How Engineers Can Make Real Change
Before everything else, a prosperous new year to all engineers! It is that season again of welcoming another 365 days of life’s adventures and pursuits.
The celebration of the New Year comes with an opportunity to achieve greatness and changes in various ways, often called as the New Year’s resolutions.
Changing of our calendars reminds us that time isn’t slowing down for anybody and goals should be met in between the New Years.
Even days prior to opening the new year, some already have a list of New Year’s resolution to fix a mindset.
But what’s written in that list – usually includes going to the gym, sleeping early, and saving money, among others – too often falls apart because of this: there’s a vision but it is not paired with a plan of action.
On January, we always say that we are finally on our way to get fit but what do we really do about our food intake and physical activities?
We always promise to get enough sleep but what good does that thinking do if we do not manage our time effectively throughout the day?
Same goes with setting aside money as savings when we barely know how to spend within our means.
New Year’s resolutions are almost always problematic because they only become an annual habit with no follow-up after they are made whatsoever.
It never moves from there.
This year, it is time to do something about them.
In order to make that real change about our lives, we have to follow a step-by-step approach that can turn any New Year’s resolution into a personal revolution:
Setting a vision
There’s no problem with this because engineers are great at this. It can be anything that will yield a better, positive outcome about work, lifestyle, or attitude.
Write it down so you will have to be reminded about it. That’s the first step. No sweat.
Turning that vision into a goal
Now this is the tricky part of the process. What sets vision apart from goals is that the latter is concrete and specific. Make it to be SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound. We should know the endpoint of our vision and that is called goal setting.
Making an action plan
Once we’ve figured out the main idea of what we are to do, it’s best that we turn those goals into smaller milestones and create an action plan out of them. This is where it couldn’t get to be more specific, as this plan of action should be done on a regular basis, or daily if possible.
Executing
Stick to the action plan. It should become a habit until it becomes a lifestyle. The first few times that we execute our New Year’s resolutions might feel uncomfortable but that’s the work that needs to be done if we really want real change for ourselves. We have to do something we’ve never done to get something we’ve never achieved.
Maintaining, evaluating, and correcting
Are your action plans going fine? Do you see results with your efforts? If no, give it time. Patience is also a key for visible, satisfactory progress. Correct what needs to be corrected and maintain what needs to be maintained.
There. It’s not really difficult to turn our New Year’s resolutions into real change if we just put our minds into it and follow that approach. By next year, we will be surprised how far we’ve come within a year of welcoming real change.
