How Are You Doing?

In my blog Quietly Leading, I mentioned a couple of things that I was planning to do during 2015 to be a better leader but more importantly a better husband, father and person. From that blog, I noted that I don't do New Year's Resolutions, but:

"I'm going to try to be a better leader and mentor in 2015. I'm going to try to listen more and be distracted less. I'm going to try to leave my phone in my pocket when in meetings and engaged in conversations. I'm going to try to be more present with my team at work, my committee with CSI, the Mission and Planning Council at church, my sons' boy scout troop and cub scout pack and most importantly with our family. I think if I can all do these things, I'll be a better leader, better mentor and much better husband and father."

The truth is I'm struggling. I think I'm addicted to my iPhone. I started off ok and was able to leave the phone alone and concentrate on the people in front of me. But as days go on, I find myself going back to using it as a crutch to fill the down time. I find myself thinking about the unread email when I should be focusing on other tasks or while in meetings. I heard a spot on NPR's "All Tech Considered" about that crutch notion. Some experts believe that adults are no longer able to be bored because of their smartphones. By not being bored, these experts contend, we are being less creative. NPR's station WNYC and their "New Tech City" segment are doing a "study" using an app called "Moment" that tracks how many times a day you check your phone and will report the results to you. You can look it up on the WNYC NTC web site. I'm thinking about downloading the app and joining in the study. If I do so, I'll probably blog about it here. 

The couple of things I struggle with the most are related to the instant access to the Internet and my Type A personality. I've grown accustomed to being able to Google whenever and wherever I want or need an answer. Just today, my wife and I were out in the country and passed a children's home. Neither of us were familiar with it, so she Googled it on her iPhone to see what group of children it serves. Same for conversations about movies or songs. IMDb and other apps are easy ways to answer questions like "what else has the kid from 'Love Actually' been in?" The answer is he's the voice of Ferb from the "Phineas and Ferb" cartoon on Disney Channel. 

As for my Type A personality, I am focused on many different projects at work. Not just design projects with clients but also the hiring process, studio management and education marketing. Those emails I mentioned earlier come in at all hours because guess what? Most other leaders of our firm are busy, Type A's like me and we think of things and shoot off emails at all hours from out smartphones. Beyond work, I'm also active in my son's boy scout troop and my other son's cub scout pack. Throw in my CSI activities and the Mission and Planning Board at church and I'm constantly receiving email from all sides. It is incredibly difficult to put the phone or iPad away. 

How are you doing on your New Year's Resolutions or attempts to do things better in 2015? I know it can be tough by mid-January, I'm proof of that. I took two weeks off over Christmas and New Year's and hit the ground running on January 5th! But now, by January 17th, I've had a couple of meetings that I wish I could take back. I've had a couple of conversations where I was less than attentive. I took Friday off and realized I neglected to tell my fellow studio leaders I would miss our Friday meeting.

But, I'll hit the ground again on Monday, January 19th ready to go. I'm going to make this happen. I'm going to be more attentive and a better leader in 2015. I think that's why New Year's Resolutions often fail: it is hard to change your ways. If you expect an overnight change, like quitting smoking cold turkey, you will most likely fail. Like the glacier in the below photo, change is slow.

Whatever your resolutions are, keep working on them. By February, you should be a little better. By March, April, May, you should be a little better. Big changes can take a lot of time to implement. Stick with it; make it happen.