A Brand New Year!

A fresh start! Renewed energy and unlimited possibilities! I’m wearing my new Christmas sweater! I’ve put away my new gifts and taken down the Christmas tree!

There is something about a brand new year….the calendar is blank-a great metaphor for the “clean slate” outlook….lots of open spaces to fill in with new and exciting activities!

Do I have enough exclamation points? !

As I came into work today, I decided to work out next door at the Bay Club here at One City Center. Certain I would come into direct contact with what I call the “New Year’s Resolution Brigade”, I was frankly surprised to see only the usual faces. Those who made a decision to “get fit in ‘09” apparently are putting it all off until NEXT Monday!

Whatever your resolutions for the new year, here’s hoping you make them happen! There is actually a “fresh start” each day, so you have a daily opportunity to improve.

I am a fan of the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen, which, loosely translated means “constant and never-ending improvement”. Say you want to improve your performance in any area in the coming year. If a 50% improvement is desired, that can seem OVERWHELMING. Well, how about a 1% improvement? If, each day, you can improve your performance by only a percentage point, how many days would it take to reach 50%? If you answered 50 (which would in and of itself be a reasonable amount of time), you’d be overstating things, since on day two, a one percent improvement is now defined on the existing performance level (or 101%, since you grew a percentage point on Day 1). The answer is then 41 days—or about 8 work-weeks---you would then reach your goal for 2009 in TWO MONTHS!! Excellent! Like compounding interest, the improvement builds upon itself.

Take 2009 by the horns and make it yours! Good luck!

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Thanks!