So here we are in the last days of summer before we revert to ‘back to school’ normality next week. I’ve written here before about the idea that for many of us September feels much more like New Year than January does. This is the time when we start afresh.

You may come back to work with renewed determination to do things differently, better. Or you may have had a brainwave while your mind was idling on a Mediterranean beach/windswept Cornish clifftop (delete as appropriate). At the very least, you may come back feeling refreshed and ready to look at things in a new way. So how do you ensure that those ideas and optimism don’t get lost as you start drowning in to-do lists and caught up in business as usual? Well here are five steps, in the form of questions, to keep you on track.

1. What do I want to change?

A vague intention to ‘be more productive’ will get you nowhere. Get as clear as you can on what it is you want to achieve or do differently. Talking it through with someone will probably help, as will some form of creative thinking process. It’s likely that whatever you’re trying to achieve will fall into into one of these three categories:

• a goal, e.g. I want to increase sales by 20% a month, I want 500 new twitter followers by the end of September
• a project, e.g. I want to redevelop the website, I need to create a new business unit
• a habit, e.g. I want to exercise three times a week, I want to clear my desk every night.

It’s worth being clear which it is because they are managed differently.

2. What’s at stake?

Don’t just focus on what you want to achieve but why you want to achieve it. If you are clear about the beneficial outcomes of the change (and if you’re not, why on earth are you considering it?) it’s likely to be easier to stay motivated and maintain the momentum. Some kind of visual reminder can be useful.

3. Does it involve other people?

If you can’t achieve this alone or you need permission to do it, then your next step has to be to work out who you need to influence and how you’ll do it. This is most likely to be the case for a project, which might involve additional expenditure or a diversion of effort and resources. Even if you can achieve your goal on your own, it’s worth considering who else it affects. It’s all very well deciding you’ll unwind with 30 minutes mindfulness practice a day but if it coincides with your children’s bedtime, your partner may have something to say about it.

4. How do I give this priority? 

The main thing that stops us from focusing on the bigger things we want to achieve is that life gets in the way. There are so many other things to get done. You need to actively give this new aspiration a higher priority. This may involve:

• Nailing your colours to the mast. If you go public about your intentions then the fear of embarrassment may be enough to keep you on track.
• Being clear about what you are not going to do, at least for now. If you’re going to fit in something else into the finite resource which is the 168 hours in a week, then something has to give.
• Rewarding yourself. Planning little rewards if you reach your goal or stick to your habit for a set period may keep you on track.

5. Who – and what – can support me in this?

Sharing your aspirations with others can mean there are people around to support and encourage you. Even better is if you can buddy up with someone who has a similar goal. If you can share an activity, such as mindfulness practice, that’s really helpful for keeping you on track. But even where your goals are unrelated, reporting back to someone can be motivating. A friend and I, for example, have a weekly KUTA call (excuse the language, that’s Kick Up The Arse) where we hold each other to account for business development activity on our entirely separate businesses.

And don’t underestimate the value of apps, especially for habit formation. There are apps for fitness goals, learning a language, managing a to-do list and many others. They all seem to be based around the idea of positive reinforcement and, for some people, can be quite addictive in a benign way.

So in summary, work out what you want to achieve, how to fit it into your life and how to involve others. If you’d like some support thinking any of that through, I’d be happy to have a chat: caroline@carolinegourlay.co.uk

Photo credits

Back to school: zcool

Priorities: Peter Reed