What to Do Instead of Making Resolutions

New Year's Resolutions don't work! It's proven time and time again. Occassionally you might get lucky but overall resolutions are simply a trail of disappointments. Paul Simkins, The Values Coach, talks about tools that leaders like you can use to become much more effective at achieving the things you want in the new year!

Plus, some great ideas for New Year's Eve party appetizers you can make on your smoker or grill! You can find all the recipes, and many more besides, on the Smoke and Ash Facebook group or by emailing paul@BoldlyLead.com.

You can get a copy of Paul's eBook 15 Innovative Ways to Show Employees You Care and Not Break the Bank by emailing him at paul@BoldlyLead.com.

Join the discussions at our Podcast Facebook group here.
Learn more about Paul Simkins on his website.

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Transcript

Producer: 0:00

The tech leaders toolbox podcast is brought to you by Paul Simkins and the bully LEAD program, focusing on helping tech leaders like you, and the frustration of low performing teams, and losing excellent employees, so they can increase productivity by 50%. Go home on time, and sleep better at nights.

Paul Simkins: 0:22

Hello, and welcome to the tech leaders toolbox. I'm Paul Simkins. And we're here because how you lead today determines how your team succeeds tomorrow. This is Episode 49 of the podcast. Are you making your New Year's resolutions yet? Have you gotten them all set? Well throw them out. They don't work. And in this episode, we're going to talk about what works better. Plus, I'll share some appetizers for New Year's Eve you can do on the smoker or the grill. Are you ready? Let's go. Well, here we are on the cusp of creating new year's resolutions. Every year, we hastily come up with them off the top of our head because we're at a party somewhere and somebody said, Oh, so what's your resolutions? So we come up with some things off the top of my head, our top of our head, and we share them at parties. And they're almost never written down. And we know how that usually goes, right? Maybe you're one of those who actually accomplishes the resolutions, but the majority of us don't. That's documented by study after study it it just doesn't work. And in fact, even when we start out with good intentions, right, we January 1, and we're going you know this is the year I'm going to eat right. Oh, a donut. And then ever there goes right they quickly fades away. In fact, one of my favorite memes is that the shared a lot on the internet and it's one of my favorite. And it talks about you know, I'm going to open up a place called resolutions. For the first two weeks of the year it's going to be a gym and then it turns into a bar. Because that's what happens a lot of times and I actually have a membership at a gym I go to Planet Fitness. Absolutely love an unsolicited unpaid commercial for Planet Fitness. I absolutely love going to Planet Fitness, no judgement, I can go in is as I am be what I am, dress how I want and get a good workout in and just love going to Planet Fitness for that. But I go to Planet Fitness every year. And it happens year in year out. The first two weeks of January, the parking lot is absolutely packed. And then fewer and fewer cars. In fact, just yeah, this is week I went to the gym this week. And there was maybe 15 people in the gym when I went the numbers just dwindle over time. So now, but what is significant about New Year's Eve New Year's Day, is that it is a symbolic opportunity to start over. And that's great. You know, we all we all want that opportunity to start fresh. And that's that's the promise that New Year's Eve in New Year's Day offers us is that opportunity to start over to start fresh. And that's great in it. But I want you to remember though, that any time is a good time to start over. So don't just just don't think you know, when when things aren't going the way you want later in the year, don't think okay, well, next new year, I'll do a different No, tomorrow. Starting tomorrow, things will change, you always have an opportunity to start over. But New Year's Day is just that amplified, it's symbolic. And that's okay. So we're starting a new year and a fresh start an opportunity. But a fresh start requires more than just the resolve, we have to actually have a plan, we have to know where we are now. We have to know where we want to go in very specific terms. And that's critical. And we have to know what we need to do to get there. So in other words, it's not just enough to say I'm going to eat better. Okay, better compared to what better compared to what you're doing now. What is it that you're doing now that isn't good? What is it that you're doing now that is good for you? So you have to know where you are now? Where do you want to go? Okay, if I want to eat better, what does that pertain? How does it what describes eating better, and making smarter choices? Great, what