Chris Brogan recommends an exercise at the beginning of each year that he calls “My Three Words.” He uses these three words as a way to focus his energy and effort for the coming year—a creative twist on the new year’s resolution. I have seen Chris refer to this the last few years, but this is the first year I decided to take his recommendation.
I created a first draft and set it aside a few days and then came back to put it in final form. My three words are Think, Decide, and Appreciate. Here’s what I resolve to do.
- Think: With the fire hose of information and the flood of email, I could spend 100% of my time doing things to keep up with the daily flow. I am going to make sure I carve out time to slow down and think—to focus on those things that are important, but not urgent. I don’t want to let even one week pass where I don’t stop down and think.
- Decide: I generally have a handful of things that come at me each week, where it’s not immediately apparent what to do. I am going to push myself to make a decision as quickly as possible, without making a rash decision. This will often mean deciding to move the issue forward in some way, if not all the way to completion. For example, an email arrived the other day where the questions contained within were perplexing enough that I couldn’t render a quick decision. So I made a decision to book a phone call with the person and one other person who has a lot to offer on this topic. In 20 minutes on the phone we can make a joint decision. Many difficult problems or tough decisions are best handled one step at a time. I don’t want to let things sit. I want to decide.
- Appreciate: I am going to make every effort to be grateful this year. Starting right now. I am grateful for my God-given talents, for my family, for my company, the great team we have that is passionate about helping our customers, our customers, the ways we help improve the lives of those we serve, our competitors who push us to get better, our victories, our set-backs. I could go on and on, and I am going to be intentional about doing that this year.
I am going to make a note to revisit this list in a month to see how I’m doing. Wish me luck! Thanks Chris for the inspiration.