FAQ Friday - FAQs for Leaders - December - Fresh Start
One Friday each month I dedicate the post to looking at some questions I have heard recently from developing leaders. Sharing those questions and my thoughts for them is a way for me to spread the information to as many leaders and future leaders as possible. If you have a question about leadership or just a situation you would like some additional insight on, please email me at Effective Retail Leader. Let’s take a look at this week’s question.
How do I put the old year behind me and get a fresh start for 2019?
When the calendar flips to a new year we all want some things to change. It is a natural point which anyone can see as a new start. It is an opportunity for a fresh start. Keep in mind, just because the calendar changes, the problems, the behaviors, and the results will not change because the year does. It takes a concerted effort to make change occur. There are steps you can take in addition to creating a new mindset that will provide you with the opportunity for that fresh start you seek.
Take an inventory of your current year learnings
Set aside some time to reflect on the year that has past, what you accomplished, and what you did not. The point here is not to do a lot of celebrating or beating yourself up. It is to think about why things happened the way they did. What did you learn from the outcomes? What led to the successes or misses? Were there steps you took ahead of time that would make sense to do whenever you started something new? If you had the opportunity to do some of the things over again, what would you do differently? Make notes as you work your way through the year so you can refer back to them later.
Write down what you want to be different in the new year
Once you have a good set of notes from reflecting on what has passed, begin to think about what you can choose to do differently in the future. They do not need to be lengthy items, just capture the high level changes you want to make based on your thoughts from what you could do differently. Don’t feel as though you need to address them all. This is a good time to prioritize and pare down the list as well. You will almost certainly have more things you’d like to do than you will have time to do. Since you have your list, you can always refer back to it later in the year if you have capacity to take on more.
What steps will you take to achieve those new levels
Finally, begin to think about what the steps will be to achieve those new behaviors. Ask yourself, ‘what would need to be true in order for the desired outcomes to become reality?’ Break those into smaller details that you can then list to act upon.As much as these steps may sound like simple goal setting techniques, the key is then to let go of the past and only look forward. You cannot change the past, only what lies ahead. What has occurred previously can provide valuable lessons, but do not dwell on them, positive or negative. Other people’s behaviors and even the result trends may not change right away, but if you stick to what you commit to, you can make a difference in the days, weeks, and months ahead.Join other retail leaders in continuing their development journey with Effective Retail Leader.com. SUBSCRIBE today to receive leadership tips directly to your inbox and monthly newsletters that provide many tools to help further develop your leadership skills. JOIN NOW!No spam ever - just leadership goodness.