Back to paid work this week, welcome to 2016 – even though it is already 2 weeks old!
I wonder how many people have already abandoned their “New Year’s Resolutions”?
If you accept the data reported in this article from “The Washington Post” then 25% have already abandoned their resolutions, and another 20% will fall by the wayside by the end of January.
That used to me I must confess, what about you?
Like most people I tended to choose vague, self-improvement statements. This didn’t recognise that I was stuck in an old pattern of thinking – to change ourselves we really need to break the patterns of our past behaviour – and that means breaking out of the old thought patterns.
For the past 6 years I have used a different approach for focussing my effort for the year. It is a technique of choosing 3 focus words to use daily and keep me focused on what I am trying to achieve. I picked up the idea form Chris Brogan – here is his focus post for 2016.
A focus word has to have a meaning that you associate, nobody else needs to understand nor share that meaning. If you want to apply this process in a team context then the team need to jointly develop their focus words.
The focus words represent the ideas or aspirations that will draw us towards objectives. This is not goal setting – as the goals may change. My own practice in 2015 is a good example of what I mean. Last year I blogged about my 3 words for 2015, the focus words were;
- 274
- Time
- Value
274 was to some extent both a focus area and a goal – my focus was to create a significant body of work. I defined that as 100,000 words, which translates to 274 words every day. At the time I was thinking mainly around traditional writing and publishing.
But during the year I resolved to launch a podcast and as a result “Beyond the Black Stump” became my primary vehicle for delivering value and to deliver on my objective of the significant body of work.
I achieved well over the 100k word outcome, and the focus word “274” kept me moving forward. The specific goal changed from the written word to a mix of written and spoken words.
Here are my three words for 2016, and a quick overview of them. You can hear more about these ideas in the Black Stump podcast this week, and over coming weeks on the podcast I will interview some other practitioners about how they might use the idea of focus words.
Content
Last year I launched the podcast, this word is my focus to diversify the content I produce. Different formats and different media. Not planning to abandon the current channels such as this blob, the Resilience Ninja newsletter or the Podcast – but to review what content each has and to build new channels like Webinars and online courses.
Content is also a reminder to focus on the consumer, to generate content that is useful to the audience. Content that helps to build community and advance the idea of professionalisation.
Community
No single personal, profession, discipline or body of knowledge can build a resilient organisation on their own. No single discipline owns the concept.
It takes a village to build and maintain resilience – this is the meaning behind this focus word.
It is there to remind me of the need to focus on breaking down the barriers and silos between disciplines.
To create content that will assist that cross over between disciplines and build the sense of community. A community in which different ideas and different bodies of knowledge are discussed.
A community of practice for resilience.
Professionalisation
This last focus are is inspired by the theme of the BCI Australasian Summit – from practice to profession.
I have never viewed BC as a profession – but perhaps it is time to focus on what the professionalisation of BC would look like, or what changes might need to occur for that to happen.
This focus word represent a research project for the year. I don’t know yet what the goals and steps along the way might look like yet. More about this focus area in future posts as the project unfolds.
What is your focus for 2016 and what will you use to guide your actions? Go ahead and add a comment on this post to let us all know – alternatively comment on one of the LinkedIN groups this post is referenced.
If you need ideas to take things down a level and focus on specific goal setting and achievement than subscribe to the Resilience Ninja Newsletter, it is free, but the content is not available to non-subscribers.
Good luck on your journey through 2016, I look forward to hearing about it.
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