Resolutions Resurrected

There I was in midtown west, immersed in a complimentary evening session for women about resurrecting your resolutions. After all, it's only been a few weeks since start of the new year and I figured what better way to dust them off than go to an interesting event about mental visualization. Here's the kicker: as I realized along with a few other people that some of us have goals with specific action plans, there's nothing wrong with making a resolution as long as you have the sticktuitiveness to follow through.

As I talked to a woman who wants to look for a new job I was impressed by her optimism and reality check. After all, we're inundated with reports in the news of our lagging economy and the dreaded R word (whispered: "recession"). She was determined to incorporate the job search into her day, even if that meant ten minutes of networking. You go, girl! I see this in my daily job too, as a recruiter. People are eagerly pursuing opportunities and while they're not being myopic about the state of the economy around them, they're not using it as an excuse to postpone their job search process.

Sometimes that's all it takes is small steps on a daily basis rather than waking up one day and poof! (snap fingers here) you're expecting to have a new job land in your lap without taking any actions to have it come to fruition. Here's the kicker: she's not making excuses the economy's bad so she'll wait it out, for example. She's looking for a better work/life balance and she knows it's out there. She also recognizes that in order to make the job search a realistic part of her 12+ hour work day she can make one phone call per day or send one email to a contact. Along with the mental visualization exercise, instead of seeing herself in a new job, new environment, new boss, the whole 9 yards, she simply saw herself reaching out to contacts one person and one day at a time.

As for the take-away of the night which I'd like to share with you, well, it's important to be accountable and share your mini-actions with someone to check in with you, as well as celebrating small steps along the way. It's easier when not done alone and it's also easier to not call it a so-called resolution. For me, I know goals work best with specific action plans but if you can shut your eyes and see it as a reality sometimes it helps to also see yourself, like the woman pursuing a new job, making it a priority to accomplish smaller bite-sized tasks for the duration of the journey.