Sustainable resolutions
Despite starting the year with lofty resolve, by springtime many people's resolutions, and the will to sustain them, will have melted like the winter snows.
This article, therefore, sets out to offer some New Year's resolutions that can not only kick start the 'de-stodging' of the mind but also offer a very good chance of being sustainable. If last year was the year to redefine the role of KIM then this year has got to be the year when KIM professionals have to stand up and be counted. Hopefully, adoption of any of these resolutions should act like a career work out.
Start tinkering about with something
The French call it Bricolage. I call it 'semi-targeted innovation' and it can produce surprising results. It could be a methodology, a new network or the germ of an idea for a new product or service. It is LESS important to have an end in mind and MORE important to indulge in the creative process of messing around with possibilities. The good ideas will quickly emerge giving you a pipeline of things to bring on-stream later in the year and even the not so good ideas can be reviewed later. The point is to resolve to build a more creative mind-set and more importantly, cultivate your ability to take ideas into practice.
Keep a weekly score sheet for your work or activities
Apocryphally, it takes fifteen days to learn a new habit and like all changes to behaviour, sustaining the change is the hard part. Keep a weekly score sheet where you evaluate your performance across different job dimensions - e.g. how you handled a meeting, managed your workload, resolved conflicting issues and balanced home and work. Spend say, ten minutes on this a week and reflect on the results. This is a very quick way to surface the areas where you are strong and the areas where you need to develop or just simply move away from - e.g. if presentations are NOT you, then all the training in the world is unlikely to make you enjoy them. Why go through the pain if it is possible to defer it or better, give it to somebody else who enjoys it!
Don't let sleeping dogs lie
Resolve yourself to finishing off and following up outstanding issues. Build a reputation for following through and aim to get closure on things that remain unsaid or unacknowledged. This is a hallmark of successful people I have observed often. They will invariably tackle an issue as it arises and not let it lie.
Advance to go!
Do ONE thing every day, no matter how small, that brings YOU a benefit. Something for yourself or your own project or goal. It may take two minutes or two hours to accomplish but do it. This is the quickest and best remedy for avoiding being sunk by the overwhelming weight of life! Ten minutes a day is almost an hour a week and most of us know what we can really accomplish in an hour when we put our minds to it