kinds of smarter choices you got to be specific about that? And then what do we need to do to get there there's got to be a plan of some kind, because you're gonna run into such a ones that are going to get in the way of that. Sometimes it's just our own natural resistance. Steven pressfield actually wrote a book about this. And it's a great book. I can't remember the name of it. But if you look up Steven pressfield, you'll see all the books he wrote. And one of the things he talks about is how our biggest enemy is within us. And it's called resistance. It's the resistance to doing something different, and it gets in our way. So it's likely that during the time period between Christmas and New Year's Day, your business has slowed down a bit. And even if it hasn't, you should be able to set aside some time during this week. And we're in this week right now, as this podcast is released. You want to try and make that about 48 hour, four to eight hours if you can. And set aside that time because again, you got to know where you are now, where do you want to go? What do you need to do to get there. So here's the five things you're going to do during this time, leading up to New Year's Day. And sometimes maybe even spend the time on New Year's Day doing this after you've recovered from the party the night before. So the first thing you want to do is you want to reflect You got it, you're going to make up two lists. One list is going to be looking back at what you actually accomplished during the year. And be generous with yourself, don't be stingy about this. Because even if things didn't go exactly as planned, and even if it was a big surprise, that things got accomplished, write it down. Write down a list of things you actually accomplished during the year. And then on your next list, you're going to list the things you wish you had accomplished during the year on this list, include things you planned but didn't get done, and opportunities that you missed. The purpose of this is to first see that you actually got things done, even if they weren't numerous. But you did get something done. And then the purpose of the next second list is to see what you want or need to do to move forward. And you know what, on those list of things you wish you had accomplished? That whether they were planned or unplanned, but you didn't get them done. opportunities you missed. How many of those Do you want to carry forward? Are they still important to you. So that's the first thing you need to do is reflect back on your year. Then the second thing is you're going to create your target goals. So a list of things you want to accomplish in the next year. Take a look at what's unfinished from the past year. Is any of it still relevant? If it didn't get done? What got in the way? Is that roadblock still there? How will you get around it? Don't rush this part. Take your time, think it through. Think about where you want to be in a year's time. What do you want to be proud of how you make the biggest impact on others? What will help you add more value to your people. One of the things I always like to use with this is what my one of my mentors, john Maxwell says is, you know, what makes you cry? What makes you sing? Think about those things as well. And so you want to sit down what things do you want to accomplish. And that leads into the third thing, which is to make a plan. So now that you have your annual goals. And one of the things you want to do, by the way, is be very specific about that. When you talk about what you want to accomplish, very specific about what you accomplish. If you say oh, I want to increase my profits, wonderful, by how much? And very specifically by how much, you know, or I want to increase employee engagement. Great. How much do you want? What percentage do you want employee engagement to be at? How much do you want to increase it? That you'll say hey, I accomplished something. Because it's hard to say you accomplish something. If you don't give it something to measure by. So you want to be specific about what it is you want. You have to be specific about when you want it done. And I would advise most of the time with your goals, by the way is don't set them okay by December 31. I want to if it needs to be more along the lines of by March 30. I will by June 30. I will by July 15. I will very specific dates, shorter terms than a year because what happens when we set them out at a year. We started thinking we have plenty of time To get it done, but you want a sense of urgency. So that again, leading to setting those target goals being very specific. So then we get into making our plan. And that's creating our roadmap. And part of that roadmap means you have to include items that are at least monthly, if not weekly activities that move you closer to each of the goals. And in some cases, it may even be something you daily do daily. So for example, if your goal is to eat better, to eat healthier, make