Hi there
I’m still on holidays until 14 January, which means that I still have a whole week before I go back to work properly. It’s the longest I’ve been off all in one go for as long as I can remember, and it’s all kinds of amazing.
In the background, though, there is all of that brilliant work you get to do when you’re on leave from Actual Work. The thinking, goal-setting, planning, actioning.
As a founder, I find that holidays are the times in which I do my best work. I love all the building, creating, visioning, scoping, and learning work.
So it is that even though today is Sunday, and it’s almost the end of Week 1 of 2019, I’ve got this year’s goal locked in, and an Action Plan for achieving it.
The difference between this year and last year? It’ll shock you. It certainly shocked me when I realised it.
Last year I didn’t write my goals down.
I thought I did. But I didn’t.
I cruised along.
I thought I knew what was going on.
Really, I was drifting.
Michael Hyatt, who wrote 5 Days to Your Best Year Ever, is blunt about what drifting looks and feels like, which is why he’s dedicated so much of his creative output to addressing it. Last week I went through his methodology for the first time, and it was during the review phase that the reality of last year’s drift hit me full in the face.
No wonder it was such a trying year. You can’t do anything effectively if you don’t know where you’re going. You wouldn’t just get in a car and drive aimlessly, and the same with life.
And so, this year I have a singular goal, which is a single revenue target earned from a single product. I’ve got action plans in place for achieving it. I have all my whys locked in, I know why I’m driving in this direction, what the outcome is, and what it’s going to mean to me to achieve it.
It doesn’t sound like much, but getting to this one Company goal took me 8 hours.
You see, dear reader, setting goals for your working life isn’t enough. You need goals for your spirit, your tribe, your wellbeing, and whatever other domains are in your life. I have seven, but just one is in the work domain.
You can bank on it that hitting all the other goals will make working life in 2019 much more of a joy than it was in 2018.
And so, raise your glass with me. Let’s raise a toast to the success of this year. Close your eyes and imagine that you and I are doing this in December 2019. We’re reflecting on the year, smiling as broadly as our faces allow us to, remembering how it felt to hit our goals month after month all year.
Feels good, doesn’t it?
Right, tiger. Let’s go get ‘em.