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15 April 2016 -
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!
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.
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.
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?
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
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