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Use your DISC style to reach 2022 goals

If you’re someone who likes to start the new year with resolutions, you are in good company. According to a 2019 Inc.com article, roughly 60 percent of us make New Year’s resolutions. Unfortunately, the percent of people who achieve their resolutions is less than 10 percent. Whether or not you are a person who starts the new year with resolutions, we all want 2022 and each new year to be a year of personal and professional growth and fulfillment. How can we make it so? The first step is to change how we approach our goals and pay attention to what works best for our own style.

Resolutions are about getting better, whether it’s increasing your level of fitness, saving money, completing a major work or home project. It boils down to setting goals and working to achieve them. There is no question that we need to know our goals, what we’re working toward, how and where we want to be to be by the end of that new year. To get there, we must focus on what we do day to day. That’s why performance expert James Clear suggests a different approach to making resolutions. In Clear’s book Atomic Habits, he calls habits the compound interest of self-improvement. Comparing habits to the impact compound interest has on money, he said if we concentrate on making sure we’re intentional about our daily habits, the impact of them multiplies as they are repeated over time.

Whatever your outcome goals are — mastering a new skill, excelling in a sport, achieving a weight loss goal, or completing a major work project – – – they’ll be achieved not by wishing but by doing. It will be a repetition of daily habits that as time progresses will compound and move you to the natural outcome that is your goal. It’s the things we do consistently each day that will get us the outcomes we’re seeking with our New Year’s resolutions. This year instead of what you won’t do or what you’re going to give up, write out the habits you will adopt that when consistently done will bring you the results you
desire. Knowing yourself and how you respond to habits and routines will help you make those desired habits stick. Your DISC style gives you insight into how best to approach developing your own Atomic Habits.

D Style

You prioritize Results, and you like the feeling of Achievement that comes from those results. You’re continually looking for challenges and opportunities. You enjoy solving problems and don’t shy away from tough deadlines and competitions. Use this tenacious competitive spirit to your advantage when tackling changing your habits. Structure the habit as a competition with an accountability partner or tie the habit to
solving a problem. This will motivate you to hang in especially midway through the changes. D styles like to take, so have a specific step to take right away to get your habit started.

I Style

You put a high priority on Enthusiasm and are perpetually Optimistic. You need to view your plan to change habits as positive – no comparing pros and cons. It’s focusing on the pros and focusing on the ones that excite you most. I styles also love to take action, so you’ll want to get started on your habit changes right away. Half steps don’t work as well for I styles, so consider taking one habit at a time to work on rather than several. You can then go all in on one habit instead of half-stepping several habits.

S Style

You value Support and Stability. Lean into your desire to help others as motivation to make changes to your daily habits. Write out the habit you want to adopt and how it will benefit others around you — your co-workers, family, and friends. And take time to plan for a more gradual change in your habits. Half steps can be great; for your S style half steps are critical. They meet your need for order and predictability as you make changes to your habits. That will help you maintain a stable environment you tend to thrive in.

C Style

You place a high value on Accuracy and Quality. For you, it’s important to take time to plan your habit transformation. You won’t feel comfortable changing your habits unless you have researched the pros and cons. Your pride in producing high quality work and following guidelines means you’ll need to study what you want to do and why and the details for making the change happen. Only then will you feel confident that you will be successful making the change to your habits. This of course requires time so you’ll need to get started on the plan for the new year sooner than the other styles in order to convince yourself you will be successful.

Please contact us if you are interested in learning your DISC style.
We offer DISC assessments and coaching for individuals and teams.

“Once in a Lifetime”

“Once in a lifetime” read the headline of the Evansville Courier. In the newspaper, on billboards, and on the nightly news, you could not escape knowing that on the afternoon on April 8th the city will experience a total solar eclipse. It is expected to be a big deal for our community.

