The New Year is a great opportunity to reflect on the past year, while making adjustments for the future. Statistics tell us that 40% of Americans make some form of resolution on New Year’s Eve, but a paltry 8% of those people actually accomplish them. Beyond personal resolutions, such as losing weight, eating healthier, reading more books, or giving up smoking, it seems that most people feel the need to improve some aspect of their life and use the New Year as the motivation they need to get started.
Your professional resolutions may include being more productive at work, being more proactive about recognizing employee efforts, improving your management skills, or obtaining a promotion.
Is there a way to ensure that you keep your resolutions this year? How can you be among the 8% of successful resolution makers? Here are three ways to start strong in 2016:
1. Be Specific
Ambiguous resolutions of “Be more productive at work” make it difficult to quantify and evaluate your progress toward reaching your goal. Instead, form specific, actionable steps. For example, if you find that e-mails distract you at work, your resolution may be to “only check e-mail three times a day.” Allot a specific time to check and respond to e-mails, then, close your e-mail to remove any temptation to check it again. You can also include a notification in your e-mail signature, letting your contacts know that you check e-mails at specific times. This way, they won’t be expecting instant responses. (This also helps with tip #3 below.)
Create a list of specific resolutions to help you make the transition from “something you’d like to do” to “something you’re doing.” Turn your vague resolutions into powerful goals that can change the direction of your leadership abilities and accomplishments, transforming not only your professional endeavors, but your personal life as well.
2. Set Milestones
Break each resolution into smaller, manageable pieces that can help propel you through the year. For example, a goal of reading more management books in 2016 can be changed to “Read six management books.” Next, you could develop a list of the six books you wish to read, and schedule them on your calendar. January/February’s book might be Jim Collins’ Good to Great, March/April’s reading selection could be The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Workbook by John Maxwell. Setting these milestones will provide you with smaller goals, which in turn give you a better chance of succeeding at the larger resolution.
“Getting organized” sounds good, but it is difficult to accomplish when staring at an office filled with stacks of miscellaneous papers. To make your task easier, create a list of concrete steps that cover what “getting organized” will entail, and then systematically work through each milestone. If you tackle one area a month, by the end of the year you will have a functional organizational system.
3. Go Public
Research shows that when people make goals in public, there is a higher chance of success—regardless of how difficult the goal is.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, has used his company’s platform to broadcast his New Year’s resolution for years. His past goals have included reading two books a month, meeting a new person every day (in person—not online) and learning Mandarin. Even more impressive is the fact that he has demonstrated his success in reaching his goals. He recently conducted a 30 minute interview in Mandarin, and has posted reviews of the books that he read during his reading challenge. His goal this year is to develop a personal, digital butler, similar to Jarvis from Iron Man.
It is difficult to walk away from a goal that you set in front of millions of people (an idea that Zuckerberg is using for his motivation). However, if you don’t have millions of social media followers, you can tell a few trusted friends or colleagues of your intentions. The temptation to give up on your goals diminishes when you realize others will be asking about your progress. This is the reason why many self-help groups use accountability partners.
Great leaders know that there is always room for improvement, and New Year’s resolutions are a perfect opportunity to make strides toward being more successful in your job. If you didn’t make any resolutions this year, it’s never too late to start. Develop a specific resolution, establish milestones for working toward the goal, and then let others know about your plan. Make 2016 the year that your resolutions become accomplishments.