As I sit to write this blog, probably my last or second last for the year,  I’m feeling kind of checked out. And I think part of the problem is that after the year 2020, everyone, including myself is looking forward to the Festive Season, and time with friends and family. To add insult to injury, instead of writing my blog I found a new app that was interesting, and very distracting.

While I was about to judge myself, I realised that at the end of the year we are so focused on wrapping up that we’re not thinking about anything new, and that is part of the problem. When in that survival mode new is challenging, new may even be scary. Instead, it is easier to looking forward to anything and everything that’s not related to work.

I found myself wondering, for those of us who still have another week or two left before the holidays, how do we go about changing that? Maybe the focus should be less on the finality of wrapping up for the year, and more about creating momentum for the new year. This is something that many people suffer from, while they enjoy a good break when they’re back at the office, they find it really tough to get the momentum going again.

And so I have decided today (after I’ve written this blog because it does need to get done) to sit down and plan the first week or two for 2021. These simple questions could help me get started:

1. I think it’s about answering “What is 2021 about?”, “What’s the vision?” and “Where do we want to go?”.
2. I think it’s always important to understand why we want to go there. “Why is this important?”, because the why is really going to tell us how much energy we prepared to put into this.
3. Then we would need to understand at the “How”, how do we intend to fulfil this vision? What are the actions needed to get this done?
4. Now we can ask “Who do we need?”. This includes all the individuals that we need in order to make this happen and could include a business associate, a supplier, etc.
5. The last step is to look at the “What we need?” in terms of other resources needed. Do we need money, facilities, tools, techniques, training?

Now that I know what the plan is I can start pulling together what I need in these next two weeks to set myself up for the first two weeks in January 2021 so I can hit the ground running. As much fun as the festive season is I know that work is satisfying and fulfilling and so when I come back to it I want to make a difference from day one.

I hope that this quick little tool will help you shape will help keep you focused for the next two weeks and set you up for success in 2021.