My 6 Steps to a Better Year in 2020
BY MICHAEL SICURANZA
Happy New Year Everyone!
The holiday season is my favorite time of the year. I love to cook, spend time with family and friends, watch holiday shows and listen to holiday music. I even love the mall at Christmas time. All of it gets me in the spirit of the season and focuses me in on what’s important in life. It allows me to reflect on the past year, take stock and take a glimpse into the future of what the next year could bring. This blog is going to be a little window into the process I go through every year. I hope it helps you appreciate the good that has happened this year and how you can use this process to make 2020 the best year yet.
Step 1 – What am I grateful for?
I am always grateful for the love of my family, friends, and clients but there are a few extras that I am especially thankful:
My Colleagues and Culture – I’ve worked with a lot of wonderful people throughout my career but I can honestly say this is the best group ever. Their hard work and dedication to our clients is fantastic. Along with this we’ve created a culture of caring, curiosity and service.
Re-connection – Whether through tragedy, effort or dumb luck, I’ve reconnected with some amazing people this year. I’m fortunate that this happened regularly last year.
What are you thankful for in 2019? Write them down.
Step 2 - What did I learn?
After starting out on the positive, I like to think about the major takeaways from the year and how I can use what I've learned to be a better, more productive me in 2020. Again, here are another few examples:
To move fast you occasionally must slow down.
Be a better listener and continue to nurture those around me.
Don’t assume that someone understands what you are talking about.
What did you learn in 2019? Write them down.
Step 3 – What are my big 3 words to define 2020?
This is something new that I got from Steve Sanduski’s podcast and have incorporated it into my year end/new year process. The concept is to pick three words that will define your actions/mindset for the New Year. I will keep these words in view both in my office and at home as a constant reminder. My words for 2020 are Health, Nurture, and Experience.
What are your three words? Write them down.
Step 4 - What are my 2 or 3 Wildly Important Goals for 2020?
In years past, I would have close to 15+ goals per year divided up into business, personal, and professional categories. As a result, my focus was too spread out and every year I felt dissatisfied with my results. This year, based off the book Four Disciplines of Execution, I plan to narrow those goals down to 2 or 3 goals that will have the greatest impact on my year. The goals have to be specific and measurable in nature. Here are my top 3 for 2020.
To reduce my body fat percentage to 12%
To write 52 blogs this year
To make 5 improvements in our Best Life Process™
What are your most important goals for 2020? Write them down.
Step 5 – What are the activities and actions to achieve step 4?
Now that you have those wildly important goals, how do you achieve them? What are the steps and daily activities that you must do to accomplish those goals? To use my body loss goal as an example, here are the questions I would have to answer:
How many times per week do I need to work out?
What type of workouts? When do I need to work out?
What type of foods? What is the macro-nutrient breakdown? How often will I eat?
What are questions you need to answer? Write them down.
Once those questions are answered, you put together your monthly, weekly and daily game plan for success. So again using my example of above it would look something like:
I need to move every day. I need to walk for 20 minutes every day.
I need to lift heavy weights 3x per week and sprint/ballistics workout 2x per week.
I will eat a 40, 10, 50 ratio of protein, carbs, and fats daily.
I will eat within an 8-hour window every day.
I will reduce calories by 400-500 for 4 weeks then go back to maintenance levels for 2 weeks are repeat.
What are the daily, weekly and monthly activities you need to complete to achieve your goals? Write them down.
Step 6 – Monitor and track the activity (step 5) not the goal itself.
Now that I have my action plan – I need to track the action plan to hold myself accountable. The goal is a lagging indicator but my activity is a leading indicator. If I don’t do the leading activity, I will never get to the lagging goal. So last step is to track your activity. I use technology (my fitness pal and way of life apps), a workout log and a simple checklist. Did I walk daily? Did I work out 4x this week? By focusing on the steps to a successful goal completion, it helps me stay focused throughout the year. This is especially important when life can get in the way. When I focus on the goal and not the activity, then I tend to put the work off until tomorrow, which decreases the likelihood I will achieve my desired goal.
How will you track your activity? What methods will you use? Write it down and set it up.
So that is a little insight into how I wrap up the year and how I look forward. If anyone wants more insight or help with their goal setting process, please let me know. It’s never too late to get started.