A couple of years ago Boots ran an advertising campaign at the beginning of January that I thought was brilliant. Emblazoned in huge letters across the front of all their stores were the words:
CHANGE ONE THING
It’s so easy at the start of a new year to get excited about making changes and feel like ‘this is gonna be the year’ and all that kind of stuff…and we all know the typical outcome of all this fervour – it’s all fizzled out by the middle of January!
The ‘change one thing’ slogan though is a much more sensible philosophy. Think about all the changes you’d like to make in your business, in your life, whatever you can think of…then identify the most important change you can make and commit to that. I’ll grant that, if you’re exceptionally disciplined and highly motivated, you may be able to take on two things.
Write the one, or maybe two, things down – set up a method to track your progress. Continually reinforce the message of the what AND the why to your staff, your friends, family, colleagues etc.
With this kind of tenacity, you have a real chance of making those desired changes and, once they have become embedded, once new habits have been formed, you can start on the next one – you’d don’t have to wait for the next new year!
Nick Howes 