Goals – Mixing Pods

‘Just get started’ is my mantra for 2020

In last year’s New Years Day blog, What is your one word for 2019? I was really focused on achieving some ambitious goals. I chose the word ‘commitment’ to serve as a reminder throughout the year. In reflecting back, I had an incredible 2019 accomplishing personal and professional goals. So maybe focusing on the one word actually worked.

Heading into 2020, I think I am going to shift away from just one word (although I think if I was to choose one this year it would be ‘purpose’), and I’m going to go with a mantra. This year’s mantra is ‘Just get started!’.

Earlier this year, I was listening to my friend Candace Mau’s Everyday Joy podcast and she referenced a parable highlighting the benefits of taking a just get started approach.

A woman had been nagging her husband to paint the bathroom. He said he would get it done, but not to question his methods. So he went into the bathroom and drew an outline of a 2 foot by 2 foot square. She asked what he was doing, and he said, ‘remember not to question my methods’.
He then went and got his painting stuff from the garage and began painting the 2×2 square. When she looked in the bathroom later in the day, he had painted 75% of it. He then quickly finished the whole bathroom.
When she asked about his method, he said that he could commit to painting a 2×2 square on the wall and then once he started, he knew he would be able to get it done.
Paraphrased from Candace Mau’s podcast after she paraphrased from life coach William Wood, who paraphrased it from who knows where

The story has stuck with me and I’m finding the approach works across many of many different areas (pods) in my life. We all know the Nike slogan, Just Do it! Of course, that it is always easier said than done. Too often the ‘it’ is an end result. But what if the ‘it’ is just getting started on the first step to achieving ‘it’.

So I thought I would share some insights and tips on how to just get started.

Build Momentum
They talk a lot about momentum in sports, but you see it everywhere. Political races, product launches, social media trends, etc. But in our personal and professional lives, where does momentum come from? I wrote a Perficient blog in 2018, Sometimes you have to manufacture momentum. I actively use many of these techniques, including listening to music, getting organized, and feeling grateful. For some of us, momentum is created by fresh starts or recharging by taking time off and listening to holiday music 24/7 (like my wife Katie). For others, it may be going on a long run, while listening to old school heavy metal (that would be me).

Take a Risk!
It’s super easy to talk yourself out of anything and rationalize reasons for not doing something. They say that it is a lot easier to learn things as a child. Sometimes I think that is because kids are less risk-averse and don’t self-talk themselves out of things. Before you can ice skate, you have to lace up the skates. You have to step on the ice for the first time. It takes encouragement and support from others, but at the end of the day, it comes down to your ability to get started by putting one foot in front of the other.

Addie’s first skating lesson. She’s learned that sometimes you just have to get started. It was intimidating at first, but now she loves it.

Let Things Incubate
Once you get something started, it sits in the back of your mind and you can subconsciously build on it. The next thing you know, you have improved upon your idea without doing anything but letting time pass. When I have a big presentation to create, I find that sketching out a quick outline and walking away is a great way to get started. While I’m ‘sleeping on it’, walking the dog, or going for a drive, I gain perspective that I didn’t have sitting in front of the screen. Excitement builds around the ideas and it goes from being a daunting task to something I can’t wait to get done.

Fail Fast
By quickly getting started on something, you also may discover that it’s actually not something you want to finish or it isn’t going to play out like you intended. By just getting started, you can quickly make the necessary changes or determine to just stop. In this scenario, you stop beating yourself up for not getting going and shift your energy to other things you have deamed more worth your time and effort. This isn’t really failing, but focusing.

Anyway, I’m glad I took the risk and launched this blog last year. It’s a reminder for me on how just getting started on something can turn out.

Thanks so much for reading and I can’t wait for what things get started in 2020!

Checkpoint: How are you doing with your goals and that one word for 2019?

So it’s already March 31st, the last day of the first quarter of the year (dang that went fast!). It’s time for a checkpoint on those goals that we set for the year and how we are doing on that one word for 2019 that we talked about on January 1st.

