As 2019 comes to an end and a promising new year is just around the corner, many of us start thinking about resolutions that we hope to keep in 2020.
We always have the best intentions when setting out our new year’s resolutions, but all it takes is an extremely busy period at work or other unforeseen circumstances, and they can often fall off our radar. In this guide, we run through some of the best resolutions for leaders for 2020 and how to keep them.
Keeping resolution
We always set resolutions with the best intentions to keep them, but this often doesn’t happen for a number of reasons.
The first mistake we make is making resolutions which just aren’t realistic. Although each of our resolutions may not be completely unrealistic on their own, we often fail to consider our other life commitments and how we will make time to fulfil ones.
When creating your resolutions make sure you take a moment to understand how much time, energy and other resources they are actually going to require and how difficult they may be to uphold. Some experts suggest that is often better to make a less strenuous resolutions which can be built on than to make bigger ones which you are destined to fail at.
In James Clear’s book Atomic Habits, he explains how these small commitments work to ignite bigger actions. Like committing to reading five pages of a book a day, usually results in reading much more. It is the smaller, achievable resolutions that facilitate bigger ones.
Schedule time to reflect
For busy leaders, life is often being lived at 100 miles per hour. Many thrive on this fast pace and enjoy the challenges that arise. However, it can mean there is rarely time to stop and reflect on what has come to pass.
Although this may seem like a pointless exercise, it is important to schedule time to reflect. As we speed through life we are taking on a huge number of experiences, but we often do not have time to digest and importantly learn from those experiences.
Do something you love/challenge yourself
Many of us love what we do. But as we become more accustomed to the challenges that our role throws our way, we can become less excited by them. This can stifle creativity and often leads to dangerous complacency in the workplace.
By introducing a new challenge to your life, you can refresh your approach to work. This may be as simple as taking on a new hobby or learning a new skill.
Learn
Whichever point you are at in your career, there is always an opportunity to improve your skills and learn new methods and theories behind your role. With this being the case, it can be worthwhile setting a challenge to learn something new in 2020.
Although you certainly need to pick something to learn which will interest you, it is also worthwhile asking yourself which aspect of your role you find most challenging and seek to remedy them by making a learning resolution.
For example, finance or reporting may be a weaker area of yours. By finding a quality course in one of these areas you could make it much easier to execute on tasks that you do not currently enjoy.
Celebrate your achievements
We have already mentioned how leaders can easily get caught in the trap of constantly fighting fires and moving onto the next challenge. Stopping and reflecting is helpful in achieving these goals, but also stopping to celebrate achievements is an important resolution to make.
This is beneficial both for yourself and your team. By taking time to celebrate wins you remind yourself and your team why you are working so hard and what that is accomplishing. This, in turn, helps motivate everyone moving forward.
When we set resolutions, we always do so with the best intentions of following through on them. Of course, this doesn’t always happen, especially when those resolutions are unrealistic when applied alongside current commitments. But by setting resolutions you can truly keep, you can look forward to a more rewarding year ahead!
