A new year offers us leaders a great opportunity to evaluate the prior one and plan what we hope to accomplish in the new one. Each January I complete three exercises that help me prepare for the coming year.
- I re-read my journal to look for trends that I want to continue or weaknesses I want to address.
- I evaluate to what degree I accomplished my goals.
- I re-set my overall goals and objectives.
These are relatively straightforward tasks that many leaders already do. Yet, I think that to best prepare for a new year we should go deeper. Take an hour this week and honestly ask yourself these three questions. I recall reading them somewhere else, yet I don’t have the source.
- What are my leadership skills that are my strengths?In other words, God has given you a broad set of leadership skills, competencies, and gifts. If you were to rank them, what would rise to the top of your list? Are you leveraging this strength in your leadership role? Do you continue to hone that ability?
- We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. (Rom 12.6, NIV)
- What is my one fatal flaw?That is, what about your personality or current behavior could do you in? Are you one step away from making a decision that could wreck your life, your ministry, or your family? Do you toy with something that beckons you to indulge, yet know that if you did, it would devastate you and many others?
- … But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master. (Gen 4.7, NLT)
- What one area of improvement will make the most difference in my leadership role?In other words, if you spent just 5 minutes a day or an hour of week developing that area, envision to what degree that improvement could help you accomplish your goals.
- My friends, I don’t feel that I have already arrived. But I forget what is behind, and I struggle for what is ahead. (Phil 3.13, CEV)
2013 could be the greatest year of your life. But it won’t happen by itself. It will take proactivity, prayer, and persistence.
What has helped you prepare for the new year?
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