healthier choices, and to increase a healthier lifestyle of food lifestyle, then, that's something you got to do daily. And you got to look at that daily, that's a daily activity, that's part of the plan, planning that out, because it's not going to happen randomly. So if you want to trim down a little lose a few inches off your belly, more likely, weekly, and even daily activities you need to do to get there. And on that, by the way, this is chasing down a little rabbit for a minute. I am proud of the fact that in the last year and a half, I have lost 75 pounds, quite proud of that. And here is one of the things I learned from that. So if weight loss is one of your goals, if you want to trim that belly, the two things I am going to tell you about that that you need to know is that you cannot exercise your way out of a belly. So exercise is an important part of things. But you can't rely on exercise alone to get rid of your belly. You cannot exercise your way out of a belly. That's the one thing one thing I learned in the second thing I learned is, you also cannot exercise your way out of a bad diet. So if you're making poor eating choices, no amount of exercise is going to make up for that. Don't let anybody tell you anything different. You've got if you want if your goal is weight loss, or getting rid of the belly or trimming down or anything like that, you're going to have to make changes in your eating habits along with exercise, just a fact of life. All right, back on track. So again, we're making our plan. And again, you're gonna have to include what are going to be weekly and perhaps even daily activities, to move you closer to your goals. Determine the price at what those precise activities are, how often and how long you need to do each of them during the time. In other words, you're creating a timeline of activities, right makes sense. Once you've got that done, now the step four is you're going to fill up your calendar, your calendar is one of the least used tools underused tools that you have, add everything to your calendar. And I mean, everything. The saying goes, What gets scheduled, gets done. If part of your plan is that you need to do daily exercise, block it out on the calendar, this is my exercise time. And only the end of the world is going to get in the way of that block out times for each activity you need to do to accomplish your goals. These calendar items become daily reminders to work on those goals. And you have set aside time to do it, that you know that you're doing nothing else but that for that period of time. For me, one of my biggest hurdles is that I have a very erratic schedule and blocking out the calendar helps Am I perfect about it, not even close. But I am much better about it. Because I block out my calendar than I am if I just tried to fit it in whenever to be very intentional about blocking out that calendar. Be almost ruthless about the time and and keeping your calendar as well as you can. And finally, here's the tip that's going to keep you from going insane as you try and do all of this is be what I call a one percenter. Now, what does that mean? That means don't try to do it all at once. You know if your goal is to lose 50 pounds, yeah, you're not gonna lose 50 pounds in a week. You're not gonna lose 50 pounds in a month. So don't try to do it all at once. But do what you need to do daily or weekly. Do it intentionally. Focus on simply improving yourself by one 1% a day. That's what being a one percenter is all about. improving yourself by 1% a day. That doesn't sound like much. But it's a multiplier. Over time, think about it. If I improved myself tomorrow by 1%. And then the next day, I improved myself again by 1%. It compounds it's 1% on 1%, on 1%. So after a year's time of growing myself by 1% a day, I haven't grown by 365%, which is pretty fabulous. Right? Would you agree? So 365% says substantial. But actually, since it compounds, it is much, much more than that. Because it's 1% on 1%, on 1%, and I'm not a math major. So I'm not even going to sit here and calculate it out. And what if somebody is really into math, calculate it out and send me it, send it to me in an email, and I'll use it in the future. But you're getting compounded growth out of that, just by 1% a day. So that's your things. spend this time this week, reflect on where you've been thinking very specific terms of where you want to go. And make up your plan of daily, weekly and monthly activities to get there, put it on your calendar, and then focus not on the end goal. But just on what you need to do today that 1% you need to do today to get better. A great year, a great 2021 is ahead of you. And certainly if you're like if your 2020 was like mine, you certainly know it can get much, much better. It's hard, gonna be hard to get worse. So a great years ahead of you. And if you're willing to take the time to plan it out. This is your time. What are you gonna do? We'll be back in a moment.

