With the New Year just two weeks behind us, are you still thinking about the year to come and what you want to accomplish? Are you thinking big?  A year is a long time and you are capable of so much.  Why not “go for it” this year?  If you did, what would “it” be for you?  Just about everyone I speak to has been touched by the economic turmoil of the last quarter.   A natural response is to hunker down, conserve, reduce expectations, make do with less.  Getting more fiscally thoughtful is sensible but it is never healthy to set our sights lower, to expect less of ourselves, to hope and dream smaller.  The only cause and effect relationship between the economy and the human spirit is the one we create; it is not a naturally occurring or inevitable relationship.

In my work with individual and with groups, I see again and again how much capability people have to get the things that are important to them.  My clients surprise and delight me (and themselves) with their ability to dispel the obstacles they have created for themselves and to overcome the obstacles that really do exist outside of them. Once they can see past the obstacles, they can see the way forward and then they make rapid progress toward their goals and they have fun doing it.

How do people achieve big goals?  They commit to their dream;  they set goals that have value;  they bravely confront obstacles and embrace enablers; they develop an informed strategy; and then they execute relentlessly.  I taught a very successful seminar last year called Uber Planning which is based on these five concepts:  Commitment, Value Proposition, Reconnaissance, Strategy and Execution. 

The steps help to organize thinking around achieving a big goal but the devil is in the details.  How do know when your vision is the right vision and not just a fantasy?  How do you find the tangible value in your goals and get others excited about it too?  How do you get past your own preconceptions and fears and blind spots so you can really see the obstacles and opportunities?  This is where it gets hard, and this is where even the most well-intentioned goal seekers often “hit the wall” and give up.  

There are two things that can help you on your journey to your big goal:  1) guidance (who would climb Mt. Everest without a guide?) and 2) support (who would climb Mt Everest all alone?).  I propose that we work together to create the conditions for success.  I will guide you and all of us can provide each other with encouragement, insights, and suggestions.  Together I know we will all surprise ourselves with what we accomplish in these trying times!  Fifty weeks to go!!!!!

What if you could could start over on Monday morning? What if you just clear off your desk, delete all your emails, crumple up ALL of your to-do lists and just start over? What if you could pick one goal to focus on 80% of the time that you are at work? What goal would be of real value to your company, would get you charged up every day, would let you do the things that you are best at and would require you to learn some things that you always wanted to learn? What goal would you pick? What goal would make senior management sit up and take notice? What goal would be a joy to hear yourself talk about with your colleagues, friends, and family?

I challenge you to come up with that goal. If every manager structured his or her time and energy and resources around achieving one exciting, valuable, differentiating goal at a time, work would be a lot better place to be and productivity would soar. I believe that you can find ways to make your company want you to achieve those goals. I believe your company would rather have you creating change that leads to profitability and competitive advantage than going to meetings, double-checking and second guessing other people’s work, explaining why things didn’t get done, aren’t going to get done, will cost more than expected or just plain broke down, again.

My blogs going forward will focus on helping you pick a great goal and on helping you achieve it. I look forward to hearing which goals you are considering and why, what has stopped you from pursuing them until now, which one you have chosen to focus on, what is worrying you about it, what is going well with it, what is not going that well, and what you need help with. In return I will share with you questions, ideas, resources and a supportive ear.

I believe that it is possible for every manager to make a real difference every day.