PERSONAL GROWTH || 5 steps to define your actions to get the improvements you want in life
"I want to expand my vocabulary."
This was the problem we identified for one of our staff check-ins. Wanting to improve your skill set is great, but how do you go about defining the actions needed to get there? I'm sharing our brief but productive conversation below, where a process of 5 steps sets you on the right path to get the improvements you want in life.
As marketing consultants, we must be great communicators ourselves so that we can explain our design and/or marketing concepts to our clients with 100% clarity. One of our staff members felt they had room for improvement; this is great news. I always love hearing when someone wants to up their communication game, so I asked him, "How do you plan on doing that?"
They thought about it and said they should listen to watch more shows or listen to podcasts that use an elevated vocabulary so they could hear the presenters in action. To this, I followed up with, "When do you plan on doing that and at what frequency?"
They took very little time to think about it and said, "I can commit 20 minutes per weekday and an hour per day on the weekend."
"Hold up. That actually sounds like a lot, I suggest you dial it back to just starting with weekdays and then seeing if it lines up with your schedule because if we check in next month and you haven't been able to adhere to that schedule, you wouldn't feel encouraged to keep up the new habit, and we want to set you up for success with feasible goals. I don't need you to jump from A to H; I just need you to get from A to B, and if you manage to get to C, that's a bonus."
Through this conversation, we talked through a few things:
What he was going to improve = expand his vocabulary
How and what he was going to do to improve it = watch talk shows or listen to podcasts with a more elevated vocabulary (note how they're not choosing to do more reading because the end goal is to improve their verbal delivery so it's better to have the listening component)
We defined when and how often they would practice/work on the identified goal.
We also know we will check in on the progress at the next monthly meeting, so there's a time-boxed period for evaluations.
At the meeting, we would identify what's working and the gap to get where he wants to be and then refine the goals again. Do we need to increase the frequency of their practice sessions? Do we need to expand the content format they're listening to? Can we make more opportunities for them to practice their delivery?
Try the 5-step process below the next time you want to make a change in any area of your life.
What is it that you want to do?
How are you going to do it?
What kind of PRICE do you have to pay in terms of your time and effort?
How often and how will you measure success?
Identify the gaps and repeat the cycle of steps from 1 to 4.
