No New Year's Resolutions--Please

I argue against wasting your time generating any New Year's Resolutions this year. Instead, I introduce a powerful concept that will turn your career around. Ready to find out what I have in mind?

ThriveWithNancy Podcast addresses the tricky points you run into daily as a woman executive. Nancy Fredericks shares all the secrets she's acquired as an experienced thought-leader. She's passionate about sharing practical, insider solutions with women executives to tap into on your way to achieving all of your career hopes and dreams. 

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Hey everyone. It's that time of year again. Are you looking for a better year next year than you had this year? Well, I have a powerful idea for you and it's not a New Year's resolution guaranteed. Ready to find out what I have in mind. Welcome to Thrive with Nancy. A podcast dedicated to executive women ready to gain skills and attitudes to take off and become influencers in their organization. Our topic today, no New Year's resolution. Police research tells us why. It turns out it's a waste of time. We abandon 80% of our New Year's resolutions by February. If this statistic doesn't have you rethinking your approach to kickstart your new year off in a brand new way, I don't know what will. Let's explore five attitudes guaranteed to stall or even drag your year down. First, multitasking, stressful, and ineffective. It may seem like a superpower for you. It isn't. That is, unless you're one of the 2.5% of people who actually can multitask. We've all read the study showing how unproductive multitasking is. It has us focusing on more rather than excellence and tied into knots tab boot. And we've experienced a downside as we redo portions of our projects completed incorrectly in our rush to get it done. Start generating the habit of working on one project at a time. Make time to dig in, concentrate, and you'll finish the job faster and achieve superior result. Two, worry, stressful and stuck. Do you hold worry close to your heart as a valid or worthwhile emotion? Let me shake you up a bit in your thinking. Penn State University takes worry very seriously too. They ask participants to record their concerns four times a day. It turns out that 91% were false alarms. Hear that? False alarms, and for the remaining percent of worries that did come true, the outcome was better than expected about a third of the time. Wow, doesn't that stop you in your psychological tracks? To me, worry is an emotional spiraling down the drain attitude, you know, stuck, revisiting and mulling the same concerns over and over in your mind, expending a lot of energy, yet not going anywhere. You can turn those worrisome thoughts around by getting quiet, calming your whirling troublesome thoughts while directing them to more productive activities, challenging your focus by asking yourself, is there evidence that they are true or are they catastrophic thinking? Where you expand their significance out of proportion. Last, identifying the issues that are creating your worry. Then begin conceiving solutions. Hear this action always unstick the stuck three. Fear, stressful and unreliable lies. I bet you've heard the saying that fear, you know, f e a r is nothing more than false evidence appearing real. This mentality positions you to attract a troubled unrealized career to you. Thoughts are powerful, self-fulfilling, future producers. You know that. How do you lock and load your mindset to work for you rather than against you? Well try by looking for evidence that counteracts any fear-driven attitudes holding you from holy being you. Does that sound similar to what I suggested when you had worries? It is. It starts with reality. That's the only way you move into changing your attitudes and then you take action towards the future you desire, even if it's the smallest of steps. Four, perfectionist, stressful and a failure recipe. Striving to do your best is an expander attitude, whereas driving for perfection is a limiter. Harvard Business Review collected and digested a myriad of studies on perfectionism. They reported that this mentality has a positive aspect. Hear that there is a positive side to it. Perfectionists are highly motivated, work longer hours, and can be more engaged at work. Hello? Can anyone say workaholic? Not something I'm striving for. Predictably, this motivator produces negative health issues as it fuels burnout, stress and anxiety. No matter how you look at it. An attitude of perfectionism sets the stage for never being or doing enough or experiencing satisfaction because pure perfection is rarely, if ever achievable. Nothing positive about that approach is there, and the sad fact is that one study uncovers that perfectionism is on the rise. Yikes. You can see it all over your organization, I bet. How do you overcome this tendency? Allow yourself to make mistakes. Even celebrate the failure as the growth factor. It is. Begin setting reasonable goals for yourself. Consider taking on colon Powell's 47 decision making rule. He asserts with less than 40%, you will likely make a poor choice, and with more than 70% you will take too long and the decision will be made for you. And by the way, it will cost a pretty penny stretching to reach a hundred percent. So perfection isn't the goal? Five, resentful, stressful and closed to opportunity. This emotion has you wrapped up in unresolved offenses, leaving you blinded to anything else, including positive possibilities, harboring resentment, immobilizes you and depletes your energy. But even worse, it keeps you from focusing on more positive and career advancing activities. You are isolated from others who actually could aid you in moving out of the condition and is something that's far more productive for your career. And you try these three steps to alleviate this unconstructive attitude. Acknowledge you have an undermining belief system that has you imagining nothing will ever shift except that no one is perfect and life often isn't fair. Decide to forgive the circumstance or individual for yourself if for no other reason. Perhaps you're shaking your head and you're saying these attitudes aren't the be all on the end, all of a successful career. A contrary, there is plenty of evidence that will have you changing your mind, but actually nevermind that right now. Don't even think about that right now. You can look it up the evidence later. Now, I need you to accept that your mind always believes everything you say to yourself and that your outlook is a better predictor of success than your iq. Every time you find yourself snared by one of the five tendencies and attitudes, you are shouting at yourself, whether you know it or not. I don't intend to be the rising star this year. Instead, I wanna work harder and more diligently than anyone else, yet never achieve my goals. I know, I know. I honestly, I know no one would consciously say that to themselves, but that's exactly what you're doing. If you're clutching on to any of these five negative attitudes, think about them. Multitasking, worry, fear, perfectionists, resentful, which one do you believe will positively and significantly impact your career if you counteract it and take it on right now, ready to change your mind? I hope you are. And if you are, you may be interested in checking out your strategic edge coaching program to propel your career forward. I would be honored and you know that cuz you've heard it from me before. But I would seriously be honored to explore a partnering relationship with you, unlike anything you've ever had in your career before. Check it out at www.thrivewithnancy.com/executive/if you're interested in talking to me, click the link on the page to schedule A working through your career call. I'd love to discuss how together we could achieve all you hope is possible. Remember, no one ever makes it to the top or even arrives at their next career destination.