Three steps left going into 11

January 2016 has come and gone. Did anyone else think that went by very quickly? Time is a matter of perception but to me, the month flew by! There are only 11 months left.

When I set my goals for 2016, most were pretty lofty. Today, I took some time to review them and see what kind of progress I have made and what behaviors lead to that success. I also identified what behaviors were counterproductive or slowed my progression. Rather than detail exactly where I stand with each of my goals, I want to help you see what process you can do for your goals.
Here are three key steps I have for making the most of the remaining 11 months in 2016.

Three steps to identify successful behaviors

I am loving my Passion Planner for this year. It really forces me to do more than the usual "I'll just think about my goals" and writing them down. As I flipped through the past few weeks, there was one thing I noticed. When I succeed at a task or priority, I placed a checkmark next to it. There were quite a few left without checkmarks. This drives me crazy. However, this is the first step to identifying successful behaviors.

I have a confession: I cheated.

The first step towards recovery is acknowledging your failure or weakness. I have a confession: I cheated. 

The worst thing about cheating is whenever someone cheats, he or she may not acknowledge the probable cause or the "why" of the situation. Well, I am about to do just that.

I cheated on myself.

As you may know, I started a new role back in March with Syngenta as a Seed Advisor Manager (abbreviated SAM), and a few weeks later, I also started training for a bodybuilding competition. At the time, I figured I could easily handle to large life changes happening at the same time. I was wrong. It is challenging, mentally draining and above all, demotivating. I pushed myself too hard in both work and training and am now paying the consequences.

View of Weihl Farms in Perrysburg, Ohio from the pasture.

One week ago. Just a bum look.

Over Memorial Day weekend, I went home to Ohio to see family and friends. This was the first time going home since Christmas. Yes, I know. I am crazy. I should have gone back home before now. At the time, I didn't see the need. Now, I do. To have life balance, you cannot work all the time. It is not healthy. Some might argue "I enjoy my work and am passionate about it". So am I! But, you know what? I have other priorities and life passions that I need to prioritize sometimes. I had not been doing that. I have concluded this as the cause of my cheating.

I planned a meeting with my Seed Advisors the week after Memorial Day. The focus of the meeting was to share updates on planting progress, agronomic updates, discuss tactics on how to continue relationship building through summer and talk about programs and business settlement details that will play a great importance in the coming weeks. We held the meeting on Thursday and I collaborated with some other Syngenta employees to split the talking points. The meeting was fine and my Seed Advisors expressed they had some takeaways. However, I think it sucked.