reach your peak: Goal setting and planning
Those days in between Christmas and New Year. If you did Christmas right you wouldn’t have known what day it was and your body clock would have shifted enough that you woke up around 10am.
I celebrated Christmas with the Death Cold (thanks Mr Maisey) and saw in the New Year with multiple gins whilst box set binging season four of BBC’s Peaky Blinders; the drama series follows a single fictional gang based in post-First World War Birmingham's Small Heath area.
We are the Peaky Blinders!
If you’ve yet to introduce yourself to the Blinders, I highly recommend you do. For those that are aware of the series you’ll know of the character Tommy Shelby and his infamous approach to business.
Casting aside the negatives associated with his methods of making money (no spoilers I promise), I believe we should all take a leaf out of Tommy Shelby’s book.
Tommy has determination - his aim is to move his family up in the world. He has a vision, he knows where he wants to be. He thinks. He plans. He knows what he needs to do this year, next year and thereafter to meet his aim.
He uses his personal networks, building relationships as he does business, and despite being the leader of a criminal gang most of Birmingham fear (why did I start this blogpost), he has values; family comes first.
Shelby Company Ltd wasn’t born out of nothing.
Ok, Blinders aside, you wouldn’t start a business without a strategy - aims, objectives, a vision - so why shouldn’t you, personally, have one?
I spent those days in between Christmas and New Year planning - visioning what I want to achieve in two, five, ten years’ time. I know I’ll need to review my vision as circumstances change along the way - life has a knock-on effect I’ve been told - but I know where I need to get to.
I reflected on my career and finances, health, family and friends, and personal development. I considered what is important to me - often day-to-day we forget this, as does an employer, so I’ve realised over time it’s really important to have your own personal values.
It’s natural that personal and professional goals coincide - you may want to travel, have a family, study, start your own business, train to run a marathon - and this is ok. We should be entirely honest with what we want to achieve.
I then looked ahead to 2018 and created short-term goals to help me get nearer to where I want to be. Who can help me? What do I need to learn? What do I need to do differently?
I challenged my routines and questioned my habits. How can I improve them? What do I need to change to ensure I have a good day, a productive week and a successful year? How do I organise my day so I complete my actions/tasks?
Yes, I went that granular. I now have goals and a plan. I want to achieve a lot.
“I’m too busy, not enough time to plan.”
Nope. Don’t buy it. I haven’t heard many MDs saying that when running a company. (Tommy Shelby has never said that.)
Make the time to plan how you are going to achieve your goals. How will you know you’ve got there? How long will it take you? Life is too short to drift.
How can your personal network help you achieve? How can you package yourself and improve your personal brand? (Another day, another blogpost…)
To some of you reading this, my period of planning may be routine; “I do it every year” I hear you say. Knowing my friends, colleagues and family I don’t think it is routine for many. It’s actually quite a daunting task that requires time, thought and a positive mindset.
Today’s goal
Reflect. Think about what you want to achieve. Consider how you may get there. Then work backwards and create a plan.
Oh, and watch Peaky Blinders. It’s good.