January is a stupid time to plan fresh starts isn’t it?
It’s dark, it’s cold, it’s the time of year when our bodies have evolved to slow down and conserve energy. And yet what do we do? We get to December and set ourselves ridiculous targets for the New Year. We commit to things like dry January, and diets, a new exercise regime and countless other things. Maybe we decide that this time it will be a proper reset, and we will change our lifestyle for good.
And then February rolls around and (let’s be honest) most of us don’t keep up with all the good intentions.
Even McDonalds know it!
My son recently got a part time job at McDonalds, and in December they warned him that in January he wouldn’t have many shifts. It turns out that they plan staffing that way. “No-one has any money in January and everyone’s on a diet!”.
Come February, his shifts returned to normal. An expectation that everyone would fall off the wagon and business as usual would return.
But it really hadn’t suddenly become a good idea to eat McDonalds food regularly!
Most of us know and understand that it’s the consistent sustainable lifestyle changes that make the real difference. But it seems that most of the population fall off the wagon of change once January is out of the way!
What does this have to do with work?
I see the same pattern happening in businesses. Crazy targets and aspirations for what can be achieved in Q1. All set from the perspective of the end of the year exhaustion and a hope of more energy “after the Christmas break”.
While we can try to have that fresh start in January, the reality is that the biggest fixed financial deadline of the year is looming large. That naturally keeps our focus on the short term, and the stuff that needs to happen to meet client needs. Not to mention the extra last minute havoc that a March budget has been known to wreak!
By not considering our basic human instinct to slow down over the winter (and of course the factual reality that the end of the tax year falls at the end of Q1!) I think a lot of us set ourselves, and our teams, up to fail.
Certainly I have seen a number of people this year disappointed by their own lack of progress in Q1. Some being really hard on themselves about not meeting goals that were set.
But few are questioning whether those goals were ever reasonable or realistic.
So, I have a proposal!
Let’s move our New Year resolutions away from January and make them New Tax Year resolutions instead!
What if we thought about our intentions, set ourselves professional development goals, and planned out our learning in April for the following year instead?
The end of tax year madness is out of the way, the weather is better and that improves everyone’s mood, and our bodies and minds are coming back to life after the winter slow down. All things considered, it’s a great time to move our focus up and out, from the immediate requirements of the day to day towards longer term development.
I think setting our intentions, goals and plans for the coming year in April could have some major benefits:
- We create our plans from a more realistic perspective
- We start when our bodies and minds are in Spring, rather than Winter mode
- We don’t have the artificial January 1st feeling of a “fresh start” which usually doesn’t last long!
- We get to enjoy and relish the fact that January always feels like a really long month, using it to listen to our bodies, slow down and rest.
How to plan out the year? Reflect, Reset, Refocus, Review
Reflect
First, take a look in the rear view mirror! Think about the year that has just gone, considering your successes and challenges and what you’ve learned. Reflection is a valuable practice, it helps us to assimilate what we’ve learned, and sometimes face up to uncomfortable truths.
Reset
Next, take time to hit the reset button. Where are you now? Where are you going? What do you want to achieve?
Who do you want to become?
Refocus
Now it’s time to commit. Taking into account all of this, what comes next? Pin down some outcomes that would feel great to achieve in the next 12 months. Make sure they are all within your control!
Paint a picture of where you hope to be – light the flame of excitement in your belly!
Make your plan
Now comes some basic goals based planning!
In the book “Traction – Get a Grip of your business”, Gino Wickman talks about a seemingly natural phenomenon that we humans tend to stumble and fall off track about every 90 days.
So, use this knowledge. Keep it simple and set specific goals for 3 months at a time. Keep it to a manageable two or three to begin with. Better to fully achieve less than to fall short on many fronts!
Review
Finally, make an appointment with yourself 3 months from now to review your progress and set goals for the next 90 days.
This is also important if you’re working on your own or other people’s development plans in the context of an organisation (as most of us are). If you’re a team leader or manager, set up a review meeting to check in on a three monthly cycle to keep things on track.
If you want to get commitment and buy in from your own manager, why not talk them through this cycle and the process you have gone through? Speaking from experience, it’s a wonderful thing when someone drives their own development plan, especially when there is some really clear thinking behind it.
So own it, and share it with your boss. Even schedule the dates for review conversations yourself. It’s highly unlikely that you will hear any complaints.
There’s no time like the present
There you have it, an integrated personal and professional development plan that will help you to achieve more and stay on track without burning out. Set in April when you’ve got more energy and enthusiasm!
Do let me know how you get on, I would love to hear.
For a step by step template to work through, my guide to planning your development is available here
If you would like to supercharge the start of your development year, why not combine both skills and personal development with one of my courses. Check out my website for the various options, or just book in for a chat using the Calendly link on this page.
Photos by Kelly Sikkema, Taras Zaluzhnyi, John M. Smit and Paul Skorupskas on Unsplash
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