An Alternative New Year Resolution

There was a time when we would buy and send out year-end holiday cards. At the same time, we waited eagerly to receive cards from others as well. We would proudly plastered our working area with all the cards that we received. How times have changed. Today we send out electronic greetings to one another, each year the designs and delivery getting more sophisticated.

One thing stays the same though. We take this time of the year to wish each other a better year ahead. One of my managers sent me an electronic timer that countdown the last 60 seconds by wiping the following words: stress; anxiety; disappointment; diseases; corruptions; hate; setbacks; failures; regrets; chaos; and darkness. Once the timer completed wiping off all traces of negativity, out comes Year 2018 with the following uplifting words: bright; healthy; successful; prosperous; peaceful; exciting; loving; calm; positive; beautiful and hopeful.

What determines whether these wishes comes true lies in your own commitment to make this coming year, a totally different year than last year. It begins with the first step of truly wanting to transform yourself. The alternative is going through another year with more or less being in the same movie once again.

Does it mean that we have to think “out-of-the-box” to make this year a totally different year than the past? For some, each year is an “out-of-the-box” experience. However, for the majority of us, it is all just about making “small improvements” to maintain the size of our box that we can comfortable “move around in it”.

The environment that we lived in is constantly exerting pressure to make your box smaller. Demands are getting higher, changes are rapid, and resources getting more expensive, etc. Each year, the size of our box is determine by an “invincible field” that we all need to constantly “maintain” so that it does not get any smaller. We do not need to think “out-of-the-box” but we need to make every effort to ensure that our cozy loft does not get any smaller that it begins to get claustrophobic.

Yet, as the external environment exerts pressure on all sides of our invincible force field, we do things that are contrary to common sense. We do things to weaken our “force field” when what we should do is to strengthen it for our very own survival. How is that possible and some have not realized that what they are doing (or not doing enough) is detrimental to their career?

When we are faced with the following: depression; anger; feeling frustrated; we lost the passion in our work; feeling under-appreciated; just wanted to “get-by” each day; overworked; change of supervisor; a new system; setbacks; failures; underpaid; prideful of our past achievements (that could be some decades ago); feeling more superior than others; feeling that we are “untouchable”; not getting the expected year-end appraisal feedback from our supervisors (impacting our merit increase), etc, they are two options that we could take. The first option is to continue to have a solution focused approach of strengthening your “force field”, and the other is to be a reclusive. 

Unfortunately, over the years, I have seen people taking the second option. They decided to do the following: slow down their work rate/contribution, do the minimal to “get-by” another year; start taking their “eyes” off their work; switching off their creativity “juices”; not seeing that change begins with “me”; start to hate their working environment; start to “draw lines” of what they are only willing to do; stop taking initiatives; decide certain things is just “above their pay grade” for them to do; move to a grudging compliance working relationship with their supervisor; start to be argumentative; working in a unilateral mode; continuously coming up with excuses; becoming a “destroyer” of ideas; etc.

As you begin your journey into the next twelve months, take the entire 365 days to strengthen your “force field”.  The external environment will continue to make the size of your force field smaller, and you are the only person that can only help yourself. Take the solution focused approach by not thinking of the past setbacks and all the negatives. Think of the positives. Think of what you have done in the past that successfully got to where you are today.

Take “baby steps” in the next 365 days to do things that will strengthen and enlarge the force field around you. Don’t wait till the end of this year to once again regret all the missed opportunities and what “could have been”. Make this year the year that you will say, I will live my life in a permanent continuous improvement of taking actions to take back my career back. Take charge of your outcomes and enlarge your box! You might find it much easier to think “out-of-box” when you have enough room in your box!

Have a purposeful and meaningful year ahead of you.

Raymund Chua is the Managing Director for Heraeus Materials Singapore Pte Ltd, Head of Regional Center for Heraeus Asia Pacific Holding as well as Head of HR, Asia Pacific for Heraeus Asia Pacific Holding.  His experiences spans across multiple disciplines: business strategy, culture, leadership, organizational design, human resource, and HR. Ray is an advocate of “communities of practices”. Ray is also the inventor of the HRGame as well as a coach. Ray can be contacted via Linkedin or [email protected]

Disclaimer: This is a personal LinkedIn blog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.