I read an article about attaining career New Year Resolutions, related to the recent theme in the Lounge -- taking consistent action towards your outcomes gets results. The advice is to:

“make goals you wish to achieve by the end of the year and strategize the steps you'll need to take in order to get there. Instead of squeezing yourself to 'resolve' things quickly, spread out the commitments and proceed at a manageable pace, with benchmarks to understand and celebrate your progress. Steady progress is made and the stated goal has an excellent chance to be achieved."

I particularly like the following 3 success tips to stay on track in the New Year:

1. Eat the frog! "Mark Twain said if you eat a frog first thing in the morning that will probably be the worst thing you do all day. So, start your day by tackling an important task, especially if it is a task you aren't crazy about."

2. Concrastinate. "If procrastinating means putting things off, concrastinate should be doing things immediately. Work in 15 minute increments. If there is a task you don't like, set a timer and do it for 15 minutes. At the end of 15 minutes, you will be amazed at how much you've accomplished. At that point, either stop or if you have built up some momentum, keep going."

5. Plan it. "A few minutes of planning can save you hours of time. Either first thing in the morning or at the end of the day, take a few minutes to plan. It doesn't have to be a long formal process, just jot down the things you want to do that day (or the next if you do this at the end of the day)."

How have you experienced these success tips in action? Post your comments and share your success.

Reviewing my results from 2009 resulted in an awakening to the fact that what I was measuring was not relevant to my desired outcomes. In one instance, I was measuring the action steps I committed to take to further my progress towards an outcome. However, I was not relating the progress to the overall desired outcome to see if it was actually working.
“Unless you measure your results you don’t know if or how it’s working.”


It’s what you do with the measures that is important.

In retrospect, if I had a checkpoint to see how my action was contributing towards the results I wanted to see, I could assess how it was working. If I had refined my action plan, to take additional action steps consistent with my desired outcome, I would have had a better chance of getting the results I intended.

I have now applied this learning and put more thought and effort into defining my 2010 desired outcomes, with relevant measures of success. My intention is to take action steps aligned with my desired outcome, measure my progress towards them; then assess what’s working, and decide how I can align further action steps to be consistent with my desired outcomes, to get results.

Coaching Challenge: 

What results do you want to realize in the year 2010? How will you know you’re making measurable and relevant progress? Personal accountability strengthens when you share your commitment wtih an accountability partner. Share your 2010 commitments by sending me an e-mail to Sylvia at SylviaGoodeve dot com.

Check out this quotation that supports the importance of understanding people and putting focus on building relationships with people:

"A Bell Lab's study found the best engineers didn't succeed because of their technical prowess, but because they put time and effort into building relationships that they could call upon when needed."


Putting focus, time and effort into building relationships is important, even for, and perhaps, especially for, technical people.  It may not be a technical person's strength or natural inclination to pay attention to people, and build relationships.  However, it is important to succeed. 

If you're a technical person who want to achieve greater success through people, check out my "Technical People Becoming People-People" coaching program offering.  Feel free to ask questions, post comments, or apply for the program.

I just returned from the International Coach Federation (ICF) Conference in Orlando, inspired to create a greater impact through results-based coaching.

This is a quotation from a leader of one of the workshops I attended, on Accountability:

"Taking action consistent with your desired outcome for your life, career or business gets results". - Mark Samuel

1. Being clear on my desired outcome,
2. Setting a clear measure that defines success,
3. Being focused and taking action in line with my desired outcome,
4. Measuring how I’m progressing toward my desired outcome.

Coaching Challenge:  For the results you want to see in your life, career or business, answer these questions:


How will you become clear about your desired outcome?

What measure(s) defines success for you?

What action(s) do you commit to take, consistently?

How will you measure progress towards your successful end-result?

Overwhelm is rampant these days, as we are all asked to do more with less. 

Here are three practical tips for dealing with overwhelm, to focus on what really matters, and see tangible results each day:

1. Decide what is really important. Focus on projects or goals that really matter.  If possible, put less important projects aside for the time being, or take them off your plate completely.  Scattered thinking and associated feelings of overwhelm will begin to subside once you have decided to focus on what really matters. To keep your projects or goals front of mind, post them in a visible place that you will see throughout each day.
2. Chunk it down.  You make progress day by day, step by step.  Take a step each day towards your goals.  Make a list of the top 3 actions you will take, each day, that will make the most difference in achieving your goals. Put these 3 actions first, and address them before you do anything else. No checking e-mail; no getting distracted surfing the internet! Put First Things First.
3. Measure what matters.  You have identified what is really important.  You take actions towards your goals each day.  Now track your progress towards those goals. There is always a way to quantify your progress, if you are clear on the ultimate outcome. Review your progress, each day, each week, each month. You will soon see how you are achieving more, with less.