Last year was a pretty good year for Christine. She handled some pretty difficult challenges. Her boss gave her good feedback. She is the go-to person who he could count on to get things done. But it had been a stressful year for her and had affected her family life. She had allowed other people’s agendas to determine how she spent her time and she was frustrated that she had not made the impact that she knew she could make.
Christine was excited to create her personal vision for this year, which included developing and implementing a strategy for her part of the business.She wants to feel fulfilled at the end of the year knowing that she has forwarded her own agenda. But that takes focus. She has earned a deserved reputation as the go-to person, who always says yes if she is asked to help solve a big new problem. Consequently, she races from one thing to the next, always in meetings or checking her smart phone.
She understands that to succeed in executing her vision she needs to learn to say no to things that will distract her. She has to work on what is essential to achieve her vision.
Greg McKeown, in his book Essentialism, introduces the following three key principles to guide us toward what is essential.
Explore and evaluate:“Will this activity or effort make the highest possible contribution towards my goal?”
Eliminate:“…..It’s not enough to simply determine which activities and efforts don’t make the highest possible contribution; you still have to actively eliminate those that do not.”
Execute:“…..Once you’ve figured out which activities and efforts to keep…….you need a system to make executing your intentions as effortless as possible.”
Christine is applying these principles and in the process, she is learning how to say no to requests to work on other people’s agendas. A key part of her system for executing on her objectives is empowering those around her to take more independent decisions. She is determined to live this year by design.
Will it be a year by design for you or will you work on other people’s agendas?
Best regards, Brian
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