Happy New Year! 2022’s first post on Monday Motivation! This Monday and last week have been great in the UK since we’ve had bank holiday weekends across the both of them. This has contributed to me losing track of my days of the week, at least this is the excuse I can use for the time of the post. With it being the first Monday, week and month of the year it is that perfect time to get motivated! How was everyone’s New Year’s Eve? I tried and failed to stay indoors but I fortunately do have the rest of the year to improve my discipline. Last week’s blog was reflecting on 2021, assessing how it went, the good, bad, the in-between. It should be noted everyone’s recap of their year is unique to them, whilst some experiences may have been similar or shared, the impact of those experiences are unique. Therefore, for today’s blog I’ll be exploring how I take on what I recapped from last year and how it can aid me in kicking on in the new year.
My 2021 retrospective let me assess 3 areas; what went well, challenges, and even better ifs. Taking the time to reflect on those 3 areas is a success in itself for me, the next step is to learn from those lessons on 2021 and incorporate them into your 2022 to ensure that it’s a progressive one. Lessons not being learned can be a shortcoming for people and projects. If a person you know or a supplier/stakeholder is draining, it’s probably best to revisit how you manage that ongoing relationship to avoid that drain this year. Reviewing what went well last year for me, I can see a trend of new activities being there, to lean into that I should continue to look into new and upcoming activities to see what catches my eyes rather than revert to sticking with what I know. My relationships were also a highlight, this in part came from putting reminders on my phone to check in on people, it was very simple, but those check ins went a long way in building and reconnecting relationships.
2021 presented its challenges, which I mentioned last week. I’m keen to learn from those challenges as I map out my next steps for the year. A reflection for me on my challenges is to improve my tailoring of applications, this isn’t for just jobs but for general opportunities. A lot of rejections came from missing the nuances of opportunity descriptions, preventing me from correctly articulating my experience and value. Tailoring doesn’t have to be forensic analysis but recognising where certain experiences are more appropriate so should be elaborated on and others should be put aside for another application. I’m adamant about taking my organisational skills to another level so that exhaustion is a rarity as opposed to a norm. That starts with making to do lists clearer, rather than study MSP for a half an hour, revise MSP Principles module and review accompanying module questions, the added detail makes the task more clear and less onerous.
Continuing my desire to increase my organisation skills further, this aligns with what would’ve made my 2021 better. I’m back reading Getting Things Done, and it drills home, organising your ‘open loops’ by writing them down, easing the burden on your brain and clarifying the next steps that need to be taken with outstanding tasks. I’m also positive this will help contribute to me being more present as I reduce the amount of mental gymnastics I do.
As I read back on my next steps set out, they don’t appear wholly drastic, they’re instead more specific and tailored for me. With retrospectives they don’t require drastic overhauls to improve results or efficiencies, but when done properly they counter stagnation. For 2022, the 5 things I’m looking to obtain are Momentum, Growth, Remuneration, Stretch & Productivity. That said talk is cheap, putting these next steps into action will see me achieve those 5 elements. Setting goals is not for everyone, however reflecting on the good, the bad and the in-between should be and can put you in position to boost the good and trim the bad, making it easier to lean into what went well and learn from your challenges. What 5 things would you like to accomplish this year?
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Temis2Pence