10 Resolutions to Make 2013 Your Best Year Ever

There’s a rule you really have to make New Year’s Resolutions.  Today’s Tuesday Reading, “10 Resolutions to Make 2013 Your Best Year Ever”

http://www.fastcompany.com/3004179/10-resolutions-make-2013-your-best-ye…, will help you get started.  It’s from the pen of Shawn Parr, CIO of Bulldog Drummond, a San Diego based consultancy focused on innovation and design.

Parr notes that we each choose, consciously or not, how we show up each day.  His list will give all of us some ideas about having a happier and productive New Year, at home and at work.

1.  Grab the year by its ears.  Reflect on 2012 – celebrate your successes, identify your failures.  Map out what you’ve learned and what you want to change in the coming year.  Know what success in 2013 will look like for you and the steps you need to take to get there.

2.  Values are valuable.  Revisit your values, what’s important on a personal level.  These values should guide how you live and work on a daily basis.  Put them to work.

3.  Gratitude is the attitude.  Say “Thank You” and mean it.

4.  Trash the small stuff.  Make a list of the small stuff you do every day and what you are going to do about it.

5.  Don’t make money your god.  Money does create choices but it doesn’t address our need for purpose.  Make sure that money does not define your purpose for what you do.

6.  Everything you do matters.

7.  Be yourself and be courageous.  Take steps consistent with your values and your purpose.  You don’t have to follow the crowd.

8.  Surround yourself with smarts.  Don’t surround yourself with “yes” people.  Make sure that people around you are smarter and different and will call you out and help you hold yourself accountable.  Listen to them, say thank you for their advice.

9.  Time is like gold, so spend it wisely.

10.  Do something new for the first time.

Parr’s list gives us lots of ideas to think about and to get our own juices flowing.  Identify one, or two things you want to work on and develop action plans, and then do the work!

Let’s all make it a great year.  .  .  .   jim