Even though I’m not a New Year’s resolution type, there’s still something uniquely promising about crossing the starting line of a brand new year. It’s basically the mother of all Mondays, and there’s an intrinsic desire to start fresh..to improve..to become a better developed version of who we are.

Here are three areas I want to work on:

Listen for understanding. I’m not good at this and frankly, I’m surrounded by others who aren’t either. I can blame it on poor hearing, being busy, distracted whatever..bottom line is still the same: I need to respectfully listen- fully listen -with my ears, my eyes, my heart and my mind when someone is talking to me.

Prioritize. There are days when I go to bed having not attended to the most important things but having had plenty of time for much less consequential stuff. I seem to be pretty content telling myself I was too busy to get “X” done, when the truth is I simply have not properly prioritized my “list” or acknowledged how important something is to someone else who may be counting on me.

Think and act sequentially.  Being sequential involves tremendous patience, restraint, deliberation and discipline. It is the antidote to the reactionary impulse to speak or take action before all the facts are in–which in turn wastes time, feeds anxiety and/or creates extra work. I need to learn to fully claim the space I have (when I have it) so I can build upon the continually expanding foundation of accumulated knowledge and craft an informed, energy conserving, focused and ultimately successful, step by step strategy.

Good luck with your own resolutions if you made them.. and Happy New Year!