2018: Improvement, Not Perfection, in the New Year

​Here we are: the New Year is here. Believe it or not, 2018 is upon us. Happened rather quickly, did it not?
 
And of course, there are millions of people across the country who have made New Year's resolutions. Undoubtedly, they've made them about both their personal life and also their professional life.
 
Regardless of whether they've made personal resolutions or professional ones (or both), there's one important rule they should ascribe to these resolutions. That rule is, "Improvement, not perfection."
 
As you well know, the vast majority of people eventually abandon their New Year's resolutions. They don't actually carry out their plans or reach their goals. One of the reasons for this is that they seek perfection and NOT improvement.
 
It's fairly common knowledge that nobody is perfect. But you would never know that by the way people approach their New Year's resolutions. If they experience a misstep or backslide along the way, they commonly think to themselves, "What's the use? I might as well give up. I'm never going to reach this goal."
 
It doesn't matter if they're trying to lose weight or give up smoking. They're focusing on perfection instead of focusing on progress.
 
Let's say that a person has smoked cigarettes every day for 10 years and wants to quit in the New Year. They go six days without a cigarette, but then they break down on the seventh day and have a smoke. Perfect? No. But progress? Yes! They went six days without a cigarette after smoking multiple cigarettes every day for 10 years.
 
Let's be honest. You should have set some goals for the New Year. Now, you don't necessarily have to call them New Year's resolutions. In fact, it might be better if you don't. After all, as we've discussed, there's already a negative connotation associated with that label.
 
There are two categories of goals that you should set:
 

1. Goals for the job you have right now (if you're currently employed)
2. Goals for your career

 
Obviously, the goals you have for your job are more immediate. The goals you have for your career are more long-term. However, you should apply the rule of "Progress, not perfection" to both of them.
 
To put it another way, success is rarely a straight line. Very rare is the person who can set a goal, meticulously plan out all of the steps associated with attaining that goal, and then execute the plan step-by-step without anything going wrong.
 
That's why the concept of perfection should be thrown right out the window. When you measure yourself by the standard of perfection, you become discouraged and you fail. When you measure yourself by the standard of progress, you can become encouraged and succeed.
 
The key is to do the following:
 

1. Set your goal.
2. Plan the steps for achieving your goal.
3. Clearly define what constitutes progress toward your goal.
4. Acknowledge that "degrees of progress" exist.
5. Accept the fact you will achieve your goal through various "degrees of progress."
6. Continue striving to achieve your goal despite any and all setbacks.
7. Reward yourself in some fashion for the progress that you achieve as you seek to attain your goal.

 
At Time Staffing, we hope that 2017 was a great year for you and your career and we also hope that 2018 is even better. And we're here to help!
 
Contact us today to find out more about Time Staffing's services for job seekers.