Community leaders hope this celestial event will bring upwards of 80,000 visitors who will spend money on lodging, meals, and shopping finds. Evansville’s a city that’s gone from a t-shirt motto of “We’re Evansville” (with the implied “Enough Said” tagline) to today’s “E is for everyone” and is excited to make a better impression.

Because so many people might be visiting the city for the first time, city officials want to pull out all the stops to make sure it’s a favorable first impression.

Clearly a lot of money and time has been invested in maximizing this minutes-long event that won’t happen again in our lifetime. For more than a year, the city of Evansville’s tourism organization has been hosting monthly Regional Eclipse Task Force meetings to share information and help businesses and organizations plan for the thousands of visitors the city hopes will visit to experience the total eclipse. Before those meetings, the city began planning soon after the 2017 eclipse when the city was on the edge of the solar eclipse path.

It’s shaping up to be a community-wide holiday with schools closing and some businesses closing at noon to allow employees time to prepare to experience the event with their family and friends.

While it’s great to plan for an event to welcome new visitors to the city, I keep thinking of how much time and money have gone into a snapshot event that will soon be past us.

Considering the years of planning and how keenly aware city officials were of the opportunity to take advantage of being in the path of the eclipse, I wonder if the same amount and level of investment would be made to something more lasting and also “once in a lifetime.” It reminds me of the admonition we hear that we spend more time planning a single vacation than we do our retirement.

What if we were to look at other events that are “once in a lifetime” for the people experiencing them?

The children who will be born to first-time parents this year. This is each of those children’s once in a lifetime entry into the world. Planning for how to support them and their parents would have much more impact than thousands of visitors to any community for a day.

The students who will graduate from high school in 2030. For those students, the day they transition from high school to the next stage of their work or schooling is a “once in a lifetime” event. Could we help students, parents, and the educational community cast a vision for their graduation day? What would the students and their supporters want them to have achieved? What skills and resources would prepare them to celebrate their graduation and be prepared to their transition after graduation?

Perhaps the answer lies in better understanding why we’ll plan for months and years for minute-long events but not for those that last much longer than our attention spans can handle. Could we take our focus on 3-minute events and expand it to, for example, a child’s first 3 months of life or the first 3 years of a child’s formal schooling? Imagine the difference that could make.

Thankful for their service

Photo by Kendall Hoopes

I would hear the phrase “Thank you for your service” and not think much about it. That all changed in May 2014 when I witnessed the landing of an Honor flight. From that day on, the words took on an added importance.

 I was in Reagan International Airport waiting to fly home after a trade conference. Many of the flights including mine had been delayed because of bad weather. But soon among the announcements was one saying that a World War II Veterans’ Honor flight from Anchorage, Alaska would soon be landing. I didn’t pay much attention at first to the announcement that would repeat every 15 minutes . . . that is not until the one that said they would be handing out flags for anyone who wanted one as they welcomed the veterans. Many people continued standing in line, waiting to learn of their travel options as the delay got longer and they knew they wouldn’t make their connecting flight. I was standing to watch the screens updating the flight and had my backpack loaded down with books and computer equipment. My other arm was partially free since my purse wasn’t as heavy. But I stayed put, glancing to my right to see an employee with miniature  American flags. Several young men stepped forward to get one. But only a few. I began to wonder if many people would even turn around when the flight arrived, so worried and harried they were with the travel chaos.

As the announcements became more frequent, I wondered if passengers would at least turn around to see the veterans walk through the gate. There were so many people crammed into the gate areas by now with the weather forecast continuing to be negative. People were looking out the windows to see the gathering clouds that confirmed the delays being updated on the screens.

With the final announcement that the Honor flight bringing the WWII Alaskan veterans to Washington DC had landed, I saw a small media crew getting set up. But we all still stood in our place. Some turned to look to the far right where the agents opened the doors to the gate where the veterans were to walk through. Within 15 minutes the first few people begin their slow walk through the doors. The young men who had been the only ones to take the flags began waving them. Those closest to the gate began clapping and cheering at the first sight of the very elderly group slowly making their way up the ramp.

