"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning." - Albert Einstein
It takes 21 days to form a habit, yet only 64% of New Year’s resolutions last longer than the first month. These are the numbers and percentages told to us when we want to make a change in our life or career. I challenge you to inspect and adapt your resolutions to increase your odds of achieving your desired outcomes.
The first resolution I am working on is disconnecting from my cell phone. I challenged myself to intermittent fasting from my mobile. I wanted to unplug, improve productivity, and be more present at home. Over the first few weeks of the year, I have defined and changed what disconnect means with my focus still on a clear and present mind. This involved what I use my phone for and where I use it. I figured out what worked, what didn't, and what I wanted to experiment with to achieve my desired outcome.
No one is ever done at improving and learning. Continuous improvement is an ongoing focus on growing your behaviors and skills. Taking time to determine what went well and what can be improved will keep your goals and resolutions on track. As you go, the identify and improvement exercise will increase your odds at meeting your goals. One week into 2020, I identified if I turn off notifications, remove social media apps, and leave my phone in my office while at home, I was more likely to meet my goal.
As we complete the first two weeks of 2020, I challenge you to inspect and adapt thegoals or resolutions you have set for yourself or your career.
To find a state of continuous improvement, here are 3 ideas to consider:
1.) Focus on ACTIONABLE and MEASURABLE improvements.
Create plans that you can break down into achievable goals. If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.
2.) TRACK and PUBLISH in a journal progress on action items.
You are moving in forward motion. Write it down so you can measure your progress.
3.) Be KIND to yourself, TOLERATE failed experiments, and LEARN from them.
If you tried something new intending to get better and it didn’t work, that’s ok. Celebrate learning and move on. Don’t make extensive changes all at once.
Will you take the time today to evaluate your goals and try one experiment to increase your odds of success in 2020? It’s worth it.
Brian Miller
Brian is a delivery partner with Redwoods Leadership Group. He is an Agile coach, a certified Scrum Master and a technologist with experience in high-tech, finance and healthcare.