What tasks do you need to more closely quantify to see how much time they are taking up in your day?
What are some of your self-induced barriers to being present in a conversation?
What’s one thing you need to reduce your desire to control?
Which is better—practicing avoidance behaviors, or working through the tough stuff to get the results you want?
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Several years ago, every few days I had the privilege of caring for my 95-year-old aunt. I could have a million things running through my head and feel like I truly was juggling elephants—until I sat down with her. All of those “first world problems” just no longer seemed so important.
How will you spend the first 10 minutes of your day? Being or doing?
18. Stop the humble bragging
14. Use ‘won’t’ more and ‘can’t’ less
5. Intentionally invest in at least one person each day
Where would established boundaries help you better focus on other tasks?
4. Ask for help more often
What’s one area of your life where you’re holding yourself back because you won’t do something?
We cripple our brain’s ability to think clearly when we imprint so many possibilities on it and leave it to work on all of them. Before taking on any task, ask yourself, “What does finished look like?” and allow yourself enough time to complete the task when scheduling it. If you can’t finish it, at least schedule time on your calendar when you will come back and get it done. Your brain will thank you.
12. Start with being instead of doing
22. Compare yourself to… yourself
Published: Thursday, February 1, 2024 – 12:02
Lean
Don’t Be Defeated Again
24 tips to make 2024 better than last year
What skills or insights are you looking to strengthen this year?
Where would a consistent routine help you with your time management?
Trying to control everything is exhausting and leaves little or no room for creativity or fostering deeper relationships with others. To see the “Big 3,” read, “Three Things You Need to Stop Trying to Control.”
23. Stop the silence
What’s an it for you tomorrow? This week?
11. Deliver a more educational no when needed
While I should be inspired by the work and life of others, thinking less of myself because I haven’t achieved some arbitrary metric of success is not healthy. I should only be comparing myself to myself. Am I becoming more of the person I aspire to be? Am I making more choices in alignment with my values? Whose approval do I really want anyway? A great way to stop comparing yourself is found in Tip No. 21—practicing gratitude each day.
Who needs more than a simple no from you?
When people request your time, don’t miss the chance to educate them on the priorities, commitments, or obligations that cause you to say no. It helps them more clearly understand your motives, conditions that might cause you to say yes, and possible availability in the future.
8. Seek advice and really listen to it
Building capacity in those around you helps ensure you have the team you need to accomplish your professional and personal goals. Remember the African proverb that says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
3. Spend more time ‘becoming’ instead of simply doing
By now you will have already broken one or more of your resolutions for the new year. You didn’t mean to; it was just so hard to keep that major commitment. While I do believe in setting worthwhile and measurable goals for a new year, I prefer identifying small changes I can sustain throughout the year as opposed to vague or emotionally driven resolutions. For example, using the quote, “Do creative work first, reactive work second,” was a small yet powerful change I made in my daily plan a few years ago, and it served me much more effectively than saying something like, “I resolve to be happier.”
2. Find a perspective keeper
Talk about an “elephant” weighing you down! Regardless of the issue, circumstance, or frustration, there is something constructive you can do. Remember the words of Margaret Wheatley: “Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters.” If you’re not sure how to get the conversation started, start here for some great tips.
What are the small time ticks draining the life blood out of your day? We tend to discount the value of five minutes here or there in a day, but over the course of a year, five minutes a day adds up to more than 30 hours.
16. Be boring
Getting face-to-face time with people (or even phone calls) is more rare than ever. However, it’s these moments that often tell us volumes more about a person’s thoughts, feelings, and fears than we could extract from a hundred emails or a thousand text messages. Make it a personal goal to remove or minimize any distractions to having a deeper conversation. Reflect on everything from your body language, voice tone, ability to listen, and even putting down that electronic device that is normally glued to your hand. For more about being a better listener, read “Strong Leaders Need to Be Level 3 Listeners.”
13. Be passionately present in every conversation
You can read more in-depth about the concept in this article, but a simple definition for humble bragging is making a self-deprecating statement to draw attention to yourself, like saying, “I only got four hours of sleep last night because I was finishing the proposal,” or, “My weekend is so packed I don’t know where I’ll find any time for myself.” When I hear comments like those, I question the people’s willingness to make better choices with how they are using their time. If someone wants to impress me, they can say things like, “Last week I started handling interruptions better, and I doubled my productivity,” or, “I was so tired of not being present with my family in the evenings I started leaving my phone in the car for at least two hours after work.”
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What’s an area of your life where you have been avoiding feedback?
Can’t implies that the resources aren’t available, or the issue is so difficult it’s almost impossible. Won’t reminds us that we too often don’t want to make ourselves or others uncomfortable to make something happen. For a deeper dive into this concept, read “What’s the One Word That’s Really Holding You Back?”
20. Don’t wait to feel like taking action
1. Plan for all three rings of your circus
Whom do you need to seek out for guidance or direction?
To free up mental (and physical) time for more important things, develop routines for everything from choosing what to wear to the food you have for breakfast. Make every Tuesday dinner at your house “Taco Tuesday.” The goal is to minimize the time spent on the less important stuff so you can focus on the bigger picture.
With that frame of mind, here are 24 ways I believe you can move your work and life forward this year.
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Its are “important things” as described in my book Getting to It (Harper Business, 2013). As you plan your day, always identify your three its. They may be three work its, or a combination of work and personal its. Discover them by saying to yourself, “If I only get three things done today, they would be….” This helps you focus your energy for the day and ensure you go to bed that night with fewer regrets. You may get more than three done, but you know what has to be done.
Who do you (or will you) invite into your life this year who will help you keep a healthy perspective on your work and life?
‘Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters.’—Margaret Wheatley
As Kelly the gardener says in my book Always Growing (Elucidate Publishing, 2017), “Dirt is what you get on your pants.” In horticultural terms, soil provides the structure and nutrients to help seeds and plants grow. As a leader, you have a similar opportunity to help those around you grow. And while formal training courses and job assignments are a part of that process, nothing has a greater effect than your day-to-day engagement with your team.
May this new year be so much better than the last one!
What’s one item on your calendar each day that represents an activity that will help you become more of the person you want to be?
As Marshall Goldsmith writes in his powerful book, Triggers (Currency, 2015), “We chronically underestimate the time it takes to get anything done.” I am constantly amazed in my coaching sessions when people can’t tell me how long they spend on basic tasks at work or even at home. If they ever want to improve professionally or personally, they should be able to determine how much time they have to invest in making those improvements.
17. Have three ‘its’ per day
What is one activity in your day that consistently takes more time than it should?
What actions can you be taking right now that will start you feeling better today?
You take the action first, and then have the feeling you desired. Exercise is an example for me. There are lots of mornings I don’t feel like exercising, but I do it anyway. As the minutes pass by, I begin to have the feelings I wanted to have before exercising. Feelings follow actions.
9. Set boundaries
15. Manage your minutes as intensely as you do your hours
10. Be a fanatic about finishing
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Quality Digest