What I remember most about the veterans as I walked closer to the gate were their eyes. Unlike the frailty of their bodies, their eyes were alert and bright and moved quickly around the crowd. I will never forget the expressions on their faces – first of shock at seeing such a large group of people surrounding them and hearing loud cheers and then of joy when they realized it was for them. Many were overcome by emotion with tears welling up in their eyes.

The reactions of the veterans immediately transformed the crowd who only moments before were complaining of delays, visibly frustrated and impatient to not yet know their travel plans. Tense jaws were relaxed, and suddenly the anger and frustration disappeared and in its place was a mixture of both awe, joy, and gratitude. Everyone clapped and cheered, and those closest to the slow yet steady parade of the remarkable veterans tried to make eye contact with them, to shake their hand, or to pat them on the shoulder. They wanted a way to show their gratitude to this group of veterans. As the clapping and cheering became louder the expressions on the veterans’ face continued to light up. They were energized just as their very presence had uplifted an entire wing of the airport. Many people had tears streaming down their faces as they clapped and called out to the veterans. I overhead several people near me relaying stories of their own relatives who had served but had since died.

What also struck me was the support and love shown by those escorting the veterans as they made their way through the terminal.  The spouses, grown children, and adult grandchildren of these men and women were greatly moved by the experience. Some were pushing a wheelchair and making sure a crocheted afghan covering their loved one didn’t get caught in the wheels. Another looked to be a son helping his father get up from the wheelchair to walk part of the way.  

Later that evening the weather cleared, and my flight was finally called. As passengers began boarding, we talked about how fortunate we were to have our flight delayed. Had we left at the scheduled time, we would have missed the Honor flight. It was an amazing experience that brings me to tears each time I have reflected on it. It is one I have recounted to my family and friends and to my students  . . . to share what it taught me . . . the importance of expressing our gratitude, especially for sacrifices of which we can’t begin to know the depth. And for that, I never want to miss the opportunity to thank veterans for their service.

Bookshelf Surfing – A Remote Work Benefit

One of the benefits of remote work is the chance to see people in their homes. We don’t often get to see co-workers in spaces of their own choosing as part of our work lives. Sure, maybe we’ve been in work environments where it’s okay to have some personal design choices. But those are usually limited to framed photos of family and maybe some college or sports memorabilia.

Now as we log into Zoom or Skype meetings, we’re able to have a window into how others have designed and organized their personal workspaces. This has included reporters and entertainers too, giving all of us a chance to see them or their desk with their bookshelves behind them.

This delights me. I’m always curious to see people’s bookshelves when invited to an event in their homes. It fascinates me what people have read and what books they treasure enough to keep.

Here are some shelves I’ve noticed:

Tulsa Oklahoma Mayor G.T. Bynum:

  • “Benjamin Franklin” by Walter Isaacson
  • “Millie’s Book” by Barbara Bush
  • Ryan Holiday’s “Ego is the Enemy” and “Stillness is the Key”
  • “Senator Mansfield: The Extraordinary Life of a Great Statesman and Diplomat” by Don Oberdorfer
  • “Team of Rivals:  The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by Doris Kearns Goodwin
  • “Truman” by David McCullough
  • “President Reagan” by Lou Cannon

Comedian Stephen Colbert

  • “The Quest:  Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World” by Daniel Yergin
  • “No Easy Day” by Mark Owen
  • “Over Time:  My Life as a Sportswriter” by Frank Deford
  • “Ike’s Bluff” by Evan Thomas
  • “Team of Rivals:  The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by Doris Kearns Goodwin
  • “Game Change” by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin
  • “Tip and The Gipper” by Chris Matthews

NPR Reporter Yamiche Alcindor

  • “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • “Presidents of War” by Michael Beschloss
  • “A Mercy” by Toni Morrison
  • “Elements of Style” by William Strunk and E.B. White

Kishore Mahbubani, former Senior Singaporean Diplomat – (He had copies of his own book “Has China Won” outward facing to his left and right.)

