Right now most people are asking, What is your New Year's Resolution. I say, Think Bigger, Think Broader, What is Your New Decade’s Resolution?
You might ask, how do I do that. I look to Brett Clay for the answer, see below.
First, you must hold the belief that you are in control of what happens to you. Therefore, rather than passively asking “What changes will the new decade bring?”, we need to proactively say, “Here are the changes I’m going to make in this decade to ensure I succeed.”
Second, you must practice the five disciplines of change leadership.
1) Force Field Analysis - Force field analysis is based on the notion that people take action only when they feel a compelling force. Applying this reality to your business and your life means if you want to influence your customers, influence your organization, influence the people in your life, and influence your life in general, you need to be a master at understanding and harnessing the forces that are influencing those situations.
2) Change Response - The key to your success is how you respond to the forces you feel. To be the master, rather than slave to those forces, you need to cultivate a strong change temperament: minimal anxieties, maximum emotional stability, high confidence, action orientation, open mindedness, and a healthy risk tolerance.
3) Power Analysis - This is the discipline of understanding and minimizing the effort required to make a change. The secret of successful power analysis is to identify all of the factors that act to resist your desired change - and then focus on minimizing or eliminating them altogether, rather than powering over them.
4) Value Creation - Change only happens if there is a clearly articulated vision of its benefits. As you consider various changes, prioritize those that help you accomplish your highest goals and achieve your most cherished values.
5) Change Actuation - “Actuate” means “to put into motion”. To put change into motion, to move from here to there, you must be willing to let go of the “here”. As you are reading this, you are likely physically sitting relatively still. Figuratively, you are sitting frozen in your current situation. Change actuation is the process of unfreezing yourself, standing up, and taking your first step forward. While the changes you undertake in the next decade may seem like many marathons, if you maintain your focus on the next step, you won’t be overwhelmed, and you’ll traverse many miles before you even realize how far you’ve come.
So, what will the next decade bring? Who knows? Who cares? The real question is, What changes will you make in the next decade?
