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Strengthening resolve; Career goals may take on increased importance in tough economy

By Emily Hughey Quinn, Source: Tribune Media Services

We Americans know about New Year’s resolutions. We pack the gyms, quit our former bad habits and generally try to be better people once January 1 hits. This year, the work we do may be even more ripe for change than the rest of our lives.

“An employee’s ability to add value is more than a statement in today’s work place; it’s an expectation from the employer,” says Jacqueline Brito, director of the Crummer Graduate School of Business Career Development Center in Winter Park, Fla. “Therefore, they should focus on developing habits that are going to yield the highest results for them, as well as their employer. If there are skills that are needed to help the organization increase its competitive advantage, the employee should be proactive by identifying and working with his/her employer to take steps to develop in those areas.”

When in doubt about what to change, follow this simple guideline: Instead of trying to improve your weaknesses, bolster your strengths.

“Focusing on improving your weaknesses, such as terrible tech skills or poor people skills, might be a waste of time,” says Vaughan Evans, career strategist. “It turns out that your greatest opportunity for improvement is by being near perfect in just one or two areas—areas that also happen to be critical to the success of your organization.”

As intrinsic to the fact that people make New Year’s resolutions is the fact that they break them. MJ Ryan, executive coach and author of “This Year I Will…How to Finally Change a Habit, Keep a Resolution or Make a Dream Come True” (Broadway Books, $16.95), has three main tips for making any resolution stick.

First, promise yourself you will do it.

“When you do it, where you do it, how you do it can, and most likely will, change according to circumstances. But that you will do it is not open for consideration,” Ryan says. “You don’t negotiate with yourself about brushing your teeth. You just do it. Make your resolution a nonnegotiable commitment in your life.”

Second, make it actionable.

“Actions tell you how you’re going to do something — I’m going to spend 10 minutes at the end of the day clearing out e-mail; I’m going to make sure I offer an opinion at meetings. To succeed you must know what actions you’re going to take,” Ryan says.

Third, come up with solutions for your usual excuses.

“Instead of just hoping it will be different this time, write down your typical excuses and rationalizations and create strategies in advance for dealing with them. That way you won’t get stopped in your tracks and lose forward momentum when they arise. Because of the way our brains are hardwired, we have a strong tendency to repeat behavior over and over.”

For example, Bob Brody is resolving to change a habit he’s long promised himself to change — to stop relying on e-mail with colleagues and clients and to start picking up the phone more often — and he has a plan to make it stick.

“Nothing is better than an actual, live conversation for a free exchange of ideas, observations and random thoughts. E-mail is quite effective as far as it goes, but it never goes quite far enough,” says Brody, senior vice president, Powell Tate, Weber Shandwick’s public affairs division. “Toward this end, I’ve set a goal of at least five phone calls per day.”

Mark Goulston, psychiatrist, business consultant, executive coach, former hostage-negotiation trainer for the FBI and author of “Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone” (AMACOM, $24.95), suggests taking it one step further.

“Select a person who believes in and cares about you, that you respect and that you wouldn’t want to disappoint and someone you wouldn’t want to lie to,” Goulston says.

Then tell them about your commitment to improve yourself and ask them to hold you accountable by sending you an e-mail, voicemail or text every two weeks for a month to ask if you’ve been keeping your commitments to those changes.

“It takes 21 days for a change in behavior to become a habit that takes very little energy to maintain. So do it for a month, just for good measure,” Goulston says.

© 2009, Tribune Media Services