It’s been mentioned many times before that the New Year is a poetic advent of new plans and opportunities. For many, this is characterized by the gym membership binge in early January…that usually fades by March or so. The trick, of course, is finding the way to sustainability and compelling behavior change so that your new plan becomes routine and involuntary.
I am a big fan of New Year’s Resolutions. This is probably partially due to my affinity for making lists – seriously, I own every color of Post-It notes ever created. But beyond that, I find it immensely helpful to see what it is I need to work toward, and most strategists would agree that clearly establishing and defining your goals is vital to achieving them. There are multiple steps that need to be taken before one can accomplish their goal, and leaving these springboards to chance is a risky move.
Among some of my goals for 2012 is to eat healthier (original, I know). In 2011, I had the same goal. But I stopped at “eating healthier” and quickly discovered that, without any clarity about that term, my diet of chicken wings and microwave meals remained relatively unchanged. So this year, I made a concerted effort to define how I was going to eat healthier, what behaviors I was going to adopt, and equally as important, what behaviors I was going to stop. Moreover, I made a point to plan ahead and consider convenience, cost and taste – the three things that often impact my decision about what to eat or drink.
It’s only January 12, but I am awestruck at how much more effective I’ve been at striving to reach my goal. This past Saturday, I went to my first local farmers market for fruits and veggies (2 for a $1 tomatoes!), bought free-range chicken and – wait for it – cooked dinner that didn’t come out of a box for six nights in a row. And yesterday, I debuted my first berry vanilla smoothie for breakfast (messy, but oh so good).
It’s difficult to appreciate these kinds of changes without knowing me a little more than through blogging. But this experience has demonstrated the effectiveness of creating a strategy to guide behavior adoption of a new program or method. For me, it’s about eating healthier, but on a macro-level, this can be applied to any organizational initiative as well. At work, I am helping welcome a new hire in the coming weeks and helping create and distribute the onboarding materials they’ll receive. Unsurprisingly, my team began with a comprehensive list of what we needed to do to ensure our new hire is equipped with everything they need to be successful. If it’s anything like my experience so far with eating healthier, I’m excited about what’s to come and what successes are in store. I might even bring some smoothie to share next week.
Photo credit: gmtbillings