Progress, prosperity and productivity in the New Year:

Professional excellence and organizational productivity

Dr. K. Kuhathasan, CEO: CENLEAD

A new year is a few days away. You too, can be born a new if you can discover self – the real you.

A new year resolution will help you to plan the year well and accomplish your vision, mission, goals and objectives in a planned and systematic manner. Your resolution may also include the following: Work is a fundamental element of my life. Improvement in work will improve all other aspects of my life. My work can and should fulfil and satisfy me at the deepest levels.

You are the most important person in the world. Most people have not yet discovered this fact about themselves. The vast majority spend their days in work without identifying their true potential.

Scientists and psychologists tell us that the average person uses only a small percentage of this mind’s potential. Actually the percentage is somewhere between 3 percent – 10 percent.

All great men and women of the world since the dawn of civilization first discovered self before they achieved distinction in the fields of endeavour for which we remember them.

Set up your day every day

Manage your days before they disappear

Start by organizing each day in advance. Make a list of all the things you want to get done that day. Group the tasks by project and estimate roughly how many minutes of your time each task is likely to take.

To start, you may have no idea how long each task will take. You may not even know how you spend your time. As you make each day’s list and review yesterday’s list, you will quickly see how you spend your time and get better at estimating how long things will take.

Now you know what you need to achieve. Cross off each task as you complete it. This can be very satisfying. You will know when you had a successful day because you will see that you got everything done. If at any point during the day you aren’t confident of what to do next, refer to the list and move straight to the next task.

Add tasks to the list as new jobs come your way. Your action list will help you to defend yourself against taking on too much or agreeing to do things sooner than you will be able to manage.

Throughout the week

Weekly planing moves you up a gear

Daily list – making and execution is vital for you. It tends to produce a strong commitment to complete your activities.

However, without longer term planing, less urgent but often no less important activities will tend to be neglected.

If there’s a strong bias towards daily planning, some non-urgent but important work may never be done.

You will get a slightly longer term perspective by planning the week. To get the best results, you need to do rather more than when you plan the day.

A simple list won’t do. To begin to set your own agenda, think about your different roles as an executive and also in your non-executive life. You may work on a number of projects, or for a number of bosses. Then there’s your social life too. If you haven’t done so, make a list of the five to seven most important parts of your executive life.

You also have a role within your family or home. May be you are active in a voluntary group. That’s important too. And remember to include your own self-development as one of the most central roles.

For each of these roles, try to identify a single activity you could do that would make a big contribution this week. Take time to do this and see what comes up for you. Your list may include things that have been coming into your mind.

If you’ve been fire fighting for months, or even years, your important list may include things that have been coming into your mind for a long time. It may seem to you that there’s never been enough time, yet only by doing them will you find more time.

Throughout the month

Monthly planning is more powerful

Once you have mastered weekly planning, try planning the month. Planning the month gives you even more leverage.

It may be obvious that you can accomplish more in a month if it is planned well. At the end of the month, take some time to reflect on what you want to achieve next month.

Throughout the year

You could make this year the best one to date

Most executives work with other people’s agendas. They may look for their own ways to do things each day, week and month, but in the longer term, they are working within the constraints of other people’s purpose.

Creating and controlling your own agenda isn’t easy, but you will increase control if you get clear on your own medium – and long-term objectives.

Annual planning can be a powerful weapon in your armoury. A year provides a good period of time to frame some of your lifetime objectives. They can be big objectives which may motivate you more. You may want to support this with ways of providing extra value to your firm, or at least a commitment to do so.

New Year resolution

Adopt this resolution for a productive new year.

* Work is a fundamental element of my life, an activity essential to all aspects of my life.

* Improvement in work will improve all other aspects of my life.

* Work is not just a means to an end. My work can and should fulfill and satisfy me at the deepest levels.

* I possess unique capabilities and talents from which I can create something of lasting value.

* The responsibility to improve “how work” rests first and foremost in my own hands.

* Work occurs in three basic dimensions: doing, developing and discovering.

* The key to success in any endeavour lies in recognizing when and how to emphasize and mix the three dimensions of work, thereby enabling me to enter the Fourth Dimension.

Self-check

* Do you want to be in-charge of your schedule?

* Can you create a schedule and master it?

* Do you plan your month in advance?

* What could you achieve next month?

* What are your targets for the month?

* Do you keep a note of how you spend your time each month?

* How much of your time do you spend working on your monthly goals?

* Are you locked into day to day urgent actions?

* Do you get around to important but non-urgent work?

* Do you plan your week in advance?

* Do you identify the outcomes you want?

* Do you know in advance what would represent a successful week?

* Are you working to a weekly plan?

*Are you working to any plan of your own?

* How much time do you want to spend on self-indulgence?

* Do you check at the end of the week to see how you have progressed?

*Do you set fresh goals for the coming week?

* Have you prepared a new year resolution for the year 2010?

* How are you going to transform this year as the most productive year for you?

* Let your organization usher in an era of, progress, prosperity, plenty and productivity!

* Let your esteemed staff be gifted with creativity, innovation, motivation, enthusiasm and commitment.!

* Let the new year be a year of achievements and accomplishments for you!

* May all your efforts be crowned with success this year!

* May your vision, mission, goals, objectives and targets be achieved this year and let it be a memorable year for you!