Welcome to 2020.
As most people do at the beginning of a new year (and new decade), I have taken some time out over the last few days to reflect on the year that was and reset my intentions for the year ahead.
My process for this over the past few years has been to sit down and write a list of things big and small that I want to accomplish in the next 12 months. However inevitably somewhere around March that list seems to disappear out of sight and out of mind. The exercise certainly hasn’t been a waste of time - but I came into this year wanting to try something different.
ENTER JAMES CLEAR AND ATOMIC HABITS
Late last year, the Group CEO of my company gave me a book - ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear. I find it hard to get through a book these days - but for me, this one is different. It’s highly relevant, practical and just seems to resonate with the way I operate.
In the book, Clear talks about focussing less on goals, and more on systems. A statement that fascinated me was: “Winners and losers both have the same goals.” An example being that every elite sports team sets out with the same goal - to win - but it’s the one with the best culture, preparation, training and system that tends to outperform the others. He goes on to say “The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game. True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It’s not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement. Ultimately, it is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress.”
So my thinking heading into 2020 was - how do I go about building the best system - and not worry as much about a finite list of goals.
SIMON SINEK’S GOLDEN CIRCLE
Simon Sinek’s now infamous TED talk ‘How Great Leaders Inspire Action’ introduced the world to the Golden Circle - a simple process that explains the importance of knowing WHY, before HOW and WHAT. In the talk he argues that there are “two ways to influence human behaviour: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.” The Golden Circle articulates a system has been used by leading individuals and organisations around the world to inspire performance.
I felt the Golden Circle would be a useful framework for my 2020 system. A system designed to create a real sense of clarity and focus, and identify habits and actions that align.
Below I’ve shared my 2020 system, and the process I used to nut it out. Feel free to take it and play with it, or leave it. Regardless - welcome to 2020 - go make it your best year yet.
MY 2020 SYSTEM - AND THE PROCESS TO BUILD YOURS
Step 1: Start with WHY.
For me - the back end 2019 was really intense and I became overwhelmed with the volume of things on my plate and the lack of time to achieve them. I developed a stress twitch in my eye and noticed a reduction in my quality of sleep - definitely a sign I wasn’t managing well enough.
Step 2: HOW.
Try and bring it down to a single word or concept - ‘Productivity’ is what I decided on
Step 3: WHAT.
Identify what measurable actions, behaviours and habits you are prepared to commit to that align to your HOW. You can have as few, or as many of these as you can. You can add to the list as you go. I’ve already added a couple since photographing the handwritten version above.
** note: if you are looking for a great read - Atomic Habits by James Clear is available in hard copy, as an ebook or audio book - I highly recommend it!