Are you feeling rather perplexed, exasperated being back at your desk and wondering what this year will hold, especially after reading most of the forecasts for South Africa and globally which are not too rosy but are rather darn right gloomy?
Auguste Coetzer
Want to get going? The following steps are recommended:
Start with all the positives regarding your performance last year, the notable achievements. Ask the question: Yes I did this well, but what could I have done differently or better? Smugness gets you nowhere. Build on these successes and set new targets to improve on your successes.
The flip side of the coin is to be brutally honest with yourself and ask yourself questions about your spectacular failures - those things that caused you to have sleepless nights even during your holiday. The worst you can do is to sweep them under the carpet and to hope they will simply go away - the reality is the only solution is to face up to it and take responsibility. If you are an executive that now knows what to do - start doing it. If you do not know how to rectify it, a very open and honest discussion with your line manager is a good start. Don't be averse to speaking to a confidant in the workplace, one's "buddy" could be sourced for some ideas.
Also revisit the things you simply did not action last year. They will also not go away - work through your back log. A good starting point is to clear the backlog - procrastinating in this instance will stay a heavy milestone around your neck and hamper you in getting out of the blocks - clear the deck even if it's a mundane task.
What do you spend your time on - the tug of war between the urgent and the important - are you spending too much time on strategy or too much time in meetings and planning rather than implementing? Senior executives are especially prone to this. Success is only achieved by implementing.
De-clutter your mind, what state are you in are mentally? We all just think of cleaning up our physical environment, but what about that which is clogging up your ability to think as they would say "straight"? Tomorrow morning get up early and sit or walk outside, with your thoughts and decide, what is the rest of your life going to be - take control of yourself as a human being! Then think of who else is part of your being - you are not an island.
Make 2015 your year!
About Auguste Coetzer
Auguste Coetzer is Director, Executive Search, at Talent Africa, an alliance of Korn Ferry.
