It’s the New Year and as per normal we are talking about resolutions, intentions and everything we are going to achieve this year. There is a feeling of excitement as we consider what we can change and how we can change it we talk about blank pages, new books and how wonderful the year ahead will be.
And then we continue exactly as we did before and wonder nothing has changed, and the cycle repeats every year, until we have a life change, or we reach a certain age and then we decide that we really need to make a change and try and cram everything in to as short a time as possible.
By the 17th January, many of us will have given up on our resolutions for the year, and statistics show that only 8% of us actually achieve the resolutions that we set at New Year. 8%, that’s a pretty shocking figure.
I’ve been doing a lot of research about change over the past few years and looked at some of the most effective changes and what made them possible be it personal change or business change and so far, four things are clear:
- Know why you want to make the change
- Be specific on the outcome you want
- Don’t try and do too much at once
- Set a short time frame
When we look at the differences between the genders on a personal level, men seem to be clearer about why they want the change to happen and how they will achieve it. For example when it comes to weight loss or gym membership, men will be clear on a set weight loss per week and have an end goal in mind at the gym e.g. Lift a certain weight, run x km or within a set time. Women on the other hand will want to ‘lose weight’ and ‘get fit’.
When we put this into a business context however, women are much more specific about what needs to change, by when, and will look at the financial and emotional parts of change, whereas the men will instigate change because they think it’s needed in order to improve performance/efficiencies and then set up a team to work out the details.
As our name suggests, we are all about change and we help our clients make the changes they want/need to make in order to thrive. We like to keep things simple and this year in our business and in our personal new years resolutions have set the same parameters to see how we get on and whether this will make a difference to our personal lives:
- Know exactly where we want to be by the end of the year and why we want to be there
- Set quarterly, monthly and weekly goals to help us achieve our vision for the year
- Set no more than three BIG things to achieve — Knowing we are stretching ourselves
It’s worked for our first three years of business let’s see how we get on with our personal goals.
How do you achieve your business and personal goals?
Kelly Swingler
Kelly Swingler is Founder of Chrysalis Consulting, a non-conventional HR consultancy, The Chrysalis Foundation, building the confidence of teens and She Found Her Wings, working with High Performing Women. Kelly was appointed as the UK’s Youngest HR Director, is mum to twin boys, and loves Yoga and cycling.
Originally published at www.chrysalis-consulting.co.uk on January 4, 2017.
Originally published at medium.com