Bonus Episode 16: New Years Day, Goal Setting, the 2020 Recap

Hi, this is Stephen McLain of the finance leader podcast. This is bonus episode number 16. This upcoming week is New Year's Day. The New Year gives us a great opportunity to start over to start fresh and to begin a new. The New Year provides us the chance to address our goals, but never New Year's resolutions. resolutions are fleeting thoughts of impossibilities because they are not rooted in a plan or reality. A goal has a plan. A goal is measurable. It's specific. It has a completion date, and it is written down. A goal has realistic planning around it. New Year's resolutions die out quickly. I think it was US News and World Report that said that 80% of resolutions fail by mid February. A goal is inspiration with a deliberate plan. While a resolution is often stated impulsively, last sitting on your couch on January 1. Let's plan our achievement and our success. Next week, I'm going to be talking about goal setting for 2021. So you have some homework to do to be prepared. What do you want to accomplish in 2021? Let's be specific. Maybe 2021 is when you start your master's degree, or earn your professional certification, or even find a new job. Let's write it down what we want to accomplish next year. Also, we need to update our long term plans and update our individual development plan. This past year in January, I started this podcast with the objective of helping finance and accounting professionals to develop their leadership skills because it's leadership that will set you apart from your peers. We all are expected to be technically competent, but it's leadership with a combination of the right soft skills that will help you advance and make a positive impact with your team and your organization. To recap the year, I want to share my top five episodes from the year, in case you did not get a chance to listen. I believe these episodes had a huge impact on people. My top five episodes from the year are number one, Episode 28, which was on improving the monthly clothes process, we must continue to improve the monthly close process. So we add value and help our senior leaders do their job better with valuable insights about the business number two, which was episode number 27. And that was on understanding emotional intelligence. Understanding emotional intelligence is our ability to be self aware of our own words, actions, and attitude and how it affects others. We need to know ourselves so we can become a better leader who can inspire and create a positive environment where our team can thrive. Number three was Episode 19. And that was on developing executive presence. Executive presence represents your ability to confidently lead an organization in a positive way, show respect for others solve problems, and anticipate the future. Number four was Episode 17. And that was on taking risk in your career. And that's about getting out of your comfort zone so you can advance your career. And number five was Episode 10. And that was on empowering your team because you can't do the work alone. A well trained team capable of completing high level tasks on their own adds incredible value and creates additional time for you as the leader. So please enjoy these episodes. And if you get a chance to listen, go back and pull those up again next week. I will be talking more on goal setting for 2021. So start thinking about what your big goal for next year will be. Have a great week and have a great New Year's holiday. Please stay safe. Thank you for the incredible support. I'll see you next week.