It's March - Where Are You on Your Resolutions?
By Todd V. McDonald
Published on Tuesday, March 6th, 2007 under Attitude / Accountability, Goal Setting, Personal Development
What do I finally need to do to be more productive in 2007?
At the beginning of every year we make resolutions. It could be to lose weight, spend more time with family, take a trip, or even develop a better relationship with the in-laws. (I’ll plead the fifth on that one!) As business professionals, many of us start each year with the resolution to get organized and be more focused on the most important things.
As I was watching CNN the other day while working toward my 2007 resolution on the local YMCA treadmill, I saw a report where they said the average business professional wasted 2.1 hours each day on interruptions. Phone calls, emails, drop-in-visitors … maybe it was you I saw in the feature. So what do we do?
The answer is simple: Discipline. Do you have the discipline to say “No” to the things you shouldn’t be doing so you can say “Yes” to the things you should? Sounds like common sense doesn’t it? Unfortunately common sense doesn’t always mean common practice. We have to make it common practice to say “no” to some things so we can say “yes” to others.
It starts with understanding what is truly important to you. You may want to create two lists, one personal and one professional. But don’t kid yourself; they impact each other. If done correctly this should take some time. This list can also serve as your motivation. If you have “spend more time with family” on the list, think about its value. Would it be worth not being a slave to email every fifteen minutes and instead having a plan to just check it three or four times a day? Would it be worth not dropping in and talking with your colleague about how the game turned out over the weekend? This is the discipline I’m talking about. Will there be issues where you can’t say “no”? Of course. That just makes it more important to have discipline in other areas.
At the end of each day we should all want to say we’ve put in an honest day’s work … on the right things. The answer to how to do this is simple. Be disciplined. Simple in concept, harder to implement. The key is to remember what it’s worth to you, and let that be your motivation. Here’s to a great - productive - 2007!
Todd McDonald is the Founder and President of ATW Training & Consulting in Des Moines and Partner in New Horizons Computer Learning Center. He is a graduate and Board Member for Leadership Iowa and serves on several local boards. He has authored books on leadership and time utilization. He can be reached through ATW’s website, www.atwtraining.com