Agile Development

New Year Resolution – Let’s commit to do less so that we can achieve more

When you reflect on this year you probably think first about family then the goals you have achieved and the ones you did not. Many of you have also had to struggle with your company and even your close friends and family giving you mixed priorities.

This usually leads to less than optimal results. Is it fair to say then as we reflect on 2012 that we have bitten off more than we can chew instead of concentrating only on doing the most vital things?
We think so!! In our everyday work we often wear too many hats and are overwhelmed by the sheer number of goals we are expected to meet. How often have we attended a “strategic planning” sessions where the senior managers choose to concentrate on 5-10 or even more large scale goals just because “they just need to get done”? We know this is counterproductive. Let’s do something about it this year.

Obviously goal setting is an important and powerful practice that leads to positive action. Don’t get us wrong here. The challenge is to be able to identify only a few important goals instead of trying to do them all.  Actually, a powerful practice might be to first decide which goals we going to stop doing before we start adding to our current list of things to do. How great would it be if the CEO started the planning session with all employees with this directive: “What should we eliminate in 2013?”

The goals we stop doing aren’t forever abandoned. We simply recognize their lower priority and will not be working on them right now. We can always start them up once we have finished our current goal.

With that said, let’s do things in 2013 differently. Let’s commit to do less so that we can achieve more. We will have more positive and dramatic results when we apply ourselves to a few important goals than to many.

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!