8 Tips To Start 2021 With The Right Intent

By Craig Johns – CEO, High Performance Leadership expert, speaker and host of the active CEO Podcast. www.craigjohns.com.au

2020 is a year that we will never forget. It has challenged us to grow, evolve and become more resilient. As we arrive on a well-deserved Christmas and New Year’s holiday, it is an opportune time to reflect and prepare to launch into 2021 feeling fresh, recharged, and with the passion to lead with purpose.

The proactive time you spend now to prepare for 2021 will ensure you to bring you’re A-Game and start with the intent and energy you wish to continue all year.

Like many people you may have come out with all guns blazing in 2020, without much thought, and within a few weeks, days or in some cases a couple of hours, were back to your old habits, routines and potentially mistakes.

There is a much smarter way, if you want to deliver a high-performance environment for both your team and yourself.

Those closest to you will appreciate it!

Before we get started, ensure that you plan your upcoming holiday so that you allow the appropriate time to relax, rejuvenate and forget all about the stresses of work.

It’s time to switch off and allow your mind and body the time and space, from work, to fully recharge.

So let’s take a look at some proven ways to ensure that you are being your best possible self in 2021, every single day, through the decisions you make, habits you create and mindset you start with when you walk into the office on day one:

APRROACH

Eat a healthy meal, hydrate yourself and go to bed early the night before your first day back in the office. Allow yourself the opportunity to get at least 7-8hrs sleep, leave the phone or any other electronic devices tucked away, and wake up and do at least 30 minutes of exercise and/or meditation. Wait until after you have had a healthy breakfast, which includes fruit, with your partner or family. Make sure you are present with those you choose to have breakfast with.

Groom yourself so that you present the image that creates a positive feeling for both yourself and the people you interact with. Take a deep breath, clear the mind and walk into the office with positive energy, a smile and posture that breaths confidence. Acknowledge everyone, be present and actively listen to their exciting holiday adventures.

CLEAR

Many people fly out the door in a rush on the last day before their vacation. In a perfect world, you will ‘wipe the table’ so to speak before you depart so that you can come in fresh on day one, without the stresses that have built up in the previous year. If not, clear your desk, remove any unwanted documents and ‘reset the table’ that will allow you to work with clarity, focus and without distraction, before you commence anything else.

PLAN

Before you turn on a compute or check your phone for emails, you should write a plan. It will be the best 30minutes spent all year, because your mind will have greater clarity and broader perspective following a holiday. This will allow you to brainstorm what is important to your role; design and create a strategy; and put an action plan in place so you can commence your work with less stress and more than likely increased productivity for 2021. You may want to do this in nature or somewhere with a great view, before you sit down at your desk.

PRIORITIES

What will really make a difference in 2021? Being able to reset your priorities is so valuable after a break as what you thought was important prior to the break, may not have such urgency anymore. Setting priorities that create a quick win, to get the team energised and pumped up early in the year, are just as important as creating the priorities that will bring long-term benefits to both you’re the company and your performance.

TODAY

Something that I have found really useful over many years is to create a simple weekly spreadsheet, with five columns:

1. Urgent – Today
2. Important – Tomorrow
3. Valuable – By the end of the week
4. Useful – Next week
5. Completed – Everything that has been completed this week

What it does is allow you to prioritise and reprioritise daily to ensure that you are being the most productive. In general there will only be 3-5 items in each column. Anything more than that and you will become overwhelmed and stress levels will gradually build and take command of your mindset and actions.

HABITS

Creating positive habits and routines that allow you to deliver performance in the work you do and with the people you lead requires both great self-discipline and self-control. Taking breaks every 45-60minutes, even for just 1-5minutes, allows your mind to recharge and focus. This doesn’t mean checking emails on your phone and talking about work to a colleague. It means switching off and giving your mind a break.

Constantly checking emails and having alerts going off on phones, is the greatest distraction of productivity that effect most people. Try checking your emails only 2 or 3 times per day. I find I am most effective when I check emails at 10am and 3pm. It allows me to focus my time on projects and important meetings, rather than cluttering my head with too many thoughts and ideas. You will also find that many problems are solved and questions are answered by the time you check the email.

MAKE

After you have had breakfast, make your lunch, fill a couple of bottles of water, and grab some snacks like fruit, nuts and health bars to take to work. One you will save money and time going out to get food throughout the day, and two you will eat a lot healthier.

This doesn’t mean that you continue working while eating as you need to give yourself a longer break, especially during the middle of the day, you recharge and refocus so you can be productive right until you leave the office.

FUN

This year, you need to ensure that you are having fun, laughing and being inspired by the people you work with. This type of environment starts with how you arrive each day and ensuring you bring energy and a positive attitude.

GOALS

Why do you need goals? Goals provide CLARITY on the direction you are heading in both the short and long-term. They are absolutely crucial if you want to be successful. If you don’t know your destination, you will never know if you have arrived.

So what are effective goals for you? You must have a REASON to achieve the goal, it needs to be COMPELLING for you and it needs to be YOURS, so you own it.

Is your WHY strong enough? If it is, you will feel invigorated and it will fuel your passion to find out HOW. If your gut feeling is that you could go on doing it forever, then you are heading up the correct path. You will also know that the goal is aligned to your core beliefs and values.

If your reason is compelling you will magically find a way to ACHIEVE your goals and the things you previously thought were impossible.

Many people talk about SMART goals, which are specific, measureable, achievable, realistic and timely. To be honest, the most important aspect is that you set achievable outcomes that get the heart pumping, give you goose bumps and you can’t help but smile.

You are probably thinking, ‘where do I start?’. There are 3 critical steps to developing your goals.

FIRST, you need to review your previous years performance. You need to understand what you achieved, what you need to improve and what blind-sided you.

SECOND, it is important to determine where you current performance is at in relation to fitness, health, nutrition, recovery, emotions, productivity, relationships and performance. Why do you need to analyse your current performance? You need to know your starting point and how every aspect of your life connects with each other.

THIRD, define your main goal, which has a compelling reason for you. Set 4 target goals that serve as milestones for the main goal. Finally establish up to 3 action items for each target goal.

MAIN GOAL – It is important to have one goal that fuels your passion every single day. Having more than one distracts you as you are always compromising one for the other.

TARGET GOALS – these are milestones that build-up to the MAIN goal. They are split into a 3-month segment each. It is important to choose 4 TARGET goals in order of importance to the other and achieving the MAIN goal. As humans we are far more effective in working short to medium length blocks than a full year at one time.

ACTION ITEMS – These are small achievable actions that allow you to achieve the TARGET Goals. They obviously need to be aligned to your MAIN goal, otherwise you might get side tracked.

It’s time for you to own your destiny and live a life that reflects your core beliefs and values.

Remember you must have a compelling reason that is yours when you set the main goal establish target goals and develop action items.