In the day-to-day, week-to-week conduct of our work, business life, and personal life, we do the things we need to do to accomplish our job and get things done. We exercise our talents to get these things done; we utilize our key skills to do those things as well as we can. Six months go by, nine months go by, lots of work is done, lots of things get done. but ….. have WE gotten better? …. or are we simply going through the repetitive motions of accomplishing a task or project and then moving on to the next one?
OK, I know ….”practice makes perfect”, but …. ARE WE GETTING BETTER?
Are we practicing the things that we need to practice?
Are there other ways of doing things?
Are there better ways of doing things?
Are there latent skills inside us that we’re not taking advantage of?
Are there skills that could be SIGNIFICANTLY strengthened if we deployed our efforts in a different direction?
Are there new skills that we should develop?
Once or twice a year — maybe once around mid-year and once during the final quarter of the year (a.k.a., NOW!) — it is a great idea to LOOK BACK and ask ourselves these important questions:
What skill am I much better at now than I was six months or a year ago?
What NEW skill have I learned and become good at recently that has transformed me in some way?
What new way of doing something have I adopted that has changed my work-life or personal life for the better?
What have I done — consciously — to significantly work on improving a skill or talent that I have? What books have I read? What training have I participated in?
Which of my key strengths have I honed even further?
Which of my key weaknesses have been mitigated in some way?
LOOKING FORWARD …. ask yourself the following questions and write these things down to review on a regular basis:
What undeveloped skill do I have that is holding me back at work?
Which of my areas of strength offer the BEST opportunity for me in terms of value-added plays?
What are my plans to further hone and fine-tune my areas of strength?
What areas of weakness are holding me back at work, and what am going to do about them?
What areas of knowledge do I need to further develop and what are my plans for doing that?
How can I produce MORE in LESS TIME?
What do I want to be known as THE BEST in?
How can I incorporate a reading program into my plans for getting better?
What training could I attend to improve my skill in important areas?
Getting better and becoming the best in something is up to us. We can accelerate the process of being our best by becoming more aware of the “gaps” in our skills and experience and DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
A CALL TO ACTION: What is ONE THING you could focus on improving this month that might tee you up for a super-success end-of-the-year and an amazing 2019?
Andy Robinson, Executive Coach
AndyRobinson.Coach | 239-285-5575 | Andy@AndyRobinson.Coach
"Helping CEO's and executives maximize their influence and impact."
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