"You can borrow knowledge, but not action." James Clear
Anyone out there like me with high levels of accountability, a strong action orientation and a “get it done” attitude? This quote will really resonate no doubt. 2020 has been a year where the road to the ‘goal’ has been bumpy to say the least, but there’s been a real lesson in that too. What if the efforts are applied in the wrong areas? Does the ‘goal’ even matter now?
At what point do you double-down on the effort, apply more energy, push on and do more, and when do you pause, reset and redirect? As we come to the close of a mammoth marathon of a year, it’s a great time to ask yourself, some of the big questions like:
What were the ‘big rocks’ in 2020, and which ones do you want to be the ‘big rocks’ in 2021? Meaning what areas of life, business, work, wellbeing and self-development need to be a priority?
Let’s just chat about what a priority even is as that’s important too as we’ve lost our way with this one. Another of my favourite authors Greg McKeown, describes it well:
“The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next five hundred years.
Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start talking about priorities. Illogically, we reasoned that by changing the word we could bend reality. Somehow we would now be able to have multiple “first” things.
People and companies routinely try to do just that. One leader told me of this experience in a company that talked of “Pri-1, Pri-2, Pri-3, Pri-4, and Pri-5.” This gave the impression of many things being the priority but actually meant nothing was.”
–Greg McKeown, Essentialism (quote sourced from JamesClear.com)
To reflect and look ahead to for 2021:
What is the overall priority (singular)?
What is the priority for each part of 'life' (self, work, home, love, wellbeing etc) (singular)?
We all know that work-life balance is a myth and harder than ever to achieve, but we can have some intentionality around how we invest our time. That too is made easier when we’re clear on our number one. That helps with the ‘do I double down, shift focus or abandon ship’ challenge too as if something is truly your priority, then it’s a yes to continuing to move toward it. If it’s not the number one, then continuing to invest energy, time and effort in it, all detracts from the thing that is your number one, the one that really matters. Easier said than done of course, but worth checking in as time passes, and calibrating to.
When it comes to the work/business space specifically, I do think having your own set of self-mandated key performance indicators (KPIs) are useful for checking in with progress aligned with the priority. Not just the ‘deliver x% revenue growth’ KPIs, but more about the impact you have, how you want to be/work, what you focus on and how you achieve it. It can be easy to ‘hit to the number’, but the ‘how’ and ‘at what cost’ matter too.
Personally, that is the big lesson for 2020 – delivering well has been the standard, but the cost of doing so has, on reflection, been a high price and choices haven’t aligned with the ‘north star’ at times which really adds to the cost. Great lesson to learn and good food for thought as the 2021 pathway rolls out. Let’s all drink in some sunshine, good vibes and get clear on the priority for 2021!
