Reviewing My 2023 Goals (Part 3 of 3)
The future starts today, not tomorrow.
– Pope John Paul II
With 2 months left for 2023, the spookiness of Halloween had creeped by and the Christmas jingles can be heard just around the corner. As we take a look at the outstanding goals set at the start of the year, it can be quite tempting for us to take things down a notch and postpone it to the next year. And it is quite justifiable to do so, given that this is the period with numerous festive celebrations and travel plans. Why not stop now since these goals are unlikely to be completed, and start again next year with greater enthusiasm and motivation?
We know clearly that setting goals are essential to imbue purpose in what we do. However, are they purely a binary indicator (met and unmet)? I came to realise that this perspective of what goals are, is quite commonly adopted by the majority of us, myself included. And such a perspective can be the reason why many of us feel an aversion towards goal setting and pursuing them continuously all year round. This is because the inability to meet our targets by a certain deadline suggests personal failure. The mix of negative emotions and mental strain coming from being aware of your own failure can be quite demoralising and devastating. That is why, it is easy to reduce the difficulty of the goals or even postpone them entirely to be achieved at a later date.
A Fundamental Shift
How goal setting became more sustainable and approachable for me, was to have a fundamental shift in the interpretation for my desires. Simply, goals are there as a compass to steer my daily decisions and actions towards a future state that is more desirable and ideal for me. With such a perspective on goals, I take away the fear and doubts of missing the deadline of achieving them. This fundamental shift encourages me to continuously set new goals when the need arises, revise existing ones periodically and pursue them all year round. And this brings me back to the essence of Pope John Paul II’s quote, what is truly important to and for you ought to be done today without procrastination. Eliminate the self-judgement and expectations, take a step towards your goal regardless how small it may be and let your efforts compound and show itself overtime.
The Right Attitude – Beginner’s Mindset
Setting goals and interpreting them isn’t the be-all and end-all. Having the right attitude can exponentially propel us forward on our journey towards personal accountability and development. I discuss more in depth about the what and how of having the right attitude here in another post. Let me elaborate more about the synergies between having the right attitude and goal setting with the two aspects I wish to focus more intently for the rest of 2023 and into 2024: health and professional development.
Health & Exercise
In the progress of settling down in the new environment in New Zealand, my wife and I established the goal of being more health conscious by focusing more on our diet and exercise routine. It comes as no surprise that eating out frequently in New Zealand is not going to be budget friendly, compared to Singapore where affordable meals are highly accessible across the country at the local coffeeshops. This opens up the opportunity for us to explore new and healthy recipes from online sources, and even from specialised meal prepping services like Bargain Box and HelloFresh! Doubtful at first, I must admit that us taking the courage to explore such services has greatly broaden our culinary expertise, and rewarded us with a wider variety of healthier home cook meals. Plus, it was fun and exciting too as we experimented and learnt those menu together in the kitchen!
Aside from embracing our new practice of meal prepping, we also signed up for a commercial gym membership for the first time in our lives! Although I have been frequenting a gym since I was a student, it is a totally new experience for me to guide and work out with my wife at a commercial gym. To be honest, it was quite daunting for me as I worried about introducing the right exercises to my wife and the sustainability of visiting the gym regularly. Going back to having a beginner’s mindset, I eliminated my expectations and simply introduced a myriad of machine based exercises that not only was easier to pick up, but also had lower risks of injury for a beginner. This went on for the first few visits and now, she is completely independent at the gym! What makes me even more proud about her growth was that occassionally, she would even ask me about new exercises to explore for specific muscle groups to be targetted. As of writing, we will soon head for our very first group aerobic class at the gym together! This is when I know that we are making big strides on establishing good habits for our health. Going forward, I will strive to maintain the momentum we have established for ourselves, while integrating excitement by continuously explore new menus and exercises together.
Professional Development – Leadership and Communication
In my new work environment, the main challenge I face is the management of people from different cultures and nationalities. To make matters worse, there had been a past where change initiatives were poorly managed, resulting in frequent mismatch in employee expectations and high turnovers. Good people management is crucial, especially at a wastewater treatment plant where cooperation and trust facilitates proper upkeep and operations of the plant.
It is distinctly different from the work environment that I was in back at Singapore, where strict systems and work culture naturally encouraged an acceptable baseline of cooperation and expected work behaviour. Hence, the focus in Singapore was more on the technical and project management aspects.
As a manager in New Zealand, I have identified and set for myself 2 aspects to develop – servant leadership and communication. To address and eliminate past episodes of failed work initiatives and expectations, I need to show full accountability and responsibilities in executing swiftly on my team’s requests and suggestions. Also, I need to commit and follow through on top down initiatives and projects that aim to improve our plant’s deliverables and workplace culture. I believe that leading through action, outcomes and empathy, will empower me to gain the trust of my team and rekindle their motivation to deliver their best at work again.
Clear communication is an important skillset for a leader to inspire and influence others in a positive direction. Specifically, assertive communication, which encompasses a fine balance of defending my grounds in a nondestructive manner while maintaining empathy and connection with others. This is a type of communication style that I have set for myself to develop to cope and excel in my workplace. Reason being that I have to establish understanding and buy in with my team who has lost their drive, while pushing to change their ways of negative perception when it comes to new management initiatives and changes at work.
Concluding
In the coming months to come, I continue to challenge myself to observe the new and ever changing environment. Followed by identifying new habits and skillsets to develop for adaptation and to maximise value creation. Without a beginner’s mindset, the courage to try and implement positive personal change would not be possible. And in the absence of having complementary goals to consistently drive us in the right direction, our life will neither be lived today nor tomorrow. Therefore, I hope that my post on how having the right attitude and interpretation of your goals will inspire you to live your life with greater awareness and intention today.