Do you know who got all of their 2020 New Year’s resolutions (and strategic plans) wrong?
Everyone.
And that’s OK.
Because in that shift is a gift: universal permission to begin again. To consider what matters most to you and to the organization you serve right now. To redefine what success means to you individually and collectively. And to confidently release what no longer serves you in pursuit of your reshaped priorities.
A resolution is a commitment to continue good practices, change an undesired behavior, accomplish a goal, or otherwise make an improvement. What would happen if resolve became a daily habit rather than an annual aspiration? How much success could you and your organization celebrate if your resolve happened in INCREMENTS?
What I’ve discovered as a lifelong student of success is that big goals, behavior changes and breakthrough results share one common denominator: all three are realized in increments. A series of small steps that result in aspirational accomplishments.
Are you ready to achieve new success in your new context?
These strategies will help you move from intentions to actions, acceptance to acceleration, and resolutions to results.
Release Two Words
Success is free to show up moment by moment when you release these two words. Have you ever said or heard these phrases before?
- We should be back to the office by now.
- We should have a vaccine by now.
- I should be able to balance work and e-Learning with my kids by now.
- I should be promoted by now.
Does any of that sound familiar? Does any of that sound successful?
No. Not really. Labeling your life with a “by now” tag is a recipe for suffering, not success. What we should be able to do, by now, is a source of either pressure or discouragement. Either option is a choice to make ourselves feel bad no matter how you slice it.
Does it help your performance – or your organization’s performance – when you put more pressure on yourself? How’s that pressure and discouragement helping you to succeed?
Take two words – by now – away from your definition of success and it gets more realistic. More real. More right now.
Ask One Question
Two words put you in a mindset to do the impossible. I discovered those two words early in the pandemic. I was on a deadline for the manuscript for my book, Listen Up!: How to Tune in To Customers, And Turn Down the Noise.
I called my publisher to check on the manuscript. We started chatting about the new normal, and I shared how I was deeply involved in the Work From Home Taskforce at my job. “Working from home?” she said. “How would you like to write a book on that subject?”
My answer to my publisher’s pitch was two words that changed everything for me. And they will for you, too.
Why not?
Bringing those two words into the conversation opened me up to new possibilities. Those two words helped me to see beyond my own thinking. My own limits. And to explore what’s possible.
Those two words made it possible to write a book in 30 days: Working From Home: Making the New Normal Work For You.
The first step in conquering the impossible, I have found, is changing your perspective. Want to be a better parent? Want to redesign your work-from-home world? Don’t think about why you can’t do it. Ask yourself, why not?
Assess Your Next Move
Great leaders, like great athletes, run the same play when the game changes unexpectedly. The pivot.
Pivots are powerful because they keep you grounded while you look for options. A pivot points you in the direction of alternatives when the play you had in mind gets blocked.
Has 2020 left you feeling sidelined? Ground yourself and your organization on your values while you look for opportunities to make moves in other parts of your strategy. Scan the team for who’s open to make a play. And move the ball forward together.
You have permission to evolve as your context evolves. To try something new. To redefine what success means to you now. The key is you can’t get better until you get started.
What are you discovering about success? Join me at the Resolve INCREMENTS conference, @karenmangia or on LinkedIn to share your ideas.
This post originally appeared at firstpersonadvisors.com