We are now well into 2017, with Valentine’s day creeping up around the corner. We all would have started the year with the traditional new years’ resolutions and goals. You might have even ventured out to your local sports store to pick up those new running shoes to help you get fitter, or your local news agent to grab that journal to help you organise your life. Now over 3 weeks into the new year, have you checked back to see how you are fairing with your goals?
At our last stand up meeting in the office, we were led through a discussion on goals. We took some time to think about what is important to us, what we were unhappy with and what we wanted to change. The results were quite interesting. One of the most interesting things about this little exercise was that not one person mentioned making more money. It is not that we make too much money, you definitely won’t see any of us retiring at 40. The theme of the results revolved around health and balance. Spending more time with friends and family and spending less time connected to gadgets and social networks. Spending more time scheduling and organising your life in order to create more time to do the things we love, the things we neglect due to being overloaded with work. Sometimes this can even be as simple as making time to…Sleep.
We work hard as recruiters, I learnt this on my first week. I have never before had to charge my phone 3 times in one day. In saying this I am not saying we work harder than anybody else. In fact, I think we are all guilty of having a lack of time. Devoting time to things that add little value to our lives. Some of our team have acknowledged this and are making a stand. Committed to bringing balance to their life and increasing quality time with their family, they have implemented strategies such as Gadget Free Time or TV banns. Implementing little changes like charging your phone in the kitchen instead of beside your bed goes a long way. You don’t have to wait to the start of the year to set goals. My suggestion would be to continually assess your life. Think about what you are enjoying and what you are lacking in life and create an action plan to build on the items in your enjoyment column and reduce that in your dissatisfaction column. The key here is to continually review and tweak your strategy to make it work for you until you find the balance and quality of life you are after.
Do something today, that your future self will thank you for.
