Moving the Goal Posts

If you have read my blog before – (so that’s 2 of you 😉  & thanks Mum) you know that I made a new year’s resolution to put up a post once a week, and was tracking how I was going.  I have however, fallen behind on this, mostly due to my new side project taking that time away.  So it looks like I will miss the goals I set myself…but that’s ok.

Having goals that are clearly defined helps to give you direction and a gauge of your progress, but at the end of the day, you only have these because you have decided on a particular direction (or strategy).  Making a decision to change that direction isn’t something you do lightly, but neither do you lock yourself into that direction when you have good reasons to change.  Of course changing the goal, means changing how you measure your progress as well…

While I have been on this path for a little while, others have devoted their adult lives to the pursuit of a goal.  Check out this video of a recent graduation speech giving by Conan O’Brien – even if you only watch it because the guy is really funny.  Clearly this is a person who has had a rather public “failure” but also a rather public change in direction, and many would argue success in that new direction.

There is no greater cliché than follow your dream…whatever you think your dream is now, it will probably change. And that’s ok.”

Sometimes the absolutely focused and driven approach to the achievement of a specific goal is truly admirable (check out this article about a student walking up to accept their degree – it’s the first time they have been able to walk since their accident).  Sometimes though, we relentlessly pursue a measure without remembering the direction we wanted to head in and why we wanted to go that way in the first place.  There is of course the other side of this problem, where the direction and goals change so often that it seems we are dodging the responsibility and accountability, with good reason or not.

If you have a Key Performance Indicator that you are regularly coming back to (or are brought back to), then maybe you should just do a quick check every now and then of how that direction sits with you.  If it’s still right then that’s great and it can re-affirm why you are working as hard as you are.  But if it’s not right, then you can re-channel your energy for a better outcome.

Keith

PS. “You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight” –  Jim Rohn

What happened to your new years resolution?

At the start of the year, like so many other people, I made a new year’s resolution to do a blog post each week as well as tweets and share links.

However, I also decided I would follow through on how I was going against it.  And now it’s time for the quarter 1 review…

As you can see, I am on track with blog posts, tweets and shared items, but only just.

Of course, if I was completely serious about being transparent I would show everyone my secondary measures as well…but that would be telling 🙂

Keith

“A true measure of your worth includes all the benefits others have gained from your success” – Cullen Hightower

Happy New Year!

Each new year brings with it a small set of certainties, nearly as certain as death & taxes.
–          A heap of SMS messages sent around midnight that don’t arrive until later the next morning,
–          Lots of Facebook updates showing the person everyone wants to be,
–          Bunches of (usually generic) predictions about what the next year will bring,
–          Emails from recruiters looking to “catch-up”,
–          New year’s resolutions,
–          Quit-smoking ads to capture people who have that new year’s resolution,
–          And of course, Fireworks.

One of the more challenging resolutions I have seen is blogging everyday of 2011.  I can’t imagine doing that.  Maybe having a Twitter post for everyday (on average mind you) is possible, or even sharing a link for every 2nd day (again on average) – but maybe that will just hurt the quality 😉

Given the quality of my blogging/tweeting/link sharing (which I will suggest isn’t great – writing isn’t really what I do), I have told myself I will aim to post something every week, tweet every day, and share a link every 2 days. Given my day job is all about setting Key Performance Indicators, I will set myself some outcome measures as well (rather than those very basic output measures) and even measure and report on how I am going.

Maybe this will all backfire and this will become one of those deserted blogs, with me hiding in shame somewhere…but that’s the fun of any performance indicator.

Wish me luck.

Keith

“The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul.” – G.K. Chesterton