As a New Year dawns and we gear up for a (hopefully) happy and productive 2019, what plans have you put in place to get there?

What are you going to do differ­ently at work, to get the most out of your career and professional life and to be the happiest and most effective you that you and can be? What goal-setting have you done?

How was your personal life in 2018?

Was it fulfilled and happy or fraught with difficulties and rela­tionship challenges?

And what are you going to do dif­ferently this year to make sure your home life works in 2019 and is a place of family happiness and health for you?

You may ask why am I talking about your personal life in a busi­ness column?

It’s simple. You can’t

separate you, a professional per­son – from you at home and in the village.

We are all one person.

If we are unhappy at home, it af­fects our working career.

If work does not make you happy, it’s impossible for it not to affect you at home.

80 per cent Happiness Across your Whole Life

To really prosper and thrive in all areas of your life, you must be con­tent across all.

If you aren’t happy at work but are at home, then some may argue that you’re only 50 per cent happy.

If you struggle at home but work’s good, then you’re only 50 per cent happy. Obviously, we can’t be hap­py all day every day, because life’s just not like that.

But a goal is to strive for 80 per cent happiness across our life.

Empowerment in the workplace or to reduce workplace stress may be your goals but they need to be specific to achieve them.

Happiness at Work

Satisfaction at work means differ­ent things to different people, but common themes people tell me are:

• They enjoy their work
• They enjoy the people with whom they work
• They enjoy working for their leader
• They find the work stimulating and different
• They like that they don’t do a re petitive job
• They appreciate being told they are doing a good job
• They feel part of something big ger than themselves

People leave their direct manager, not the Organisation

Research tells us repeatedly that people don’t leave a company if they like it.

They walk out the door because of their Manager who does not sup­port them, micro-manages, don’t support or grow them, is rude to them and ‘makes their life hell.’

• Employees:

It’s a New Year and if you’ve been struggling with a less than great boss for a while, either raise your concerns or change jobs.

Get out.

It’s not worth being unhappy and struggling day in and day out with an incompetent boss.

Your health is more important than anything.

Find a new boss who is more de­serving of you.

• Leaders:

If you are the difficult boss, would you know it?

Do you reflect enough to think about how you treat your staff and most importantly, do something about it?

Some may, most don’t.

If your team is not performing well, and did not for most of last year, what goals do you have to change this?

If you don’t have any, let’s create them now

• Organisations:

What new ways of working do you want within your ranks?

How will you improve the culture in your company and what plans and strategies can you implement to change the way things are now?

Why Goals are important in your life

There has been much research about goals, why they are impor­tant and how they impact our lives.

According to the Peak Perfor­mance Centre, goals:

• Provide direction, giving us a way forward and a firm destina tion
• Give us a clear focus on what’s important to us
• Provide us with clarity in the decisions we make
• Give us control over our future
• Provide us with motivation to achieve something important to us
• Give us personal satisfaction when we achieve things we dream of doing
• Provide us with a sense of pur pose in our life

What about you?

What goals do you want to achieve this year?

Personal Life

What is working well?

Where is our greatest difficulty at home or personal life?

How long has it been this way?

What have you tried to change it? What has worked and what has not?

• What goals do you have to im prove the situation?
• When and how will you do that?

Professional Life

What is working well?

What is the one thing you would like to improve at work?

Have you tried to resolve or im­prove it before and if so, how?

• What goals do you have to im prove the situation? Write them down
• When and how will you do that?

Balance – Four parts of our lives where we need balance and happi­ness to live a great life

To live well, we need to look after all aspects of our lives, of which there are four, according to author Steven Covey.

Look at Table 1, above and score yourself out of 10 (highest) for each.

• Once completed, decide which are your two lowest scores?
• What action plans will you put in place to improve them in 2019?

Goals without firm action plans are just Dreams

You can have all the thoughts and dreams you want in your business and in your career.

You can talk about them to others and even describe what you are go­ing to do in detail. The fact is that unless you ACT on the things you want in life, it’s just talk. Ideas. Thoughts. Nothing more.

SMART Goals – The Formula

Note the goals above follow the SMART Formula – smart, measur­able, achievable, realistic and time-bound. Do more research on the internet about them?

Look forward to a prosperous year, wonderful career and great life

Life is what you make of it. When challenges arise, be creating in finding solutions.

If one way doesn’t work, try an­other. There is no point in rolling over. Keep moving forward.

You have much to live for in your career, your business, your life. Make 2019 the best year ever.

Feedback: maraia.vula@fijisun.com.fj