Regardless of the holiday you celebrate, I hope you found time to gather with family and friends, enjoy memories of times gone by and create ones to remember in the future. I spent the day with grandchildren…..many memories in the making!!
In a few short days, 2017 will be upon us. For many, New Year marks a new beginning. A time we reflect on the past and make resolutions for the upcoming year. What will it mean for you? Resolutions can take many forms. The dictionary idefines “Resolution” as a firm decision to do or not do something. Synonyms include intention, resolve, decision, intent, aim or plan. While many of us will declare our resolutions for the upcoming year. The real question will be in regard to impact. Will our resolutions be personal, professional, spiritual, a combination, or something all together different? Will there only be a few or many? It really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you anticipate and look forward to a new opportunity, that you greet each day as another day to excel, and that you embrace every challenge.
Over the past week I read a number of articles about New Year Resolutions and revisited a video that takes the idea of resolution to a whole new level. I wanted to share them with you!
In his Forbes post, The Ultimate New Year’s Resolution, Todd Richardson argues that there is a single resolution that ranks above all the rest: “Resolve to be engaged with your work”. Within the article he cites why engagement is important, how to assess your engagement and, should you find you are not engaged, three steps to improve it. My only question is, why limit this resolution to work?
A second article takes the resolution challenge to another level. Alyssa Newcomb’s December 21 post on NBC Tech News shared, “How Facebook’s Zuckerberg Crushes His New Year’s Resolutions”. While his 2017 resolution has not been revealed, Newcomb reviews Zuckenberg’s resolutions for the past 8 years including his 2016 design and development of “ Jarvis”, his Artificial Intelligence Assistant, who he personally built from scratch.
The third idea was actually shared with me by my former boss, Dr Steve Gerhard. Steve is a visionary. He sees possibilities and opportunities. At one of his early meetings with our leadership team he introduced us to the idea of “Moonshot Thinking”. This concepts proposes that sometimes it is easier to make something 10 times better than it is to make it 10 percent better. Within the video one of the contributors makes an interesting statement, “You need a lot of courage in this work and you need a lot of persistence…….Even if you don’t really 100% believe it is possible…..have the courage to try, that’s how the greatest things have happened”
And that’s how the greatest resolutions have been attained! Embrace the Challenge my friends and have a Happy New Year,
Rick