By: Nelson W. Burns, CEO, Coleman Professional Services
Would it surprise you to learn that 40% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions, yet nearly 80% stop following them by the end of February?
Today’s blog will focus on key ways you to keep your resolutions, four pledges that are trending this year and eleven promises our employees have for the coming year.
How to Keep Your Declarations
A good resolution has three elements: purpose, accountability and consistency. Without all three, you can easily become distracted and lose focus.
Let’s say your resolution is “I want to lose 20 pounds.” The following must apply:
- Why do you want to lose this amount of weight?
- Have you written it down and shared your goal? Being accountable by scheduling time for a walk, run or for meal prep, increases your success rate by 95% according to the Association for Talent Development. Research also shows people who keep food and exercise records lose more weight. Mobile apps like MyFitnessPal, Fitbit and Weight Watchers can help.
- How are you going to do to make this happen? Walk three times a week? Add more fruits and vegetables to your plate?
Emily Hudak, Director of Adult Case Management with Portage Behavioral Health resolves to exercise more so she can eat pizza.
The key on all of this is to be patient…after all you have until December 31st to accomplish your goals!
Four Fantastic Resolutions
Be Mindful
Stop multitasking. When someone enters your office, drop everything and pay attention to what that person is saying. Have a “no phone” policy during meetings. These are simple ways to be present at work.
Sandy Schmidt, Director of Coleman’s Payee Programs resolves to spend more time face-to-face with individuals to build relationships. She desires to pause and enjoy the moment.
Start a Gratitude Journal
Whether you buy a specific book, download an app (i.e. My Gratitude Journal), or simply write down ways you are going to express thankfulness in your calendar, you are on a path to sleeping better, lowering stress and improving your relationships.
Abby Superchi, Substance Use Disorder Case Study in our Kenton location is starting a gratitude journal and listing three things in it every day.
Create a Vision Board
Here is what you need to get started: your planner or a poster board, magazines, computer printouts and your photo, scissors and a glue stick. Take the page or board and follow these steps:
- Add the year at the top
- Write out your goals
- Clip out and glue inspirational words and images onto the paper
- Look at it every day to remind you what’s important
Carmella Hill, Director of Behavioral Health in our Trumbull-Mahoning County Business Unit is big on vision boards and considering creating one for her workplace this year.
Try Bullet Journaling
This diary type was created by Ryder Carroll, author of The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future. He contends you will be able to manage all your projects by keeping your personal and professional thoughts in one place.
Start with actionable items. Ashley Nicole Morrow, Mental Health Technician and Peer Recovery Supporter for Trumbull Residential has a goal of maintaining a 3.5 GPA or higher while pursuing her Bachelor of Science degree. Using bullet journaling, she can brainstorm and identify ways to dedicate more time to her studies.
The key is to engage with your projects, tasks and thoughts. Get into the habit of regularly checking in about your why. Iris Wilson, MA, HR Generalist from Jefferson County desires to trust and believe in her intuition more often, which is also a key component of this process.
Melissa Millis, Portage Behavioral Health Administrative Support, says it’s important to start journaling. She’s excited because a friend is purchasing a journal for her. Bullet journals range from $5-15 from Amazon.
Michael DiLello, Coleman Project Manager shared he wants to implement a Standard Operating Procedure project management system for the first time ever at Coleman and train personnel about ways to effectively use it. Utilizing a bullet journal can help this happen.
Make Time for Yourself
This seems to be a resounding theme, especially among individuals who have a full-time job, spouse and young children. Here are three ways to carve out more time for yourself:
- For one week, write down exactly how you spend your time.
This can be revealing and disturbing…. but it’s the start toward change.
For example, perhaps you thought you worked 40-hours a week, but after compleing this time study it’s 55 hours! You spend your free time answering emails, phone calls and doing paperwork at home. - What can you change?
Can you stop taking phone calls and answering emails during your off time? Or if you spend five hours a week cleaning your house, can you delegate that to a cleaning service? If you watch TV, can you watch less to give more time to yourself? - What are your “me” time goals?
Perhaps you want eight hours of sleep per night, three hours of exercise per week and one night per week out with your spouse. Maybe it’s meditation for fifteen minutes each day or reading your favorite book.
This process pays off. According to Real Simple, 65% of women polled said they are very happy when they make time for themselves.
Tammy Wade, Financial Counselor with our Belmont office wants to find more ME time. She joined a gym to accomplish her personal improvement goals.
Michelle Allison-Smith, Chief Officer with Coleman Crisis Services of Stark County also wants to take more time for herself and balance the demands of work and family.
Shandi Rothman, Outpatient Therapist with Summit County wants to read the next book in her series by the end of 2019. Just a couple of pages each evening will help her complete this goal.
Thank you to all Coleman Professional Services that contributed to this piece. I wish everyone a happy, safe and productive 2019!