The SCN Encourager – Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Looking for a CliffsNotes approach to 2013?
The deadline is set. Today is the last day I’m fussing with New Year’s resolutions. You’re on your own. You’ve seen many of the articles and news features I have anyway, right? There are so many recommendations floating around out there – all loaded with tips telling us how do more, be more, and get more –and be sexier while doing it all – that I’m just more overwhelmed. So I’m throwing in the towel. (Plus, I want to share with you beginning tomorrow some of the “new learning” I’ve been wrestling with since Dec. 21; the day my school district experienced both a day-long power outage at one school and a lock-down at the high school.)
Honestly, and just between us school communicators, I had every intention of pulling together the best-of-the-best of the recommended resolutions for 2013 that caught my eye and then writing up a wiz-bang knock-out “Encourager” summary of the collective wisdom for you. I know you would’ve been wowed. But no such luck. I couldn’t do it. Some of the featured recommendations for 2013 were either absurd (“March into your boss’ office and demand that pay raise.”) or simply didn’t fit (“Be extra nice to the elderly woman on the subway.). And in case you’re wondering, this last recommendation didn’t fit due to the subway reference, not because I’m incapable of being extra nice.
So here’s my CliffsNotes version for how to reach your goals in 2013. And maybe these only make sense to me. That’s okay. I may be the only one who needs to keep these in mind.
- Determine (define/envision) where you want to be in 2013. (any goal or goals)
- Determine (think about) where you really are. (how far away you are from the goal or goals)
- Come to grips with what causes the distance or gap between #1 and #2.
- Write (yep, that’s write down) a plan that helps you close the gap between #1 and #2.
- Make sure your plan uses do-able little steps. (the big and complex frustrate)
Ready to move on? I am. And I’m going to try to use this CliffsNotes approach in the crisis response observations I’ll have for you tomorrow. Nothing too profound. Just some little steps.
Tom Page, SCN managing editor