Some bookshelves showed research interests, as with Howell Raines, former New York Times Executive Editor, who had books on the Civil War and the Underground Railroad.

Elise Jordan, Former Aide to George Bush White House and State Department

  • “Genius in Disguise” by Thomas Kunkell
  • “Parkland” by Dave Cullen
  • “Sisters First” by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush
  • “Code Girls”by Liza Mundy
  • “Girls of Riyaldh”by Rajaa Alsanea

And I loved that Jordan had board games in the first shelf. Seeing Parcheesi made me smile.

Just as I was finalizing my list, I watched the Mother’s Day SNL over the weekend and saw Tina Fey’s bookshelf during her skit. Among the splash of books with a color combination that alone was stylish were titles I had never heard of but now want to check out:

  • “Pierre Cardin” by Jean-Pascal Hesse
  • “David Bowie Is Inside” by Victoria Broakes and Geoffrey Marsh
  • “New York in the 70s” by Allan Tannenbaum

Fey shows support of her fellow comedians with Steve Martin’s “Born Standing Up” and her friend Amy Poehler’s “Yes Please,” in addition to books from Martin Short and Amy Schumer.

All this bookshelf surfing has made me take a second look at the books on my shelves. What should be my forward facing books .. the ones I would want people to notice and read and be as inspired by their words as I was. Here’s my short list:

  • “New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle
  • “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” by Betty Smith
  • “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini
  • “The Power of Positive Thinking” by Norman Vincent Peale
  • “Elements of Style” by William Strunk and E.B. White

As we’re organizing our workspaces, take time to review your bookshelf. What books would you hope to encourage others to read? Make sure they are on your shelf.

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They have to know you care

Critical conversations are where author Olivia Fox Cabane’s charisma tips are especially needed. Think about the last tough conversations you had – what went well, what didn’t. If you think of what didn’t go well, it’s most likely in the way the person received the information. Perhaps they were caught off-guard or they felt singled out.  The techniques aren’t guaranteed to solve all problems, but applying them can help you keep what is most important in perspective, and that is the why of the conversation. Focus on the reason, which most often is to improve a relationship, to steer a person on the right track to better performance and more opportunities to advance.

Knowing this can help motivate you to take the time needed to prepare for the conversation. Since you have to have them, you want them to go well and by implementing her tips and techniques you’re increasing the likelihood that they will. As with all of Cabane’s tips in The Charisma Myth, she recommends practicing and making the most of lower stakes situations so when the higher ones come you’ll be that much more prepared.

In difficult conversations when people are more stressed, there is a greater focus on body language. She explains that’s because we revert to our primal fight/flight instinct. We pay closer attention to body language than words. What we see we’re able to process much more quickly than what we hear. To make sure our body language conveys the right message, she encourages us to take time to make sure our mind is in the right perspective. She suggests having the mindset of “help me understand how you see things.” Having this frame of mind will affect the tone of your voice, your facial expressions. It will be easier for the person to see as well as hear that you have their best interest at heart.

Then, when the person begins sharing their perspective, give the person your full attention and do not interrupt. You’ll have time to respond, but if you cut the person off they’re not going to feel heard. Your goal is for them to feel acknowledged and heard.

Key Takeaways for Critical Conversations

  • Be mindful of your body language – you want to communicate care, concern, understanding, and empathy.
  • People remember the first and last thing we say. With that in mind, start with a positive, such as expressing appreciation of their value or acknowledgement of their contributions. Bookend the conversation by likewise closing on a positive note with next steps, appreciation, and something you both are looking forward to in the near future.
  • Plan the points you want to make and keep the focus on facts and behaviors observed. You can’t read people’s minds and so we want to avoid assigning motives.
  • Throughout the conversation observe the person’s body language for signs of defensiveness. If they appear defensive, try dialing up your warmth and empathy.