Commitment. That was my one word for 2019. I also posted a blog in December on why having fun at work would be a top goal in 2019. I’m doing pretty good so far (this blog is still getting posted), and there is always room for more fun.

However, those that know me well (or have picked up on it by reading this blog) know that I am a goal fanatic. I love setting goals, creating sub-goals, grouping goals, prioritizing goals, and talking about goals. I sort of treat personal goals like Wayne Gretzky treated hockey goals.

” You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
Wayne Gretzky

My take is that it costs you nothing to set a goal. So why not put a goal out there if it is something you are thinking about achieving. Goals can be dynamic and might change season to season.

So my 2019 word, commitment, has developed into more of a theme that applies to the goals across 4 categories: Family, Work, Community, and Personal. (Commitment to …)

To measure progress, I take a simple color-based approach to see how I am doing and where to refocus my energy. I score myself as either ‘green’, ‘yellow’, ‘red’, and a new label of ‘blue’.

Green = On Track – Making progress and hitting milestones
Yellow = Need to Recommit – Put more energy and focus on it
Red = Way off Track – Totally Refocus or Evaluate if it was the right goal
Blue = Eliminate = The goal it was DOA (Dead on Arrival)

This past week, I listened to Seth Godin’s, The Dip and he talks about ‘strategic quitting’. So for those goals in red, determining if it is worth persevering get through the dip or if it’s a cul-de-sac, and the goal is a dead end. Should that goal that is in red, be turned to blue? It’s a quick read/listen, so I won’t dive too deep into Seth’s book here, but I highly recommend checking it out.

The good news is tomorrow is April 1st. We have an opportunity to start the next quarter off fresh and it’s a perfect time to do an assessment to determine if you had the right goals to start with or not. How are you doing with that one word you set at the beginning of the year?

Take some time to celebrate your successes and ways to keep the momentum in areas where you are on track. Determine if you need to make some minor adjustments or totally refocus in the areas you aren’t makeing progress. Or lastly, the insight from this blog may be evaluating if it is time to ‘quit’ a goal or think through a word that is a better fit.

There is no need to beat yourself up if you are not on track because no matter how awesome you are, even you can’t change the past. And if you never set a goal in the first place, why not start today? You have nothing to lose.

Addie’s version of writing down her goals!

Why ‘having fun’ will be my top work goal in 2019!

This time of year, I spend hours writing and honing my goals for the following year. You could say that I am super compulsive about it (it’s sort ridiculous). I refuse to call them New Year’s Resolutions since that sounds so temporary and everyone knows they always get broken. I try and elicit my friends and family into the ritual and in return, I get a lot of eye rolls. After 20 years, Katie will at least humor me know and she’ll have at least 3 things on the ready for when I bring it up. She makes sure that I know that she is done and doesn’t need any help editing them.

The good news is that this year, I will really be building on and executing a well rounded set of goals from last year across all the categories (yes, there are goal categories). Family, Work, Community, and Personal. I usually land at 3-5 goals in each area, but no more than 5 and they all have to be meaty and measurable.

I use trello to organize them on the computer and love the mobile app. You can do all sorts of stuff with the cards like move them around, label, color code, create checklists, due dates, etc. However, this year I’m also going to go back to a physical paper planner again. My friend Candace Mau and I been talking about the power of using pen and paper when you are getting creative and laying out your month, week, and day.

Anyway, the thing is that every year, I seem to put a goal to have fun in my list of work goals. Mainly to protect myself from myself and to put in a reminder in there to not take things so seriously. I’ve had some years where I was just wound up too tight, stressed about work, and and ended up in quite the funk (thank goodness for friends and family).

So this year, I think I’m leading with the goal to have fun, and will use it as a competitive advantage. I am definitely at my best when I am having fun with the people that I work with, bringing positive energy, and just being conscious of my mindset. I think the chances of getting the results that I am looking for across the other goals will be much higher and I’ll be more engaged (more on that in another blog). I’m hoping it helps keep things in perspective, enables me to stay grateful, and laugh a bit at myself.