Not sure about you, but I am cooked. Like the turkey I am going to tuck into next week. I am well and truly ready for a Christmas break. The year has flown past, and another is about to roll around.
Whether you are taking leave over the Christmas break, or just the public holidays, Christmas in Australia is a special time where the whole place hits the pause button. There are not many people who are going flat stick over the next couple of weeks. This gives the opportunity to unwind a little and let your subconscious do its work. To recap and reflect on the year just gone, and the coming year.
My articles are usually very much business focused, but this one applies to everyone. I am going to set you a challenge. No, not 100 burpees every day for a month like I have stupidly agreed to after Christmas, but I am challenging everyone to take some time over Christmas and the New Year to consider what do you want? Not your new year’s resolution list, but really take some time to look hard at yourself, look around you and consider what it is you would like to achieve over the coming year or 18 months.
My first strong recommendation is to write these things down. If you don’t, I’ll bet you next year’s Christmas turkey that you don’t achieve your wish list.
Start scribbling down on paper (or tapping away on a computer) some high-level things that you want out of:
- Your personal life
- Your work
- Your business
Just keep writing the ideas down, and edit later. Some things might be:
- Improve your relationships with your partner or your child(ren) or parent(s)
- Be a more positive, engaged and engaging person
- Increase or improve your contribution to the community
- Take on more of a leadership role at work
- Get a promotion at work
- Earn more money
- Improve your fitness and/or health
- Start a business
- End a business
- Grow a business
- Buy a unit/house
- Move toward retirement
- Move to semi-retirement
Kick these over, add/delete/amend your list until you are happy you have the 3 most important things you want out of the next year. These can be quite broad “wants”.
Now it is time to tighten the focus on how to achieve what you want. Consider 3 or 4 ways to achieve each of the above. These must be specific, and Google will be a great friend in this process:
- Improve your work/life balance (commit to being home for breakfast or dinner with your partner/family)
- Seek out and take a position on a work committee (find out what committees your workplace has, who is in charge, and when they meet)
- Seek out and take up a community position (as per the above – go to the local council website, or search “community groups near me” on the inter-web)
- Take up a new hobby that interests you (consider the exact hobby, and find out where to sign up)
- Start reading books or listening to podcasts that might develop or hone skills that you are seeking (search for “books/podcasts on leadership)
- Commit to leave work by a certain time
- Commit to be more willing to listen to (and hear) what others have to say, and to try to understand where they are coming from
- Prepare a household budget (there are some really good tools for this such as ASIC’s MoneySmart)
- Allocate a set amount of time per week or month for some 1 on 1 time with your partner or kids or both
- Commit to a family outing once a week or month – it doesn’t need to be an expensive thing. Hop on a train, the light rail, or a ferry and go to a park out of your area with a picnic lunch
- Be clear at your work performance reviews that you are engaged and ready to take on a challenge and any leadership or stretch tasks that they can give you. Note – then actually be prepared to put your money where your mouth is and take on said challenges when they crop up, not just if they suit you. AND be prepared to prove yourself and do this for an extended period of time, not just for a month
- Commit to eating more healthily
- Commit to exercising X times per week
- Commit to walk to and from the station if it isn’t raining
Get really specific with this. This is a very important part of the exercise that will give you direct and clear actions to achieve your goals.
This will leave you with 3 important things you would like to achieve over the coming period. It will then give you about 10 clear steps to help you get to your big goals.
Set a calendar reminder monthly to review these, or better yet print it out/write it out and stick it next to your bathroom mirror so that you see it every morning and evening so you can remind yourself. Don’t leave it to chance.
Do yourself and those around you a favour and work out what the f* it is you really want, and what you need to do to get there – go on, take TC’s Christmas Challenge.
Meanwhile, I am asking Santa for a defibrillator for Christmas and will have a doctor specialising in hernia’s on speed dial for my ridiculous burpee challenge.
If you know anyone who has been carrying on like a pork chop about not getting to wherever it is they want to be in any facet of their life, flick this on to them, and tell them I said that they should take the challenge and do something about it, or shut their turkey-hole.
Have a cracking and well deserved break.
I’m TC, and that’s my 2 Cents