Improve Your Public Speaking Presence

Olivia Fox Cabane’s information on improving your public speaking abilities is among the best tips and techniques in her book, The Charisma Myth. I found myself noting line after line and will encourage clients to add it to their reading list. Cabane emphasizes how much preparation it takes to give a great speech. This isn’t always obvious because we can often think speakers are born with the gift. It can appear to us that they’re stepping up and speaking so fluently with little to no preparation. But that is rare, and for those who can, it’s only after years of practice and experience as a public speaker that they are able to do so. That’s why I want to frame this quote from the book and hang it in the classroom:   

“Just as a duck appears to be sailing smoothly on the surface of a lake while powerfully paddling below the waterline, it takes a whole lot of effort for a presentation to appear effortless.”

Amen!

She reinforces the importance of preparing your content for a specific audience. With a focus on your audience and what your audience needs from your speech, she explains how important it is for presenters to know exactly what the purpose of their talk with be. That sounds simple enough, almost so much that it wouldn’t need to be mentioned. But I know from my own experience working with clients and in my own presentations, that this isn’t nearly as easy as it sounds. You might know the content or the title of your talk, but not how to explain it in a sentence or two. She says you should know the single idea you want to convey in your speech and make it as clear and easy to understand as possible. You should be able to say it in one sentence. Once you have this main message – your key idea – the rest of your material should support it. She recommends supporting it with three points because the human brain processes information in three’s.

Once you have that framework, it’s easier to step back and evaluate how your content, the information you’ll be providing to your audience, can give them value. This is what she recommends being front and center in your speech preparation — delivering a good return on investment to your audience. They’re spending one of their most precious resources to be in your audience – – their personal time and also – we hope – their attention to your speech. For that, we owe them value.

Key Takeaways for Becoming a Better Public Speaker

  • Get graphic with your information. The saying that a picture is worth a thousand words is true because of the way our brains process information. Our brain’s ability to process words is newer and less hard wired than our brain’s ability to process visual images.
  • Use stories to relate the information to your audience and increase the likelihood they’ll remember your message. For the stories to be effective, the people in the story should have things in common with your audience.
  • Practice, practice, practice! She emphasized this by sharing that when Jerry Seinfeld got his first big break with an appearance on The Tonight Show he prepared for those 6 minutes for 6 months.
  • Pay attention to the tempo of your speech. The slower you speak the more thoughtful and deliberate you will sound, causing your audience to pay more attention to what you have to say.
  • Make use of pauses and make them deliberate. “Have the confidence to make your listeners wait for your words.”

Check out Bane’s Voice Fluctuation and Vocal Power exercises at the end of the book and on her website www.askolivia.com/exercises.

Better Business Writing Tips

Little did I realize when putting together my 2020 reading list that I would have so much more time to devote to reading.  But surprisingly or maybe not so much so, I haven’t done much more reading than I did before the COVID-19 crisis. One book on my list was The Charisma Myth by  Olivia Fox Cabane. Based on all the learnings I got from it, I am motivated to devote more of this time to reading.

For each of these books, I’ll share things that you can apply immediately — either an action or a way of looking at something differently. With The Charisma Myth it is so chock full of ideas – all related of course to the topic of what makes a person charismatic – that help a leader or teacher in any field to be more effective. The author explained her belief that there are three types of charisma and there are ways to increase each type. What I gained most from the book are specific techniques to be a better communicator.

As I read through the book, I took notes on the techniques and tools and organized them around three main communication skills:  giving presentations, having difficult conversations, and writing emails and other business communication.

This first post will share the key takeaways on business writing because with the sudden move to remote work and virtual meetings we’re relying even more on written communication.

