Ready to take action on your 2021 objectives? The results you seek reside just beyond the accountability you choose to infuse into your daily habits. Your tools for change are at your disposal, all you need to do is activate them each day.
Self-challenge is at the core of self-leadership. If you seek to become a better leader, the series of micro-mini successes that get you there are significant, not because they are wide in scope, but because they are rich in decision-making and mindfulness. Begin now to incorporate new systems to replace habits that no longer work for you with fresh ideas that drive a life you love. The key is to stay accountable to the task of managing YOU.
- Create a First File: Validate every time that you do something for the first time by keeping a running list in a First File. At the end of each month, look back at what you dared yourself to do for the first time. Not only does this force you to think about trying new things, but it also documents all the times that you stepped into the unknown. Kick this up a notch by creating a brief journal post summarizing how and what these firsts made you feel. Use this file as a springboard to champion less fear and more decision-making.
- Lead One Thing Every Week: You may be spending a lot of time following what you did before, or perhaps taking your cues from others. Personally, and professionally, the changes you seek live on the other end of your next choice. By opting into a new weekly leadership role in one aspect of your life, you create a new habit around decision-making in all avenues of your life. At the beginning of each week, access one arena in which you can take on a leadership role in the next 168 hours. Mindfully place this on your calendar with a series of action steps that fuel it. Then the following week, choose to build upon the week prior, or to lead something else anew. Don’t overthink this. Your leadership for the week may be as vast as supporting your team on a project, or as simple as deciding what is for dinner each night for your family. Your success lies not in the extent of your leadership, but in your choice to do so.
- Write a Letter of Trust: Penning a letter to yourself is a great way to speak your mind and hear your heart. A letter of trust is an intimate, confidence building document addressing your commitment to and your relationship with your intuition. This letter will support you in recording past situations where you believed in yourself, while hallmarking your present and future promise to honor your own judgment and power of choice. Once written, read it out loud and visit it often. This a powerful confidence lifter.
- Start a Notebook of Now: Divide this notebook in sections based on each of your goals for the year. Use it as a daily tool to align each of your current goals with your daily to-do lists. Essentially, the question you want to ask yourself each day is, “What can I do NOW, in this moment, to get closer to this goal?” Your daily to-do lists should reflect upon your answer to that question. This is a quick and easy way to cross-check your tasks and your dreams and to stay accountable to your goals. Sync your Notebook of Now action-steps to your calendar. Once completed, log your results and successes into your Notebook of Now.
- Schedule a Meeting with Yourself: Lost in a sea of daily company meetings, Zooms and family commitments, it is easy to lose track of ourselves. Scheduling a weekly check in with yourself is a great way to honor yourself, align and re-align your goals and your action-steps, and make mindful decisions that support the results you seek. This time alone can be at your desk, on a walk or hike, in the shower, or wherever works best for you. Use it as a quick review of your successes, and a time to reflect and reset next ideas.