A One Week New Year’s Resolution
“The problem with the future is it keeps turning into the present.” Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
Don’t commit to doing something for a year if you haven’t done it for a week.
Forget about radical change in 2019. Make one small change for five days.
Choose a New Year’s Resolution that requires five minutes a day, no more. At the end of five days, commit to continue for another five days, or not.
Choose a New Year’s Resolution that’s so small you can’t fail.
Seven steps to a New Year (Week):
Step one: Get a box of thank you notes.
Step two: Keep the thank you notes in plain view.
Step three: Give yourself a daily reminder to notice and record something good about ONE team member. Do this for five days. Focus on ONE person for five days.
Step four: Write a thank you note using pen and paper.
Step five: Personally, hand the note to your “gratitude target.”
Step six: Say, “I’ve noticed some things about you this week and I thought I’d write them down.”
Step seven: Walk away.
If you need help finding good things to notice, keep reading.
10 good things you could notice:
- Character traits that make a difference for others.
- Ways they practice organizational values.
- Every day practices you respect. (Don’t wait for extraordinary behaviors to express gratitude.)
- Actions that go beyond their job description.
- Ways they make life better for others.
- Things they are learning.
- How they are growing.
- Things they do to challenge the status quo.
- Skills you admire.
- Attitudes that improve your environment.
After I publish this post, I’m heading to the store for my box of thank you notes.
What simple behaviors might you suggest for New Year’s Resolutions?
The future becomes us.
Get grounded, be honest and relate well, now, today.
Great thoughts. Thx.
Thanks Rurbane. When I read, “Get grounded,” I think about doing basic things that express our values. Forget about dramatic solutions.
Keep things “simple” as you mention, complexity is the recipe for disaster.
Happy New Year Dan.
Thanks Tim. Yes, simplicity is key to success. Happy New Year!
Dan,
Thank you for your commitment to not only continually learn and grow yourself, but to share the valuable truths you’ve learned and are learning with others. I appreciate your willingness to be transparent and share your personal areas of deficiency as well as the strategies you are presently employing to improve. Through this you serve all those who follow you posts and inspire us to expand ourselves and those around us. Thank you.
And thank you for your interesting, insightful and informative posts! I’m eager to try the 5 for 5 rule, it might be my first successful resolution! Happy New Year.
Thank you. Your posts are very inspiring to me. I appreciate your thoughts.
I don’t do resolutions but something that could be helpful for leaders and that can be implemented in under five minutes is to add to their weekly meetings a celebration of small wins. If someone doesn’t have time to write a thank you card, they could jot behavior they see that is conducive to a positive team environment or an action that went above and beyond and contributed to a win for the team. Then in the weekly meeting they just look at their notes and share a couple of the wins with the team. It would be effective for encouraging positive teamwork and more integrative behavior while also taking little time away from the meeting.