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Between Christmas and the New Year, my thoughts drift to New Year’s Resolutions. Like a lot of you, I assess different areas of my life, thinking about what I want to improve upon or change, or where to focus my efforts for the coming year. I start with my personal life and what I have yet to do or how I can change to get better. What goes on inside my head are thoughts about the bad habits I need to reconsider or what good habits I need to develop. I also think about my family and what we can do as a group to improve. Finally, I think about my business life, my career, where I am going and where we are going as a group.
Not surprisingly, I find lots of things to work on in every area of my life. It can be overwhelming, but I deliberate on everything that makes the list. I take the whole New Year Resolution thing seriously. By the time January 1st arrives, I still haven’t made the final cut and decided what I will work on this coming year. But at least I have begun to hone the list down to a few things in each area of my life. As January progresses, I narrow the list to one resolution in each area of my life, which is all I can handle. Interestingly, I find that they are often intertwined.
I am not 100 percent sure why it takes me so long to decide. I think it’s because I want to choose things I really want to do and can commit to. Years ago, I would make resolutions and within 30 to 60 days wonder why I made those commitments. What’s important is that I do something I really want to do and that I follow through ….not that I start precisely on January 1st.
"If you want your personal life, your family life or your business life to get better, then you must get better."
The easiest area for my resolutions is my personal life, because I don’t have to convince anyone but myself that they need to be done. Doing them is still a challenge, but at least I have only one person to convince. The next area is my family. That takes discussion and cooperation, because we all need to understand the importance of the “resolution” and what it will do for us. Everyone has to buy in, or it will never happen.
The area that I always have the hardest time with is in my career or my business, because there are so many areas that I think we can improve, and there are so many people, nearly 60, who need to buy in to some degree. But isn’t that what leadership is all about? This issue of Print Solutions covers the state of the industry. If you haven’t honed your list yet for your career or your business, the content on the following pages will give you perspective and likely help you select the most important thing you need to do in 2007.
All resolutions start with your decision to get better in some way. If you want your personal life, your family life or your business life to get better, then you must get better. A resolution to change personally can be challenging, but it is the easiest way to see results and gain a sense of satisfaction. The family resolutions, and especially the business or career resolutions, are murkier. It’s sometimes hard to know if you’re getting somewhere because you aren’t in complete control, and progress is harder to monitor. But it does start with you, and your leadership, because you can make a difference. Make this a good year!