What was your best achievement in 2021? 

Whether you achieved what you wanted to in the last year or continued to pursue it, it may have felt like a Leap was required to make it to the next step.

I think some people and teams would be able to list a few achievements and then wrestle with the need to determine which one was the best. I also think some people and teams took steps toward their best achievements… and they had no idea when they would fully realize those achievements.  Either way, the Leap into action helped to build influence, adjust goals, develop better plans, build better habits, deal with ambiguity, and push through until more progress was achieved.

In this resource, I share thoughts, ideas, and tools that I believe can be helpful in your Leap to create value.

 

Influence and Change.
According to dictionary.com, influence can be defined as “the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself.” Knowing this, one could say that influence can change minds.

If you think about it, influence is a wonderful tool that comes in various sizes and strengths. It should be carried into any room where minds meet to plan and create change.  Sometimes your influence helps, and other times it may need more strength or size.  When there is a need to create a common ground for influence consider learning from a few different sources on how this can be done.

In the book Influencer, the authors share a need to change how minds are changed, especially when verbal persuasion isn’t much help.[2] To help with this, consider challenging your team with these two things:

1 – Speak freely, and allow others to speak freely without feeling like a rebel or a wimp
2 – Collectively agree that if new or controversial ideas are shared, then they will be considered. If determined that they would be effective, agree to allocate resources to achieve the goals

When teams and people with influence begin to change minds and help develop new goals, there will still be the need to act and implement the behaviors and habits necessary to achieve these goals.

 

Goals and Habits.
Goals can help clarify what actions need to be taken next but having a goal doesn’t ensure progress.  In Atomic Habits, James Clear shares that “goals are good to set a direction, but systems are best to make progress.”[1]  When we do not see and feel progress or changes, we should ask, “is it that we don’t want change, or do we not have the right systems for it”. Chances are, the desire for change is genuine and there’s a need for good habits and processes to build the systems.

How many times have you or your team set goals that no real progress was made on?

How do we get better at the good habits and processes required to build the systems?

Here are a few things to consider:

1) Make it easy. An important step in forming good habits is to reduce friction and make the practice more attractive. Reduce friction through preparation and an intentional effort to remove obstacles. Habits or practices can become more attractive when the actions needed are combined with actions that we want.

2) Monitor the environment. “Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior.” It is harder to stick with positive habits in a negative environment or an environment that doesn’t fully acknowledge truths. So, determine if attitudes, habits, or processes need to be adjusted to enhance the environment.

3) Build on momentum. Consider identifying the good habits or processes already in place. Once those are identified, build and attach the next habit or process.

 

Hope and Perseverance.
When progress is not experienced, it is easy to slip into a valley of despair and return or old routines. This is where commitment and patience become keys to the breakthrough.  Forbes writer Justin Sachs shares that there is a need to map out the possibilities and take measurable actions. Failing could be considered a learned lesson of what didn’t work?[5]

According to dictionary.com, perseverance is “steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.”  It’s one of those words you don’t choose to become familiar with; however, exercising it thought small incremental steps will bring you closer to your audacious goals.

Consider the perseverance of Milton Hershey. He started three unsuccessful candy companies in three different states. When he finally got one business off the ground, he sold it to start the Hershey Company, widely known for its milk chocolate.  This company created hundreds of jobs and provided money for him to build houses, churches, and schools in his community.[4]

 

Take the Leap – Call to Action
Become a person, a company, a nonprofit of greater value step by step, action by action, until a Leap is experienced. Then, take incremental steps to go the distance and implement solutions.

Remember to leverage and build influence, develop better goals, change behaviors and habits, and keep moving forward. Achievements can be even sweeter when we navigate through and over obstacles.

Resources

1. Atomic Habits | Clear, James. Atomic Habits: An Easy Et Proven Way to Build Good Habits Et Break Bad Ones: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results. Avery, an Imprint of Penguin Random House, 2018.
2. Influencer | Grenny, Joseph, and Kerry Patterson. Influencer: The Power to Change Anything. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2013.
3. Make Your Bed | H., MCRAVEN ADMIRAL WILLIAM. Make Your Bed: 10 Life Lessons from a Navy Seal. PENGUIN Books, 2019.
4. Examples of Perseverance  
5. The Power of Persistence 

 

Photo by Polina Zimmerman: https://www.pexels.com/photo/notes-on-board-3782230/