The news in the past year didn’t help anyone’s sanity or goal setting. Alt-politics, extreme weather, and virus frenzy swirled together like a tornado. We landed like Dorothy in bizarre alternate reality raging against whatever form of media happened to catch our attention.
Making sense of “The Year of Missing Out”
Despite online appearances, almost everyone experienced the Year of Missing Out. Social media is our window to the world. We see people prioritizing fun over safety and worry about being left out.
Some virtual friends were living their best life, curating an intoxicating feed of travel pics and partying on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Meanwhile, you haven’t posted anything in a while. Friends in your feed ignored rules and enjoyed life, damn the consequences. How is that fair?
I mean, who really needs to see that your hydroponic plants grew an eighth of an inch? (Ask me about my plant babies – they are adorable and growing like crazy.)
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You followed the rules, stayed home and grew a home garden even though you desperately craved connection, fun and normalcy. You are also stuck in your own head, mulling options, and afraid to make your next move.
We are all dealing with something difficult, and it’s a lot
In social media, photos and captions show off the “Best of” moments. In reality, this year impacted everyone in a profound way.
Human beings are wired for connection. When will we ever be able to gather and hug again? Anxiety, depression and stress are at all time altitudes (I recommend the Mooditude App).
Technology created pandemic-proof ways of working from home, innovating and pivoting under disastrous circumstances. It has also led to burnout, endless hours on video, and both physical and digital divides.
- Parents and children continue to fight for bandwidth, printers and screens and everyone is left precious little time for any social life. Mothers (and some fathers) made particularly devastating choices that will set them back in their career and wealth goals for decades to come.
- Teachers adapted to intimidating technology (on the bright side, both teachers and students are learning necessary 21st century skills).
- College students wondered when to go back to dorm life, while facing an unknowable job future, no internships and toxic levels of debt.
- Everyone without a steady form of income teeters on the razor thin edge of economic uncertainty, including entrepreneurs, restaurant owners, hair stylists, gig workers, musicians and entertainers.
- So many faced the intensity of lost loved ones, illness and long recoveries. Can we all please give a special shout out to our healthcare and front line workers?
When you are unsure about what the future holds, it is natural to be afraid to take a bold next step.
So how can you approach goal setting your world is unsettling?
Playing it safe is not working. Waiting for opportunities is a losing strategy.
Have you noticed that some people really have been able to surf through this storm? What do these people do that others don’t do?
Successful people practice the art of making sound decisions and acting on them consistently, even in the eye of a storm.
Decisive people have risen to the challenges of the moment. They constantly scan for opportunities and act rapidly. I speak to entrepreneurs every day who embrace digital transformation and create unique solutions to timely challenges.
Sounds interesting…so how do they actually do that?
They identify and tackle the best next step with weekly goal setting and action. Then their weekly results start stacking for massive results. I’ll explain.
In my book, Decide Like a Boss, I break it down into powerful steps that are easy to understand and accomplish.
The Steamwork System featured in the book is a simple approach to achieve results in any area of your life. It will help with:
- Defining your essential personal goals in four main areas
- Sifting through your weekly “stuff” to identify your most important actions for the week
- Making commitments and finding the resources to get these actions done
When this process is performed regularly, the spectacular results start to add up. Before you know it, you are further than you could have imagined.
Why does the Steamwork System work?
The Steamwork System is effective because it takes many aspects of the human experience into account:
- Considers both thoughts and feelings
- Builds belief in better outcomes
- Clarifies priorities
- Improves communication to yourself and others
- Strengthens negotiations because you know what you want
- Consider what the other parties want and need
- Solidifies commitment
- Sparks resourcefulness
Most powerfully, a regular discipline of decision making and action taking leads to better results each week. These results will compound over time, like compound interest in the bank or, even better, returns in the stock market.
Crank Up Your Goal Setting and Become a Momentum Machine
This process creates a flywheel of micro-successes that generate momentum for larger and larger successes. It doesn’t matter where you start, it just matters that you keep going.
If you’d like the workbook in print or digital format to explore this topic in more depth, you can find it here: https://upround.io/decidelikeaboss/
Don’t forget to post your new found glory days on social media – everyone needs a little FOMO to get motivated!