our professional lives? Think about the overall goal you want to achieve, then figure out what kind of work you need to put in daily to accomplish the goal. Here is the thing—there are always many to-do’s. My recommendation is to identify the one thing that is most critical and focus your daily effort on completing that task. Others use time-blocking to get tasks done. Whatever your approach, as long as you are making measurable, consistent strides, you will see success!
In terms of the credit union industry, it may look like contacting one important stakeholder each day – the earlier in the day, the better. If it is ensuring compliance with industry standards, then pick one standard each day and focus on fixing it or making it better. Maybe it’s writing a monthly article for CUInsight, so write a paragraph each day leading up to the deadline.
The point is to find a critical task and work on it each day until it is complete. Again, don’t overpromise, as this often guilts you into an unattainable or stressful obligation where you are rushing the process and risk the best outcome. Make sure you can keep up with the pace for whatever your daily activity is in making progress toward your goal.
Finally, don’t let other things get in your way. If you are like me, we tend to let other important things bum-rush their way into our work routines. Often, we feel a pull for our attention to many tasks all at once. I am not suggesting blowing them off. However, make sure you commit to the one thing that will propel you toward your goal. Everything else will consume massive energy and won’t produce much but will certainly distract you from progress. So be disciplined in your approach and execution.
I exceeded every one of my goals last year. It is not bragging if you accomplish the objective. I won’t say it was easy at first, but once the habit is set, things tend to work themselves out. So now is the time to start thinking about next year and how to make those goals attainable!
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year from your friends at the Defense Credit Union Council!
