Personal Leadership for Women: Finish What You Start

This is the time of year when many of us make resolutions for the New Year.  This is good!  We need to sit back, evaluate who we are and where we are in our lives, and what changes we want to make.  The end of a year is a great time to make plans for the next year.

Too many times, though, we start something and then we never finish it.  There are many reasons.  We get busy, we get tired, or other things come up.  Sometimes, though, it is because we did not create and implement a plan to make the change happen. 

It also means making a commitment to making the change.  Talk is not enough.  We have to take action.  And usually we have to take action over and over again.

I have a friend who has told me for the past 15 years that her boss is horrible and that she has to get a new job.  For 15 years I have agreed with her.  Although she has made a few forays into the job market, she has never really committed to leaving her current job.  She has never finished what she starts—finding a new job.

I have another friend who almost 20 years ago decided he wanted to be a writer.  He has never finished a manuscript.  Since he has never finished anything, he has never had anything to sell.  He has never really made the commitment to doing what it takes, investing the time it takes, to be successful as a writer.

I have many more friends who have been very successful in new careers, new business ventures, and even new lives.  I admire them greatly!  I do not think that, in general, they are any smarter than my other two friends.  I also do not think they have any more luck.  What they do have is the commitment to finish what they start, no matter what happens.

My hope for you, for 2013, is that you find a way to finish what you start in the New Year.

Personal Leadership for Women: Holiday Stress

The holiday season is a wonderful time of year.  It is can also be an extremely stressful time of year.

The following are a few suggestions for dealing with holiday stress that I have found useful.

• Things do not have to be perfect.  It is more important to enjoy being with family and friends than that the house be immaculately clean and decorated and the meal perfectly fabulous.  Is anyone besides you really going to notice?
• Probably not everything planned has to be completed.  Are there things that you can just let go?
• Many of our deadlines we set ourselves.  Are there things that can wait until after the holidays?
• It is acceptable to tell people no when they ask you to do something that you just do not have the time or desire to do.
• Squeeze in a little time for you to just relax.

No matter what you do or don’t do, the holidays will soon be just another memory.  Focus on what will make it a great memory for you and don’t worry about the rest.  Enjoy the season as much as possible!!

Personal Leadership for Women: Introverts and Extroverts

A wonderful book on introverts and extroverts is Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. 

What little I knew of introverts and extroverts prior to reading this book consisted of how each “charged their batteries.”  Introverts obtain their energy from within and need quiet time to recharge.  Extroverts obtain their energy from outside and charge their batteries by being with people.

Quiet goes far beyond that simplistic explanation.  Introverts and extroverts respond to stimuli differently.  Because of this, each requires a different work environment to be most productive.  In children, each responds better to different classroom environment.  Each responds best to a different home environment.  The key is to find balanced environments that are conducive to both.

Introverts and extroverts also respond differently to people.  If we recognize and consider this, it can be much easier to relate to our spouses, children, employees, co-workers, friends, and even customers.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that is interested in introverts and extroverts.  I also recommend it to anyone that wants to improve personal and professional relationships.

Personal Leadership for Women: Achieving Your Goals

There is so much that can be written about setting and achieving goals.  Previous blogs have discussed various techniques.  What I would like to do today is to try to simplify goal achievement.

Our goals really revolve around the following:  What do we want to do?  Where do we want to go?  Who do we want to be?  We answer these questions.  Those are our goals.

Our plan describes how we are going achieve these goals.

Both these steps are relatively easy.  The difficulty is in implementing the plan.  Successful implementation requires that we ask ourselves throughout the day if our actions will help us reach our goals.  If yes, then continue with the action.  If no, then do not.

As a very simple example, pretend that your goal is to go on vacation.  You have determined where you want to go and how much it will cost.  Later, you are shopping and see a pair of shoes you really like, but do not need.  Will buying the shoes help you reach your goal of saving money to go on vacation?  No.  So do not buy the shoes.

As another example, pretend that your goal is to get a promotion at work.  You have a project that is due Monday.  You can work over the weekend and complete it or tell your supervisor it will not be ready for Monday and ask for an extension.  Which decision will help you reach your goal of a promotion?

Our goal achievement is based on all the little decisions we make each day.  Are you making decisions that will help you reach your goals?