The exercise of writing down and reflecting on the year is useful. I love reading other’s new year resolutions and how they choose to want to become better. I have time to reflect and time to think about what the next year will hold for me and my family.
In my reflection I realized this year was a year of firsts. Here are a few firsts for me and my family in 2021
- First time drawing pictures for my blog
- First time having surgery to remove cancerous cells
- First time buying season tickets to BYU Football
- First time joining the Learning Leader Circle and Growth Summit
- First time blowing glass
- First time experiencing a life flight
- First time buying a home
All these firsts bring a host of learnings that have been scattered throughout my blog. I would like to focus on what is next for Josh Nicholls.
Looking ahead I want 2022 to be a year of becoming. To me this means process oriented goals rather than outcome-based goals. My goal format may look slightly different than others you may have seen or read in other places. For example, if I want to become a chef, I need to do what chefs do, like cook a lot of meals and do so with intentionality of practice. There are specific behaviors to becoming. Here is what I want to become and the associated behaviors I will focus on this year.
| I want to become … | By … |
|---|---|
| A runner | Running 12 miles per week |
| A writer | Writing a blog post each week |
| Post to LinkedIn/Twitter twice a week | |
| A better leader | Documenting / recording 100 leadership behaviors from interviews and research |
| A better husband / father | Taking my wife on a formal date once a month |
| Taking each of my kids on a “date” once a month | |
| A man known for having courage | Doing something that scares me. This year will be to make 4 offers to sell something I have created. |
| A man known for having faith | Writing a summary of my scripture study each week to share with my family. |
| A man known for having integrity | Keeping my writing goals and sharing publicly if I fall short so I can get back up and keep going. |
If you have not already, take a few minutes to write down what you want to become. Who is the person you want to be? What does that person do? How can you start doing at least some of those things this year?
