Monthly Archives: December 2018

While you may be in the mode of just getting through the 2018 holiday season, this is actually a great time to take stock of what you are doing well, what you want to stop, and what you want to add.

This is a fun type of exercise that you can do anytime and anywhere. It is recommended you take some notes to help yourself in setting measurable goals and tracking your personal and professional growth and development, but right now you just need to focus on the areas of change.

To help get started, here is a simple format for how to approach this activity. You can change, modify or adjust it to meet your needs, and there is no specific order to address these issues. Some people like to start easy and move to harder areas of focus, while others like to start with a challenge and finish with the easier option.

Start Doing

The start doing category is full of brand new things or things that have dropped off the radar over the last year and are no longer in practice. These can be personal things, like scheduling a date night with a partner or a spouse every two weeks, or professional things like completing a certification or committing to working on networking or social media presence.

Look for both short and long-term activities that can be clearly identified and set into measurable, attainable goals. They should be relevant to your personal or professional life and provide you with something of value.

Stop Doing

Taking an honest look at what you are doing that has limited or no return on your investment over the past year is a great gift to yourself. These are often the energy-drainers that are bogging down your time, limiting your passion, and causing you to feel demotivated. Sometimes these may not be things that can be eliminated from your work, but they could be delegated to someone else.

By eliminating unproductive, unhelpful and inefficient behaviors and activities, you will find the time to take on the tasks you have listed in your “start doing” category.

Continue Doing

This is always a favorite category for people in both personal and professional areas of their life. This is where you list all the things you are doing that are effective, positive, and productive.

It is not necessary to list them all, but focus in on the ones you see as the most critical both at work and in your personal relationships. Reminding yourself of the importance of continued focus on these plans creates motivation, inspiration, and determination to continue to grow, develop and meet your goals.

As the end of the year rolls around, most leaders are busy planning for the new year. They are already considering organizational changes and improvements and looking towards trends, potential growth, and expansion in the new year.

While this is important work, this is also a time to focus on the accomplishments of the last twelve months. Taking this time to celebrate, reflect and be grateful for the opportunities you have had both personally and professionally is a wonderful way to energize, focus and set intentions for the new twelve months and beyond.

Celebration

Celebrating can be private, or it can be public. It can be a family event or something you do with the team at work, or even something special you do for yourself. Celebrating is a way of recognizing hard work, commitment, and dedication in developing goals and staying with the plan, even when things get a bit bumpy.

Celebrations can take on many forms, but they should be joyous and a focus on the accomplishments of yourself and those around you. Verbalizing and identifying the successes and accomplishments is important, and it is instrumental in letting people know what they do matters.

Reflection

It is easy to continually look at ourselves and see all the things we want to improve, or we want to accomplish. Over the holiday season, taking some time to reflect back on what you have done, the personal and professional growth you have experienced and the achievements that have occurred over the year is inspiring and motivating.

Reflections should be positive and focus in on your achievements, exceeding expectations, or simply trying something new and potentially a bit out of your comfort zone. Think about how that made you feel and how it has created new possibilities in your personal and professional life.

Gratitude

No matter how completely you prepare and plan for events in your personal and professional life, you also have to be open and receptive to opportunities that arise that may not be currently on the radar.

The most effective business leaders are always open to the possibilities in all situations. This is also true for personal relationships and being able to take advantage of opportunities as they arise builds spontaneity, fun, and potential.

At this time of year, think back on all the opportunities, planned or unplanned, that came into your life. Expressing gratitude for these occurrences is a great way to celebrate the season and to also acknowledge those that helped to make it happen.

The holiday season is a busy time for everyone. Spending time on your work commute, running errands, or on a break to celebrate, reflect and show gratitude is a wonderful way to stay in touch with the sometimes-overlooked spirit of this time of year.

Have you ever had the experience of not talking to a colleague, coworker, vendor or customer for months or even years, only to have an email pop up in your inbox asking to use you as a reference, wanting to sell you something, or asking you to collaborate on a project or a business opportunity?

