Like many people, I use the new year as an opportunity to make changes in my personal and business life. It’s a good time to regroup, develop new goals and objectives, and implement new plans and activities that will lead to success. This year, I decided to make some directional changes to increase my productivity.
I had two goals:

• First, I wanted to use technology that would make my life easier and become more efficient in scheduling my clients and travels.
  
• Second, I wanted to redesign my office space to include a conference room I could offer small-group corporate workshops.

My technology resolution was actually inspired by a client, who always playfully picked on me for using a hand-written day planner. I’ve used a day planner throughout my 25 year career, so this mental habit was not going to vanish overnight. Lucky for me, my client Jeff works in the technology field, and a digital calendar was second nature to him. He taught me how simple and easy it can be. 

Jeff, was also having a hard time changing directions in his life, so we made a pact. We both agreed to go through the process together, hold each other accountable, and help each other if we stumbled or hit a roadblock. Whenever I hit a miniature road block with my phone calendar, I would just ask for help.
 

In spite of the fact that there are many people who are happy to help me with my digital calendar, making this change was far from easy. I quickly found that the most difficult part for each of my new year’s resolutions (or directional changes) was the mental aspect. Getting the mind around a new concept or new way of thinking is often half the battle when making a significant change in life. I believe this mental change is the reason people tend to procrastinate the hard or unappealing tasks. If you want to stop procrastinating, think of the pain you will feel if you keep procrastinating. For example: I have a client who wants to start blogging and writing more for his company, and his pain for procrastinating is that every time he wants to put off writing he thinks about how he could have been the author of the email, blog or article he just read.  As soon as he remembers that "pain point" it motivates him to start writing! If pain doesn’t motivate you, try happiness and think of how awesome you’ll feel once the task or new direction is accomplished!

As for my second goal, I found a way to re-arrange the space in my office, and with some help, am now ready to offer my first workshop in the new space! Now that I’ve made changes to my office, I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner!

Having your own personal direction, and providing direction to your team is critical for success, and is one characteristic of a good leader. (See page 27 of my book, The Power Of EQ: Stronger Leadership Through Emotional Intelligence” for other characteristics.)  As such, I’m dedicating February to Directional Changes. Stay tuned to our new podcasts, blogs, and inspiring content to gain further insight into how Direction and Discernment can be an indispensable quality for any leader. 

Unlock your potential with a directional change!