Everyone I talk to seems to be pretty optimistic about the New Year, not because they think the economy will turn around, but because of that general feeling that comes with the transition of a new year—that sense that we’re about to get a fresh start, that things will be better, and that maybe this year we’ll finally “get there.” For some this means closing that big client, and for others it means finding a mate or striking a balance between work and personal life or getting the kids into that school or… fill in the blank. But getting there is often a lot more complex than we realize. It takes more than hard work and dumb luck (though those two things certainly help). It takes a willingness to change. To become a version of ourselves that can finally accomplish the thing we want. We have to evolve. And if we resist that evolution in ourselves, getting there just dangles in front of us like a maddening mirage.
I can think of at least two examples where I held out for too long.
1. Trust: It took me some time to stop the pattern of doing everything myself instead of delegating it to someone in my organization. I didn’t always have the patience to train others to support me, and I didn’t always trust that they’d do as good a job as I would. Thankfully, this is an area where I have changed. I now ask myself before tackling any task, “Is there anyone else who can do this?” Even if the answer is “maybe” I get it off my plate and onto theirs. Most of the time, they do a good job. Occasionally, they do a better job than I would have done.
2. Invest: In the past I was overprotective of my bottom line. I would try to resolve problems myself instead of paying an expert to provide a solution. Whether it was a technology glitch or my own professional development, I did it my way first, wasting fruitless hours on a hopeless learning curve. I’ve finally changed that pattern. Now, as soon as I identify a need, I hire the best experts I can find. I believe it’s no accident that I’ve recently broken through the slow, incremental growth trend that was very much in place before I learned to invest liberally in myself.
I have some big goals in mind for the New Year, and they will require that I become the best version of myself to date. In my darkest moments, I am afraid of that change, but mostly, I look forward to what I know I can become.
So while you ask yourself where you want to get to in the coming year, couple it with an even more important series of questions: Who will you need to become to achieve it? What will you need to change in yourself? How will you need to evolve so that you can enjoy the experience of getting there?
Authored By David Ackert
