How are you going to grow this year? What will move you out of your comfort zone? When we step out of our comfort zone we develop. Organisations try to encourage us to think about this with personal development plans. Inevitably, we write about the training courses we will attend, finding a mentor, understanding other functions and so on. They tend to be doing lists, even if we are looking for a behavioural change. Lists we can tick off and prove we have achieved them to ourselves and our line manager.
The catch – they don’t work. Rarely do they have the impact they were designed to. It’s the document we dust off in October to ensure everything is ticked off in time for our appraisal. They are not live documents which enable us to grow every day. They don’t help us when the unexpected presents it’s self. Instead, they enable us to make small step changes to create the feeling we are progressing. We are busy, with ambitions and a desire to grow so we need another solution. A solution to create the result we want.

One little word can have the impact we need. When we identify the word which will help us grow the most in 2013 it does just this. It keeps it simple and saves time. It states our intent for the year and lives with us in every situation. Importantly it works.

If you were going to be one thing this year what would have the biggest impact on your success?

Generous
Challenging
Brave
Ballsy
Present
Vocal

For example, if we took the word generous, this might be about being generous with our time, generous in our thinking towards others and generous with our words. Alternatively if our word is brave, it might inspire us to say what we are really thinking, to have the conversations we might not otherwise have or perhaps to do something we have previously feared such as presenting in front of a 100 people. If our word was brave we will not pass up on opportunities that inevitably present themselves during the year. When we declare this as our intent then our behaviour will change. It becomes a guiding thought for how we approach situations.
The way to identify your word is to ask the question;

If I am going to be one thing this year what will have the biggest impact on my success?

My one little word for this year is bold.

What’s your’s?

Photo: Crazy Nana

One Little Word for the New Year

Post navigation


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *