Setting Yourself Up For a Successful 2020

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

-Winston Churchill

Here comes the end of another year, and I can almost hear the chorus of cliches that are often associated with this time of year. These statements come in the forms of justifications, rationalizations, and excuses that we all tell ourselves as to why we did not accomplish our goals during the year. 

Whether your original goals or resolutions (remember those?), were financial, health-related, recreational, vocational, educational, or relational, what kind of honest score/grade would you give yourself in terms of how well you did? You might have had some successes here and there, fallen short on some, and perhaps you did not even attempt the more challenging ones. No matter what rating you give yourself, you would probably agree that there is room for improvement. So, what can you do now to get ready for the new year? The answer could be coming from Japan.

Self-reflection and Assessment

If you’ve read some of my previous articles and posts, you know I am a huge fan of self-reflection and self-assessment. In her May 25, 2019, Op-Ed in the New York Times, “The Surprising Benefits Of Relentlessly Auditing Your Life”, Amy Westervelt describes the notion of Kaisen, or continuous improvement: “It was made famous in 2001 when Toyota singled it out as one of the pillars of the company’s success. You pick a goal, figure out the main components behind it, collect data on those components and work out what you can do to move closer to the goal.” For Toyota, their two goals were 1) high quality, and 2) increased profits. Westervelt suggests that we can use this model in our personal lives as well. 

As extremely stretched and overwhelmed parents who found themselves unhappy, she and her husband embarked on a brutal analysis on how their time is allocated in their daily lives and determined what activities made them happy and what activities were draining them of their energy. With a lot of hard work, journalling, and documenting how they spent their time, and then re-allocating time toward activities that brought them more joy, happiness, connection, perhaps even saving some money, they were able to create a paradigm shift in their ability to have control of their lives and collaborate better as a couple.

Since our most precious commodity is TIME and that seems to be one of the main challenges with not only starting but also following through many of our unsuccessful goals, think about trying something new. I would like to suggest that you take some time to reflect on this past year and make some observations and general calculations about where and how you spend your time. Perhaps you can start with a typical week, then try an entire month, and see where your time goes. Are there activities that you can curtail so that you can replace them with healthier activities (i.e. less TV and more gardening or reading, or more sit-down meals with your family at an actual table)? You get the picture.

Positive change occurs more readily at the intersection of willingness and perseverance. Breakthroughs occur when that willingness and perseverance are expressed and executed while thinking outside the box. Go for it!