Producer: 17:08

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Paul Simkins: 17:37

All right since we're here coming up on New Year's Eve, real soon here and again, I am a big fan of cooking in general but I love outdoor cooking. I do use my smoker a lot. I have a grill I use a lot. Cook over open fire using Dutch ovens. Any way you can cook outdoors just about I've done it I've even actually dug a pit and done a pit barbecue before. That was pretty cool actually. And I love it so much. I've actually created a Facebook group called smoke and ash. And on the smoking dash Facebook group me and all of my friends we get together. We share recipes, we talk about cooking techniques, we talk about foods that we can cook outdoors. We talk about our cookers and all our gadgets and all that a lot of us are gadget guys. All of that is out there and it's a great place for you. Whether you're a neophyte whether you're brand new to outdoor cooking, or whether you're an experienced outdoor cooker, I invite you to come out and join us on this smokin dash Facebook group. Now I also on the show I like to share an outdoor cooking recipe every week. And all these recipes by the way are also available to you out there on this smokin ash Facebook group. This week what I thought I do would be a combination I want to share some ideas. For some appetizers for New Year's Eve. I don't know if your New Year's Eve is like ours. We don't actually eat a meal on New Year's Eve. What we do is we have like an appetizer dinner every we just eat appetizers and just Munch and nibble all through the day all through the evening until new years until it hits midnight. We'd have our champagne we say Happy New Year. And then we all go to bed. So we all have appetizers and we like to do that. So here's some appetizer ideas that you can either cook on the smoker or the grill that will be perfect for your New Year's Eve and you have plenty of time to do these. Now the first one I got this actually from a website called camping for foodies calm, and I thought it was a great idea. It's called stuffed baby bells. So you take those small bell peppers that they may this what they call snacking peppers, their little baby bell peppers, and you're going to do this in a Dutch oven. And you basically make take garlic and onion and some different kinds Have cheeses like cream cheese and cheddar cheese and some other stuff to create a stuffing for these mini peppers and then you basically bake them in a Dutch oven. And if you want the recipe for that again, you can go to camping for foodies calm and get it there and it's called stuffed baby bells. So that's an idea for you. This next one I got this idea from one of my favorite cookbooks for outdoor cooking called the geezer cookbook, and it's armadillo eggs. And this is pretty cool. You're going to take jalapeno peppers. They say either raw or pickled jalapeno peppers, cut off the stem and you're going to DC the peppers. Then you're going to mix together cream cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, garlic powder, and onion powder. Mix it all together. Then carefully fill each of the peppers with the cheese mixture. Then you're going to mix together some cooked bulk pork sausage that's been drained and kind of dry. This good mix and shredded cheddar cheese and mix those together you want somewhat of a dry dough out of it and divide that up and create patties about four to five inches in diameter. Place a stuffed pepper in the center of the patty, wrap the dough around it and wrap it completely around it and seal it and then take each pepper and roll it and shake and bake seasoning mix. And then fry that in a cast iron skillet over medium heat until thoroughly brown or you can bake it in an oven at 400 degrees for about 20 to 30 minutes, and you'll really like that. Here's another idea called smoked spiced nuts, you've probably had some kind of spiced or seasoned nuts before. This works well with either pecans walnuts or almonds. Get your best results out of this. You're going to take a couple of egg whites, not the oats, just the egg whites and beat them in a bowl until they're frothy than in another bowl. blend together some paprika, salt, pepper, cinnamon, brown sugar, and either cayenne pepper or a few shots of hot sauce or add a few shots a hot sauce to the eggs to give it a little spice. Add the nuts to the egg whites and turn them over and over in a bowl until they're thoroughly coded. Then add your spices to that stirred all together again until everything's really thoroughly coated. And then lay out the nuts and a glass baking dish or on a cooking mat. And you're going to place it in your smoker at 250 degrees for about 30 to 45 minutes. And you will really like that it will have the smoky flavor in the spices as well terrific. Also, you can come out the smoking ash Facebook group and I have a recipe out there for smoke nachos, which would be perfect for outdoor New Year's Eve party. Also for smoked olives, that recipe also has been covered on one of our shows and is in the smoking ash Facebook group. And then also smoked roasted garlic and this is pretty easy. You just take a boba big bold of elephant garlic, rub it with olive oil, sprinkle some seasoning on it, put it in your smoker for about an hour, when you take it out all the Garnet gets nice and soft, you can just squeeze it out of its squeeze it out of its wrapping, and just squeeze it onto a cracker or crostini. And you'll really really enjoy it. All right, all of this is going to be out on the smoking ash Facebook group. So you can find those recipes out there. As you hear this, it will be available. If you're not big Facebook person, that's alright, just send me an email to Paul at boldly lead.com. And I'll be glad to send to these recipes to you. All right, today, the right here our last episode of the year, we talked about what to do instead of making resolutions, and that you needed to know where you are now, where do you want to go? And what do you need to do to get there and take the steps of reflecting on your past, targeting your goals with specific terms, making a plan, putting it on your calendar, and then focus on improving by 1% a day. And for this end of the year, I would ask a favor of you if if you listen to the podcast regularly if we're adding value to you. And you listen to us on an app like Apple podcast or Google podcast or or wherever you are, we're everywhere. We're on Pandora, we're on Amazon, so forth, wherever it is you listen to us. If you could please take the time right now to leave us a five star review so that others will find us as well. Or simply share the podcast with your friends. Let them know we're here so that we can reach other people as well. With these timeless values for how to care for employees, how to how to engage your employees more and also a few cooking tips as well, I would really appreciate it if you leave us a five star review and share this with your friends. Well that's it for 2020. Folks, until next time, go out and be a leader. You were meant to be