Jim Jacobus is Chief Gladiator and founder of a company called The Sales Gladiators. Jim is a close friend and colleague who is a nationally recognized public speaker and Past President of the Houston Chapter of the National Speakers Association.
I’ve heard Jim present many inspiring seminars and workshops. Chief among all of his material is a simple yet powerful message that he delivers at this time of every year. Jim encourages us to ask four simple questions when we think about closing out the old year and starting a new year. Here are those four questions:
- What is working and how do I do more of it?
- what is not working and how do I get rid of it or make it work?
- what do I want to do that is new this year?
- what do I want to do that is big this year?
As you work through your planning process for the new year these questions can be very pivotal in setting the stage for looking ahead. We all seem to have a tendency to continue to repeat more of the same. As Sigmund Freud is noted as saying “the simple definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results”.
These four questions cut to the heart of breaking any cycles that may be working against you. The questions also prompt some strategic thinking.
These questions should be applied both professionally and personally. It makes sense to create a separate list of the four questions to ask yourself in your business life and in your personal life. Once you build your own list you may want to share the answers. At home, share with your spouse or the other significant people in your life.
At work, share them with your manager. Use the answers to establish a foundation for the plans for 2016. You may even want to have your team do this exercise for themselves, then compile a master set of answers for the whole group.
As you seek to maintain your work-life-faith balance, these questions can be quite revealing. Using simple yet effective tools like these keep us on a clearly defined path for achieving the things that matter most.
