Seth Godin hit the nail on the head in his new year’s post. With the new year comes the opportunity to pause and reflect, and reset the standard, the expectations for the coming year. Seth talks about the opportunities for leadership, lead change and take bold strides in a new direction. But change begins on a personal level – why not start with resolutions.
New Year’s resolutions are incredibly powerful – if you set specific, realistic ones. Not “I’m going to change the world” – how are you doing that? Nor “lose 50 lbs” if you never hit the gym in 2008. Another tip comes from Guy Kawasaki in his book Reality Check: make those commitments public, and you will be more likely to stick to them. I’ll start by making my resolutions public:
1. Get a 4.0 GPA for the semester. Definitely feasible, as long as I stay focused.
2. Finish 10 pages of my senior thesis by 2009. Decide on a thesis topic in spring, start tackling the beast in fall semester. Check.
3. Stay committed to regular workout schedule. For this one, I think I’ll print out a weekly calendar and stick in the living room of my apartment and check off each day I go so it’ll be public knowledge when I slack off.
4. Stay healthy. This means eating healthy, sleeping better, not being so reckless. No more ER trips and reconstructive dental surgery..
5. Plan a kick-ass event for the IABC world conference in June. Focusing on diversity, and getting students involved, flesh out the details by February.
6. Summer internship. Task for the remainder of break is to narrow down the companies and send out resumes/cover letters.
7. Spend more time with friends and family. I’ve been sick for the past month, and spending a lot of time at home with family. Which is really great, but I definitely want to see some of my friends more, hopefully this weekend before they leave for school again. For the rest of the year, this means setting aside time outside of work and classes. I was terribly MIA last semester.
8. Update this blog once a week. There, I’ve said it. Please hold me to it.
9. Be happy. Most important one.