Key Takeaways for Better Business Writing

  • With email we only have words. We lose all other methods of communicating such as nonverbal and visual communication. Because of this, it’s all the more important that we think through questions our readers will have about the topic. We cannot make corrections midway through as we can when speaking on the phone or face-to-face. We must plan.
  • Watch the return on investment for your reader. She says to measure the length of your email against the value it is delivering to your reader.
  • Read through your email before you send it. Edit them with the goal of removing as many extra words as possible. She shared the following quote from Antonie de Saint-Exupery, author of The Little Prince:  “Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but when there is no more to subtract.”
  • Check how often you use the word “I” as opposed to “You.” Does the email speak about you and your interests first? You want the focus on your readers and what they’re interested in.

I got so much out of The Charisma Myth and encourage you to read it. Find out more about the author and her work, including specific charisma exercises that can be downloaded from her website: www.askolivia.com.

Don’t forget the name tags

An article in January 2018 Delta SkyMiles magazine shares how Greta Gerwig, director of the hit movie Lady Bird, uses name tags to build a sense of belonging with everyone on the set.

Name tags are something I use in training and facilitating even when the people in the group work together and should know each other’s names. Of course, it can be helpful for me the trainer. Though I am good at remembering names, it can still help me when it’s been a while since I’ve been with the group. More importantly, it’s been helpful for the attendees who may not work directly with some of their fellow employees and so might feel embarrassed to not remember names of co-workers.

Gerwig shared a great tip for using nametags to build a sense of fun and belonging on the set. They post a question the person is asked to write the answer to beneath their name. That day her production assistant Dana came up with the question of the day – “What’s a movie you should like but don’t?” to which Gerwig’s handwritten answer was “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

The question encourages everyone to take a moment to look at the person’s name tags. It takes away the embarrassment of needing to look to see the person =’s name while hoping they don’t notice you needed the memory jogger. At the same time, you’re learning something new about the person. It can be a great way to start conversations that otherwise might not happen. It builds relationships and connections so important in adding value to face-to-face training and meetings.

At the very least, instead of preprinting name tags, consider having colored markers and letting people write their own. That way they can indicate if they preferred to be called by their middle name or something different than the formal name printed on a registration roll.

Gerwig shared that she got the idea for nametags from director Mike Mills. She likes it because it gives everyone a chance to know each other and avoid the “hey you” greetings. It also helps participants keep in touch after an event because they know the spelling of the person’s name.

“Not every reader is a leader, but every leader must be a reader.”

This quote by President Harry S. Truman should be in every leadership program’s orientation. Leaders face challenges and must be quick to respond. They must remain curious and not assume they have all the answers or that their perspective is the only way to view a situation. By continually reading, they continue to learn and to question their assumptions.

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to be in the habit of reading at least 20 minutes each day. I was going to put a number of books to complete, but I didn’t want to focus on the number of books so much as the act of reading and seeking new information. And I wanted to include not just books on business and policy but also novels and short stories. Often, I learn just as much from a story – how the characters respond to situations, what they learn about themselves and from each other.  

If you’re planning to read more, there are a number of leaders who share their list of books they planned to read this year. They range from celebrities such as Oprah to political leaders like Barrack Obama. The website Favobooks.com with the “famous people’s favourite books” headlines favorite reads of today’s leaders and political figures from history. (My favorite novel of all time is Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which I read as a teenager growing up in pre-Netflix days in Cullowhee, NC. New Earth by Eckhart Tolle is my favorite self-improvement book.)

After reviewing my upcoming assignments for content needs and a review of trade publications, here are the 12 on my list. And it’s no surprise that the first one is all about my New Year’s Resolution of making small changes that over the course of the year will make a big impact on my goals. I don’t know if I’ll complete both of these, but sure am wanting to use habits to make a big impact on my goals this year. If any of you have read either book, let me know if you recommend one over the other.