Perhaps you have lost touch with a personal friend yourself and hear of something happening in their life and want to reach out, but are afraid of how the message may be received after all this time.

If these scenarios sound all too familiar, you are not alone. In the fast pace of today’s world, it can be easy for days to turn into weeks, months, and years before you realize you have lost touch. On the other hand, people are busy and constant communication through social media, email, phone calls or in-person meetings can also be unwelcome if it goes beyond a certain level.

The key is in finding that perfect balance. It is in making the follow-up and staying in touch natural and authentic and avoiding the sales pitch, the guilt, or the demanding tone that can occur in both personal and professional attempts to stay in touch.

The Natural Follow Up – Professional

Getting into the habit of sending a follow-up email or social media message is a positive habit to develop. This follow up can be a thank you note or message, some additional information that is related to the conversation you had with the person or perhaps a request to meet again to share ideas further, collaborate, or discuss a particular issue.

Make the message personal and create a connection. Avoid using a copy and paste template that is impersonal and generic. Invite the other professional to stay in touch and provide your social media information as well as other ways to stay connected.

It is helpful if you review some of their writings, social media posts or podcasts and bring them into the message as well. This demonstrates an interest and appreciation in the other person, which is always flattering for the receiver to see.

Staying in Touch – Personal

For friends, acquaintances, old colleagues or even family members, a quick note, email, or social media post can help to stay in touch or to reconnect. This communication can be timed around a holiday, birthday, anniversary a special event you experienced together or perhaps something in the news or online that made you think of the individual.

These messages don’t have to be long, and they shouldn’t be lists of all the new things in your life. Keep the messages short and focused on building or rebuilding the relationship, and invite the other person to share his or her information, follow or friend your personal page on social media sites or give you a call.

While it can be uncomfortable in reaching out, it can also be a very positive experience. Reconnecting on personal and professional levels is good for our sense of well-being, and it is also good for those around us as well.

Many businesses see an increase in sales over the holiday season. Even businesses that are not directly involved in retail sales can see an increase in demand at this time of year. While additional revenue and work are always positive, it is also a time when business owners and managers can become overwhelmed with the potential chaos of the season.

To help to stay calm and in control over the holidays, there are a few simple tips to integrate into your planning and your daily activities. These tips are also a great option to share with employees, supervisors, and managers, helping the entire business to just take a deep breath and stay focused.

• Self-care – self-care involves setting time aside to take care of you. This may include taking a walk at lunch and getting away, committing to eating meals with the family every day, making the break room a “work-free zone” or even finding 10 minutes during the workday to meditate, read a book, or do something you enjoy that is not work-related. Eating healthy, balanced meals and getting sleep are also important aspects of maintaining mental and physical energy.
  

• Review policies with staff – as a part of weekly or daily meetings, make sure the staff is aware of all policies and procedures. This ensures a consistent message to customers and preventing conflicts that can drain your time and your energy.
  

• Delegate – you know your team, and you know who is good at specific aspects of the business. This is a time of year to delegate and spread the responsibility around to proven leaders within your organization. By ensuring the staff knows the person to go to with a problem you are not overwhelmed with all issues.
  

• Be proactive – if you are expecting orders or are working with suppliers, be proactive and follow up to verify delivery. This provides you with the heads up if there is a problem, allowing you to source elsewhere or to have clear information to provide to your customers.
  

• Prioritize – make lists and provide information to people in written form, so it is clear and precise. Then, give your staff the responsibility to carry out those activities without the need to micromanage. Often entrepreneurs and small business owners add to the stress of the season by trying to change how things are done to accommodate for the increased business. This tends to create problems rather than resolve issues.

Finally, and this is very important, be realistic about what you can do and what is too much. Becoming bogged down in one issue at this time of year is a common source of stress, so use a team approach and call on others as needed.