I’ll start with the obvious. New beginnings are good. At least most are potentially good.
I just started a new role at my company two weeks ago and the burst of energy and enthusiasm I feel is amazing. I love what I do! So much so that when I come home I want to do a lot more of it in the evening. In the early weeks I’ll allow myself that quantity of activity, but we all know that isn’t sustainable forever. So I’ll have to settle in to a more manageable and sensible routine before too long. A colleague of mine from HR at our company told me recently that employees who start new roles see a significant measurable increase in their level of engagement. I don’t recall the exact number, but it was somewhere around 25-35 percent. I can attest to that burst of energy.
New beginnings are natural times to leave behind other things that drag you down. I enjoy directing back to my previous team at work those emails about certain topics I had grown tired of. Old Role Jeff would have answered them. New Role Jeff can focus on new things. Out with the old – in with the new.
The new year is also a time to decide what has to change to bring balance where things were way too tilted in an unhealthy direction – both in work and personal matters. It felt good the past two weeks in my new role getting organized and creating a means of accountability to achieve what needs to happen. And it felt good New Years Eve plugging in some tasks in my smartphone checklist app that reflect mostly personal goals for the year and what it will take to reach them.
What new beginning do you need? What do you need to leave behind? What needs to change for you to have a little more balance? You can make the call any day, but the start of the new year is a natural time to do so. Go for it!
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