3 expert tips to give your career a boost

15 April 2016 -

As we embark on a new financial year, we take a look at how taking a fresh look at the way you work can reap dividends

A new financial year is upon us and spring is in the air, reminding us of new beginnings and goals for the forthcoming 12 months.

Since January, many organisations will have progressed well on some plans, and likely less well on others.

There may even be some big and perhaps new and different ideas that are still in the initial thought process rather than having had any action taken to start them.

We all know the power of now and being in the moment, and perhaps this April is a good time to renew this knowledge and consider what needs to be tackled to make 2016/2017 a success.

Most leaders will now have a fairly robust annual plan of both the strategic and tactical variety, so this withstanding, how can you ensure as a leader or manager that this year has the best start.

Incidentally, if you’re reading this and haven’t got a shiny new annual plan, there is no time like the present!

Have a clear out

Your environment can serve to inspire or de-motivate. Does your working space bring out the best in you?

I know one CEO who has the slickest office I have ever set foot in, another whose floor I can barely see let alone set foot on, and they are both very successful. It is what works for you that’s important.

Now may also be the time for a mental clear out, ditching the bad habits that hinder rather than help and finally cancelling those recurring meetings that are now defunct but have so far carried on regardless.

Get comfortable with discomfort

Reaching your potential requires a level of discomfort. When we try something new, we feel uncomfortable, just because it is new – nothing more, nothing less.

Practice getting comfortable with discomfort on a simple level; read a news feed that you don’t ordinarily, engage someone professionally that you wouldn’t usually, do something that you don’t like doing.

It will make your brain work harder and push your muscle of potential. This will be invaluable in the hard days when an obstacle has appeared and it’s really uncomfortable.

Be less available

In a position of responsibility and accountability preserving time for you to think, consider, innovate and strategise is vital.

Zero distractions and pure focus equals massive results.

But how can you go about ensuring you have enough time set aside to do the things you need to?

• Protect your peak hours. Most of us are self-aware enough to know when we perform at our peak - the morning, in the middle of the day, at night. Whenever it is, try to protect it at least for a few hours this week. If this is when you do your best work, use it to your advantage.
• Stop waiting for the perfect conditions (conditions are rarely, if ever, perfect) to do whatever you are planning. Immediate action creates a positive feedback loop, gives you more energy and therefore spurs you on to the next task.
• Drink more water; this is an easy one. The brain and mind thrive on being hydrated and therefore more able to think clearly and make good judgments and decisions based upon experience and knowledge. Being just a little dehydrated compromises this sometimes to as much as a 40% decline in cognitive ability. Just like the spring flowers, we all need water to not only survive, but thrive!

Kate Tojeiro is an Executive Coach, MD of X fusion and author of The Art of Possible – new habits, neuroscience and the power of deliberate action