A couple of weeks ago I posted about how I was “doing” professional New Year’s resolutions in the style of a resolution per day for thirty days. Next month I would add (or replace) my current resolution with a new one and on and on for the remainder of the year. I also made a few personal resolutions that I planned on doing traditional style (meaning giving up or doing for the entire year). I’m half-way through the first month and my personal resolutions have long since gone the way of the dinosaurs but my January resolution of a blog post a day is still going strong.
Why have I been more successful with my Twelve in ’12 resolution than my own personal goals? Maybe because there’s an end in site? But half-way through the month, I intend on keeping this resolution and adding it to next month’s so that’s probably not the reason. I think it’s because my professional goal of a daily blog post was a concrete, measurable goal. My personal goal was more nebulous (eat healthier). When I write a blog post every day, I can cross that task off my to-do list. I’ve accomplished something. My personal goal was not nearly as measurable. (Note to self to rework personal resolution into something I can cross off each day like eat 4 servings of veggies a day.)
Twelve in ’12 has taught me that having a task to check off each day, instead of measuring concepts, is a much more efficient way of accomplishing my goals. Have you found the same thing? Are your resolutions for your member organization mainly conceptual – like “add more value” or are they concrete things you can add to (and subsequently check off) a to-do list? It’s also shown me that taking time to periodically review what is (or isn’t) working is valuable to the overall success of the goal. If I hadn’t experimented with different ways of undertaking resolutions, I wouldn’t have figured out that the to-do list concept inspires me.
What’s working for you and what isn’t? Maybe having a to-do list is overwhelming for you and hinders your success. Maybe it’s not the actual goal that’s unattainable but the way in which you’re choosing to measure/accomplish it.
