Ian Crocker* says unresolved resolutions from the beginning of the year are in grave danger of being left undone if you don’t do somethings about them now.
We are well over half way through 2018 already.
Are you on track with the goals that you set yourself at the start of the year?
Or does one week slip into the next and one month merge with another, without you really noticing?
Are you aware of your achievements, or is time passing you by?
There is something that you can do to make the most of each month and make sure that you are on track to meet this year’s goals?
If you’re not careful, October will become November and you won’t notice the end of one month or the start of the next.
With no sense of ‘transition’ from one month to the next, there is a real danger that you’ll miss opportunities and not spot any problems until they become too big.
If you have monthly targets but you don’t check your progress on a monthly basis, you could get close to the end of the year before you realise that you’re way off target.
By then it could be too late to pull up your socks and reach your goals.
We often mark the end of each calendar year with a celebration of what we’ve achieved over the year and by looking into the next.
Some business owners do the same at the end of each financial year too, so why not do the same at the end of each month?
It’s easy to get into the habit of making a ‘transition with intent’ at the end of every month.
This is where you make a point of closing out the month.
Schedule time in your diary, such as the last Friday or the last working day of the month.
Then use this transition time to carry out some monthly activities, such as reviewing what is left to be done.
Check your inbox to make sure that you’ve taken action for everything that needed to be done during the month.
Look at your diary to review the meetings that you’ve attended — are there any outstanding actions that need your attention?
Were any meetings postponed that still need to be rescheduled?
Think about the proposals you’ve sent out and the presentations you’ve given. What results did you get?
Have you satisfied the requirements of all your clients, especially any new ones that might have come on board?
If not, you know now that there is some work to be done to help you to reach your end of year target.
Perhaps you set yourself the goal of finding a new job this year. How are you getting on with that?
Use your monthly transition to review the applications that you’ve made, the interviews that you’ve attended and what you need to do next.
As you review all the month’s activities, create a list of the outstanding actions that you need to carry out.
As you move from one month to the next, make sure that anything that needs to be carried over isn’t missed out or forgotten.
This is a great way to prevent important tasks from slipping by and not being completed.
If you fade from one month to the next, you can get half way through the year and not be anywhere near where you’d like to be. Are you on track?
Here are my three tips to help you to make the most of a monthly transition.
Create a list of what you need to review:
Whatever is important for you and your team.
Write a list of what you need to do to help you meet your goals:
What wasn’t finished this month that needs to be rolled over?
Why didn’t you achieve it? This could highlight areas where you need some help.
Allocate time to do the work:
Creating a ‘to do’ list doesn’t get things done.
Set aside time in your diary to work on completing your outstanding tasks, so that you can make a great start to the next month.
Don’t let one month slip into the next and one year disappear into another.
Make ‘transitions with intent’ and you’ll find it much easier to meet your goals and get to where you want to be.
*Ian Crocker runs a company of learning and development specialists that helps organisations, teams and individuals achieve more. He can be contacted at www.absolutelearning.co.uk.
This article first appeared on Ian’s blogsite.
