“A mindset of agile learning on the part of both company leaders and workers will be needed, starting with an ability to reimagine the routines and limits of today’s jobs as part of a comprehensive workforce strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” ~ The Future of Jobs Report 2018, Centre for the New Economy and Society, World Economic Forum

1. Prevention is better than cure especially when it comes to confidence.  Doubt, second guessing, downplaying and underestimating all deliver way more negative bang for their buck than we might imagine.  While dealing with the winter blues last year, I let my positive mental attitude and possibility mindset rituals drop off. At the time I needed them most! As a result, I lost my mental mojo.  And wow, did that take some digging to get out of.  As prevention is always better than the cure, there will be no more taking a positive mental attitude for granted for me.  2019 will see me reprioritizing my mental attitude practices and disciplines back to #1.  Curious? Here’s an article I wrote a few years ago. 10 Motivation Game-changers when doing Big, Important Work. Read and implement if you dare.

2. Focus is my friend. When I’m able to focus I can achieve miracles.  And who doesn’t love a miracle? (sidebar LinkedIn frazzle is the enemy of focus). Due to the very “busy” nature of my business, it is not always easy to focus. For 2019, focus will become my priority #2. And how do I focus better? Revert to #1.

3. Stop resisting structure.  As more of a free spirit who likes to puzzle things out myself, there are times when adopting some rigors and structure might be more helpful. And as my business and aspirations grow I need better more rigorous structures to support that growth. My wallet is a metaphor for my life. In 2018, I finally bought a new grown up wallet with a coin purse, little card holders etc. It replaced a sparkly, loose change, free spirit type of wallet with no card holders, …… and ….. it felt great. So great in fact, that immediately following I installed a new CRM and hired a couple of VAs. Cause or correlation? I’m not sure. But my next stop is to re-jig my wardrobe. Who knows what might happen next!

   • Where might you be resisting structure or a system that in fact might deliver exponential bang for its buck?

4. Get out of my own way and delegate more. I’ve finally seen the light and learned to how to delegate.  The 2017-2018 me might have simply handed things over and not invested in the process for long enough. The new me learned to invest in the delegation process and grow the partnership along the way. This has been so hugely freeing that I cannot wait to see what else might be possible for 2019. Remember, there is one common denominator in all the staff who report to you who don’t perform as well as you want.  Yep, you guessed it. That’s you.

   • So my question to you is not just what can you delegate more of?.

   • But how can you invest in the people you are delegating to so they learn and grow with you and your business and can help your business more?

5. Just because something works, doesn’t mean it’s great.  Or to word another way, . I’ve had so many opportunities and big growth spurts this year, because something stopped working and I had to reinvent.  A great case of out of the ashes rises the Phoenix. Out of necessity I had to investigate new improved options, better ways of doing things.  And voilà!  Big benefits delivering exponential bang for their buck. Whereas previously I had a big case of sunk cost bias. So for 2019 I’m building in more frequent reinvention time. I’m going to stop waiting of things to break before I get curious.  Technology is changing at the rate of knots at the moment and I’m sure I’m missing out on a heap because I haven’t built in frequency to re-examine.   Key learning – be more curious about continuous improvement.

6. Don’t try to do everything all at once.  I read somewhere once that we overestimate how much we can do in the short term, but underestimate how much we can do in the long term. i.e. my to do list for January is longer than I’ll actually be able to achieve and I may end up feeling blue that I’m not achieving things fast enough. But over the course of the year, I’m capable of doing far more than I give myself credit.   I want to balance this better in 2019.

7. It’s the people that matter most.  Financial freedom is well and good, but if I’ve pissed off my significant other, friends or family along the way, and don’t have anyone to share it with, then it counts for nothing.   And while this is #7, it’s really #1.