Boost your career in the new year - starting now!
rachel Coffey
Of course, we all know Christmas is on the way. There’ll be no time to think, your diary will be taken over by the drinks party reindeers and Christmas lunching elves. Whilst you are still trying to shoe horn in those essential meetings, deadlines and projects that need to be done regardless.
Then there’s the idea of the new year. That magical place where its all going to start afresh, with renewed energy, a clarity of vision and endless ambition. Its just somehow, by the time we get there we might be happy, but exhausted. We were going to have this great plan, but your feet never touched the ground. That time to think that was going to just ‘fit’ into your days off, seemed to evaporate almost without trace!
No fear, that’s why the end of November is here! The end of this month (and possibly a couple of days into the next) is the perfect time to set yourself up for a successful 2020! All it takes is a little foresight, carving out a small amount of time and then you’ll be free to enjoy the yuletide season at your leisure!
Here are 5 things you can do now, to help you get ahead of the game and raring to go in the New year!
Past events, future opportunity
It may not be quite the end of the year yet but enough time has passed to enable you to take stock of how things have gone this year. Yes, you want to be looking at what went well, and of course where there was room for improvement, but this isn’t a work year end review we are doing. We are thinking about how this year can set you up for the next!
To do this, it doesn’t necessarily matter if something was a success or, perhaps, not entirely perfect, what we are looking for are the opportunities. Who have you met that might be useful? What new connections did you make? Who slipped through the net? Are there ideas that didn’t quite come off the ground, but actually have real potential? Are there things that went well that you can build upon or leverage going forward? Is there a gap that was never filled that might present opportunities? Bring it all together and you will begin to have a starting point for the year ahead.
The elephant that wasn’t in the room
What did you need this year that you didn’t have? Its one thing to see things that didn’t work. Another to notice what was useful. Unsurprisingly what people often don’t see is the thing that wasn’t there at all. The elephant that wasn’t in the room, if you like! What was missing from this year that could, just possibly, have changed everything? The one thing that might have made a positive shift in the very best direction?
Have a think and identify what it is. It might hit you straight away or you might want to draw up a shortlist. Once you have honed in on it, ask yourself what needs to happen to allow it to be there in the future? Formulate a plan. What you also need to focus on is how you are going to be able to use it to get the best value out of the opportunity. If you need a place to start, imagine everything from this year is on the table in front of you. Now shift your perception and notice what isn’t there that might make all the difference. It may be something big, it may be something small and obvious. Whichever it is, this is where you begin to give yourself what you really need going forward.
Spot the fly in the ointment, not just the jar its in
So let’s just assume that something from the year could have gone better. It can seem a big task to try to unpick a situation that makes us recoil by just thinking about it. Oftentimes that’s enough to make people not tackle it at all. So, let’s look at this a little differently. Usually when there’s something that wasn’t functioning well, there is one particular part of the picture that can have a knock effect to many other processes. What we often do is begin by looking at all of those different parts, trying to dissect each section and figure out what was going on. Now, I’m not saying that isn’t valuable, I’m simply suggesting there may be another place to start.
Begin by looking at the whole. I want you to imagine its like looking at a map on the wall. Each element of the situation has a border with another. See each section coded by colour. Everything great is in bright green, ok is darker green, not so ok is blue, not functioning well is purple and any bit that absolutely didn’t work or caused the problem is in red. What you will probably find is that the colours radiate out. The further away from the red, the greener they will be. You might find one or maybe 2 spots that are red. Now, dive into it and ask, in the red area what specifically didn’t work? What was the one particular thing that was missing or was at the heart of the dysfunction? You can even repeat the whole process with just the section that was red. Now I want you to imagine, if that very specific part was to change to something that worked (or was removed) what would it do to the shading on the rest of the map?
What you might find is that by honing is on the specific part (or parts) that really didn’t work, the rest of the situation suddenly starts to function and you have solved your problem! All you need to do now is decide how to replace or re-work what was at the heart of the issue in the first place.
Connect and re-connect
At Christmas we often meet up with people that we might have worked with over the past year. Lots of pats on the back, chatting over what went well, discussing our Christmas plans. All good. What we don’t always do (usually because we haven’t had chance to think about it yet) is plant valuable seeds for the future. Of course, as we wave goodbye we say we’ll catch them in the new year, but if we have an awareness of the future we can begin to really pave the way instead. Its a simple idea that really successful people do naturally.
Write yourself a list of 6 things you want to happen in the new year. Now attach to that a person (or two) who can be helpful in each one. That’s your Xmas hit list. The aim is to have a conversation for each of the six where your person begins to imagine it happening. At the end of the conversation you suggest the opportunity of reconnecting about it in the new year. That’s it, seed planted and enjoy the drink! Oh, and if you can get their contact details earlier, rather than later, all the easier to not have to remember to do it at the end!
Outer place, Inner space
As we all know the time does just seem to get eaten up with the turkey during the festive period. In order to give you just that small amount of time to allow your thoughts to settle and process, you need to actually book it in. You need to be able to take yourself somewhere, just for a few hours where you can relax and be. It doesn’t matter where it is, heading for a massage, a yoga class or a cycle, so long as it is somewhere that allows you to clear your mind long enough for it to do the filing and re-set. If you don’t book it in it probably won’t happen. Even if you involve others in some way, ensure that at least part of that time is spent on your own. You can go over the things you are looking toward if you feel inclined, but simply getting out of that busy place and giving yourself some inner space, will help you achieve what you really want next year. Relax, recharge and get ready for a great 2020!