New Year's Resolutions
Nick Goddard
Will you be making any New Year's Resolutions?
A New Year's resolution is a tradition, most common in the Western World but also found in the Eastern World, in which a person resolves to continue good practices, change an undesired trait or behaviour, accomplish a personal goal, or otherwise improve their behaviour at the beginning of a calendar year.
But how successful are they?
In a study a few years back, over a third of participants who failed their New Year's Resolutions admitted they had unrealistic goals, another third did not keep track of their progress, and 23% forgot about them. Around one in ten respondents said they had made too many resolutions! So can we help to make your resolutions or, if you prefer, your career plans for 2023 more realistic and achievable?
We asked our team of ABSTRACT expert facilitators and coaches to share their thoughts, ideas and any words of wisdom, based on many collective years of corporate, learning, coaching and life experience!
“Sometimes doing the right thing is not easy – the right thing can be the hard thing. Ask yourself – Am I doing the right thing, for the right reasons, in the right way and at the right time? If the answers are yes then it’s the right thing to do, although it may still be hard or brave to do it”
Jen Brown
“Think of your business or career as a boat. If you don’t turn on the motor and steer it in the direction you want it to go, then you are just at the mercy of the tides”
Paul Heath
“I often use an exercise of STOP. START. CONTINUE with my coachees. This helps focus the mind and articulate what is not working, what needs to start/change and what is working well”
Paula Melbourne
“One good way to set goals, especially for the New Year, is to think about how you'd like to improve your relationships with different aspects of your life. Then, come up with actionable goals that you think will make these relationships better and commit to them.For example, what is your relationship to your current lifestyle? What could you do in 2023 to improve your lifestyle? Turn your answer into a plan with actionable goals. Then commit to completing the actions”
Clay Lowe
“We all will have challenges and difficulties in our lives so try to think of the positives that we are fortunate to have and invest in these. Take regular time to do something fundamental yet valuable with a loved one - breakfast with the kids, school run, tea & chat with your parents - but do it regularly not one off”
Mark Fryer
“Make the effort to widen your gaze, it’s a big world out there; and don’t forget you count too; look after yourself so you can continue being others strength”
Lou Nicolaou
“Self care isn’t selfish – recognising that to be the best version of myself for others then this is a non-negotiable ingredient”
Shona Marshall
“Be healthily selfish and make time for yourself and your development in 2023”
Charlotte Cameron
“Nourish your desire for learning and nurture the insights you gain”
Sue Liburd MBE DL
If you’ve been on an ABSTRACT learning and development programme, I expect we will have encouraged you to complete a commitment planner. We believe the act of committing your desired outcomes to print, whether hand written or electronically, increases the chances of you making it actually happen. It helps us to properly define them, makes us think about what is a realistic target, and what steps we need to take to achieve it.
As for ABSTRACT, we resolve to make the corporate world a fairer and better place through our learning and development programmes. So best wishes for 2023 and if you, your team or your organisation need some help to achieve your aspirations for the year ahead then please do get in touch.
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