New Year’s Resolution for a PA, EA and Secretary

CPD - Continued Professional Development, PA and Secretarial Training

I am a great believer in continued professional development and, as a result, I listen to some podcasts on different business practices.  This evening, I was listening to a podcast by an Australian  Pro-blogger called Darren Rowse.  He made an interesting

Setting a New Year's Resolution as a career choice

New Year’s Resolutions

suggestion about a New Year’s Resolution you could make. Further, how you could make a slight change this year and, turn the idea on its head.  This is a fascinating concept for PAs, Secretaries and Executive PA in a business environment as we spend most of our time looking after other people.  In his podcast, he suggested that instead of making a New Year’s resolution about you and what you are going to do this year or stop this year; you should turn it around and make the resolution about how you can help other people, yet stay within your chosen resolution. I would also add, to help you advance your chosen career.

 

So, what does this mean? A New Year’s Resolution may state:

‘I will ensure that my diary planning for 2017, will be proactive and I will make sure that I will stay on top of all scheduled tasks on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis’.

 

Following the ethos above, you change this resolution to help other people in your working environment by re-wording the resolution; that could now read:

 

‘I will ensure that my boss(es) and departments diary are updated on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. Which will mean that he or she or my department, never misses an important deadline and our department is seen to be ultra-efficient’.

 

As you can see both goals are very similar, they both involve an improvement in diary management and a proactive approach to planning your day, week, month and year. However, there is a slight difference in who benefits from the second resolution. The first goal is all about you creating a resolution for yourself; the second is about ensuring your boss and your department are at the forefront of the resolution. In the second resolution, more people will benefit from you being more proactive and concentrating on the task at hand – i.e. Diary Management.

 

Once you have created or stated your New Year’s Resolution, what do you do with it? There is an old saying that states that you should always write a goal down, that is hand write the goal on a piece of paper. The same is for a New Year’s Resolution. If you write the new resolution down, then it will become a tangible resolution/goal. Writing the goal solidifies it in your mind.

 

Our suggestion would be that you should pin the written goal to the wall, tape it to your desk or put it somewhere you will see it every day to remind yourself that you are working your goal. If necessary, you could set the narrative of the goal as your screen saver. It is important that you see the goal on a daily basis. Seeing it daily will remind you that you have set this as a goal and that everything you do, should work towards achieving that goal.

 

As a PA, Secretary or Executive PA, you will often have ‘the ear’ of the department manager (often your boss), you could make the suggestion that a resolution is made by the entire team to make an improvement over the next year. If the entire team is working towards a departmental goal as well as the goals set by the business, your department will be ‘go-getters’, efficient and consistent.

 

A Personal Perspective on a New Year’s Resolution

Julie Farmer Training, Author and business coach

Julie Farmer

I like setting resolutions and goals; I find that if focuses the mind.  My team are all aware of the goals for my businesses and my personal goals. If they are written down and voiced to those around me, I get more help in completing them. People are willing to assist you if they know what and why you are doing a particular task or activity.  Good luck with your New Year’s Resolution or goal. I would love to hear about your resolutions; please drop me a comment on what you decided.

 

If you want to make a New Year’s Resolution that is personal to you, then that’s fantastic. Finally, if you are having problems setting a resolution, take a look at these suggestions.

 

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Welcome to our online magazine from Julie and the team. If you have been on one of Julie’s training courses, you know she is passionate about PA, EAs and Secretaries being the best they can be. She also has very strong opinions about what a PA, EA and Secretary should and shouldn’t do. If you have a question, or would like to add an article, please get in touch. We would love to hear from you.

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