Happy New Year!
Here’s to the week between Christmas and New Years!
The pace is still a little slower…
Extra time with family and friends continues…
And, good or bad depending on your view, there are often holiday sweets still within arm’s reach.
The week between Christmas and New Years is a favorite of mine. It is the week when my thoughts turn toward reflection of the past 12 months and my mind starts anticipating the possibilities of a new year.
Reviewing and setting goals has been a part of my New Year’s tradition as long as I can remember.
How about you?
Do you make it a practice to review your year and set goals for the new year?
What is your favorite method?
A few of my favorite goal setting concepts over the years have been SMART Goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound) and One Word (Choosing a single word to guide your goals).
December through January, while the schedules at Hall | Stewart are not quite as hectic, we have made it a practice to gather the entire team for a book study.
Over the last few years our Winter Learning Series has delved into the better business strategies found in Jack Stack’s The Great Game of Business.
We have learned the key is to care, through an in-depth walk-through of Ken Blanchard’s Legendary Service.
And, we learned up-serving, increasing what we can do for others, is the key to sales in our study of Daniel Pink’s To Sell is Human.
This winter, to help each of us grow personally, we are digging into James Clear’s Atomic Habits.
Atomic: 1. An extremely small amount of a thing; the single irreducible unit of a larger system. 2. The source of immense energy or power.
Habit: 1. A routine or practice performed regularly, an automatic response to a specific situation.
In Atomic Habits, James Clear challenges prevailing wisdom claims that all you need to do is set specific, actionable goals. Yes, he agrees we need goals, but what you really need is a system, processes that lead to those goals.
Goals are about the results you want to achieve.
Systems are about the processes that lead to those results.
The purpose of setting a goal is to win the game.
The purpose of building systems is to continue to play the game.
Goals are good for setting a direction, systems are best for making progress.
Focus on the system, not the goal.
Bill Walsh: “The score takes care of itself.”
Habits are the atoms of our lives. Each one contributes to your overall improvement. At first, they are insignificant but then they start fueling each other. They are small and mighty.
If you can get 1% better each day for a year, you will be 37x better in one year. Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. They seem to make little difference yet over the months and years they can be enormous.
Outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits.
Success is a gradual evolution, a long series of small wins and tiny breakthroughs. The only way to make progress is to start small.
Atomic habits are a routine, small, easy to do system that is the source of incredible power.
Want to learn more about Clear’s systems for creating habits to improve your life? https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits
May your 2026 be filled with small 1% improvements that compound into enormous improvement in the months and years to come.
Lorne Hall
Hall | Stewart Lawn + Landscape
(405)367-3873