Happy New Year! It’s the first day of 2020, which means that our team at The Potentiality is ready to engage in our tradition of publicly declaring bold goals for the year. Godfrey, Michael, Kurt and I are keen to grow as professionals, parents, partners, and human beings in our work and life. Here’s how we will realize our potential in 2020.
John’s reflections and goals
2019 was a year of two parts (a 70/30 split thereabouts). For most of the year, I woke up early and leveraged a lot of deep work tactics to achieve better focus and enhance my productivity. Turning off notifications and deleting most of the social apps from my devices helped me to improve my focus and presence, especially at work (more on that in a bit). Achieving these goals and building the capabilities to do so are directly connected to my being promoted in the Fall.
In addition to a promotion, the Fall of 2019 also brought Kindergarten for my oldest child and major surgery for my wife. I never really maintained the same level of commitment with my goals and habits after these three things disrupted my work life. Getting back on track, especially by putting my phone away for key focus and family times during the day, will be essential if I’m going to achieve my goals.
In addition to the professional objectives that I’ve already outlined for 2020, I will focus on a few key things:
- By the summer I will be better at falling asleep, which means it won’t be dependent on listening to a podcast.
- Learn WordPress basics and also consume 20-30 books.
- Use 25% less single-use plastics.
- Get healthier and more fit (my “fighting weight” is probably 190lbs and I can get to it with a few more workouts and a few less second/third helpings).
- Make measurable progress towards raising grateful kids (fostering gratitude is scientifically proven to unlock potential in kids, so it’s critical that I play a role in getting this right).
Kurt’s reflections and goals
In January 2019, my year’s goal was to focus on being more patient and thoughtful when making decisions. I set myself the objective of completing three complex projects, which required a significant amount of long term consideration. On reflection, I managed to drive one large scale project at work involving a collaborative approach to editorial content and am in the midst of moving forward with my full team on a broader strategic plan for my unit. Both of these projects involved significant long term thinking and collaboration around a shared vision. I’m very proud of the results of this work. In my personal life, I’ve chaired a committee charged with developing a strategic plan for a board I sit on. This role has given me some great insight into an effective strategic planning process for a large organization and I expect the plan to be completed in the coming months.
For 2019, I’m interested in experimenting with innovation and entrepreneurship. My goal is to successfully test (and either prove or disprove) the value of my tracker, which is an analytics and productivity tool that we’ve developed at UBC to support media relations. This is going to require a lot of problem solving and creative thinking. It will likely take me out of my comfort zone and will challenge me in new ways, beyond my usual day to day work. On the personal front, I want to find ways to laugh more with my family. I’ve observed that whimsical conversations can sometimes be more difficult to spark as we get older and life gets harder (new and increasing demands from our children, work, partners, parents, etc). In 2020 I’m going to actively foster the humour in my life with a goal of lighten things up where possible and appropriate.
Godfrey’s reflections and goals
2019 was a big year of change for me on the professional front. I took the leap and entered management roles for the first time, progressively leading larger teams across two roles. I’m finding that I get a lot of satisfaction and fulfillment in mentoring and supporting team members while also having more agency in my work. For 2020, I’m keen to continue to grow my management skillset to include more strategic, long-range planning. Currently I feel like I’m too heavily engaged in the day-to-day “fire-fighting”, which is a fact of life in media relations and issues management. Making the effort to network more aggressively will also be key for 2020 as I look to make that next step into a more senior management role. I’d also like to find a gig closer to home that will enhance my work-life balance.
On the personal front, my goal, as always, is to cut out distraction from my day tasks and focus on what matters. I made a good start on this this year by building in daily mediation using my trusty “Headspace” app and eliminating (mostly) screen time in the evenings. I need to up the ante on the latter though – my 2020 goal is to get back to reading at least one book per month. I’m looking forward to the year ahead!
Mike’s reflections and goals
On the career side 2019 was pretty fun and rewarding. At work I managed to really expand my role, taking on some new and challenging projects. Some successful, some not as much. I got to enjoy onboarding and mentoring a new employee, which was a great opportunity for really meaningful small-scale personal work, and I also kicked-off a macro-level organizational transformation project with great results. While I won’t see those come to fruition (I moved cities this week and start a new position on January 2), I’m really proud of the team we built that will continue to improve systems at my last city.
Personally, 2019 was a bit of a mixed bag. I consumed a massive amount of books (great!) and unhealthy food as evidenced by my BMI (bad!), but had a great year with all my kids now in school and more able to really get out on adventures. Right at the tail end as I wound down my work and prepped to move I was able to detach from social media and found that amazing.
For 2020 I’m looking forward to some fantastic challenges taking on a new role in a new city, and a heap of new adventures having moved to the mountains.
My commitments for 2020 are:
- Keep reading, maybe consider re-balancing my mix with a bit less trashy sci-fi and a bit more nonfiction.
- Play music at least four times a week.
- Keep notifications disabled and stay detached from social media.
- Teach three kids to ski.
Your 2020 goals
Goals help us achieve focus and align our daily activities with our purpose and lifelong journey. Our team sees value in sharing goals publicly, but there is a school of thought that recommends not taking this approach because sharing a goal or intention actually tricks our brain into thinking we’re already achieving success (congrats on those skiing kids, Mike!). However you blend incentives (the rewards you’ll give yourself for making progress towards a goal) and accountability (connecting with someone, or a few folks, throughout the year to share your progress towards goals) on your journey towards achieving your 2020 goals is your choice – our best advice is that having clear goals that align with your purpose, an accountability structure for measuring progress, and incentives that will reward your behaviour-change will help you to realize your potential in 2020 and beyond.
Happy New Year!