  1. Atomic Habits:  Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results by James Clear (also Tiny Habits:  The Small Changes that Change Everything by B.J. Fogg)
  2. The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabane
  3. The Empathy Edge:  Harnessing the Value of Compassion as an Engine for Success by Maria Ross
  4. All You Have to Do is Ask:  How to Master the Most Important Skill for Success by Wayne Baker
  5. HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations by Nancy Duarte
  6. You’re Not Listening (What You Are Missing and Why It Matters) by Kate Murphy
  7. The Non-Obvious Guide to Emotional Intelligence by Kerry Goyette
  8. Contagious You:  Unlock Your Power to Influence, Lead, and Create the Impact You Want by Anese Cavanaugh
  9. Aligned:  Connecting Your True Self with The leader You’re Meant to Be by Hortense le Gentil
  10. What Makes Training Really Work:  12 Levers of Transfer Effectiveness by Ina Winbauer and Mash Ibeschitz-Manderbach
  11. The Three Laws of Performance:  Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life by Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan
  12. Start with Why:  How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek

2020 Resolutions

2020 Resolutions

For as many years as I can remember my New Year’s Resolutions have been goal statements — as in a certain amount of money I wanted to save, or income I wanted to earn, or weight I wanted to lose. But as the days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months, the things I did each day seemed to take on less significance. I focused more on the end goal and at the beginning of the year, especially the first couple of months, it felt like I had all the time in the world to make the goal. Not that I didn’t have goals that made me stretch — just that I didn’t attach those goals to actions I needed to take each day and week to make the goal happen.

The older I get the more time shouts to me — that time is passing and passing quickly so I’m either going to do the things needed to be pleased with what I’ve achieved and the impact I want to make or I am not. So, this time as I was thinking through my goals at the end of December, I began rethinking how I set my resolutions for the new year. And since this would be the start of a new decade, I review it with more weight, more gravity.  I began with the end goal in mind. For example, I set a writing goal and then thought through what habit I needed to commit to each day to make it more achievable.

Later that same week I listened to a podcast by Amy Porterfield (Online Marketing Made Easy) in which she featured an interview with the author of Atomic Habits by James Clear. He said habits can be the “compound interest of self-improvement.” Comparing habits to the impact compound interest has on money, he said if we concentrate on making sure we’re intentional about our daily habits, the impact of them “multiplies as you repeat them across time.” He gave the example of our eating choices, saying that one day of good habits is good, but it doesn’t make much difference unless it’s practiced day after day. 

Clear’s message gave me validation for my take on New Year’s resolutions. “The process of success is hidden from view.” Why we think we see “overnight successes,” when in fact the person has been putting in the time to develop the skills that have made the success possible. Whatever your outcome goals are  — mastering a new skill, excelling in a sport, achieving a weight loss goal, or publishing a book – – – they’ll be achieved not by wishing but by doing. It will be a repetition of daily habits that as time progresses will compound and move you to the natural outcome that is your goal. Viewing my habits in that way helped me get over the feeling that I have to do something huge or do nothing. So often it’s hard if not impossible to point to a huge step that is taken all by itself. Instead, it is a series of small steps that connect and build a pathway that moves you toward the big outcome. Looking at habits in this way motivated me to come up with the habits that I committed to as part of my New Year’s resolutions.

The second thing I did was to announce my resolutions to my family and close friends — it’s akin to what I like to call “putting it out in the universe.” My daughters tease me about this saying, but I swear by it — the thought that you announce your goals to the universe – meaning your family, your tribe, your community, etc. I firmly believe that the universe – our universe of support – – wants to see us achieve our goals, to be our better selves. By declaring what we want to achieve, the universe then is on the lookout to helps us make them happen.

Therefore, I encourage you to think through what you want to look back and say that you have achieved at this time next year when we’ve celebrated the passing of 2020 and are anticipating 2021. Review what habits you need to adopt, modify, or amp up each day to increase your odds of achieving the goal. And along the way, put it out in the universe — tell your tribe, your family, your supporters so they can encourage you along the way. Here’s to making 2020 the best!