If you’ve read our blog in the past, you’ll notice we spend quite a bit of time updating ourselves on the latest business books. Each year I set a goal to read one or two leadership/management books a month to keep up-to-date. One of my personal foibles is that my interest in a book wanes about halfway through. It may take me 3 days to get halfway through a book but another 3-4 weeks to complete it. Since I’m a stickler for deadlines, I tried setting self-imposed dates for completing a book – no luck. It continued to take me longer and longer to finish reading the books I started.
Then the answer hit me, it’s easy for me to ignore my own deadlines, but I hate missing deadlines from others. If I could get someone else to set a deadline for me, I know I’d complete the books on-time. But who? Who could impose a deadline for reading books? Answer: the library.
While the answer may seem simple, at the core was changing one of my personal habits – purchasing books. I now pick up the books at the library and typically have only 3 weeks to complete them. If I find the book particularly helpful, I will purchase it. Since I started reserving books from the library, I have not missed a single deadline.
So why am I sharing this example? It’s to reinforce that each of us have the power to change our behavior if we take an objective view of ourselves. What are the behaviors or habits that you need to change? When trying to change behaviors in the past, where have you struggled? Whose help can you request? What can you do to set yourself up for success?
Related posts: What We Are Reading
Tags: Beyond the Jargon, Calibra, change, Executive Coaching, Leadership Development, Paul Dillenburg, success
