RallyDev.com
Mon 19 Jan 2009
Be Your Best in 2009
The NPR (National Public Radio) inauguration coverage of President Obama got me thinking about patterns for 2009. First, I was enjoying the notion that Obama created today as a national day of service (see a new clearinghouse for local service opportunities at www.usaservice.org and www.mlkday.gov), but I was lamenting that I did not have enough time to drum up some organized effort at Rally or with EFCO.
Listing of Service Opportunities around Boulder, CO from USAservice.org
My Start, Stop and Keep Doing List
That got me thinking about my focus for 2009. Over our holiday week off at Rally, I took time to create a Stop, Start and Keep Doing list, which is a practice encouraged by Jim Collins, among others.
For example, one of the things on my Start Doing list is to be the Executive Director of EFCO, working on scaling my dream around socially responsible businesses. I’ll focus more on corporate social responsibility later, but for 2009I think folks who are employed should all be focused on their Stop Doing list.
If You’re Employed, Focus on Your “Stop Doing” List
Having lived through the tech bubble, you can certainly see familiar patterns in the current financial crisis.
During these bubbles, you see lots of people and institutions getting sucked into the attractiveness principle (basically where you are trying to be all things to all people). You see this behavior in people and institutions that are over-leveraged and now facing the consequences of these decisions.
To combat this negative behavior, I find it best to step back and ask my company, and myself, “What makes me unique, What am I best at?” Given answers to these questions and tough, stack-ranked prioritization, you can start to see what is needed to “be your best” in 2009. You can also see what needs to go on your Stop Doing list.
At Rally, we did this work last week during our 2-day annual planning sessions. With these prioritizations, my company and I have started avoiding the feeling of being over-extended. I am managing other people’s expectations by saying “No” at appropriate times and I am better at evaluating what to do for others. This crisis can be seen as an opportunity to come out better on the other side; clearly Obama and the transition team see this.
How can you can “be your best” in 2009? It is the behavior change we need to come out of this crisis.
Further Reading:
