Balancing Personal and Professional Goal Setting

I mentioned in December the need to lead Lane4 with a balance of optimism and realism. That is an important line to tread as we set goals and objectives for 2010.

Of course, an additional challenge for all of us is not just to find appropriate balance in our goals at a Lane4 level, but also our aspirations as family members, friends, sports team members and so on. Sometimes balancing the personal and the professional is easier said than done. It felt particularly tough at times in 2009 to keep that balance.

I spent time last week finalising my own set of goals for the year…setting the personal alongside the professional. It is the first time I have really set about making sure I look at both together. I would definitely recommend it.

Initially it can feel a little odd to have life ambitions (write a book), sporting goals (which I hope will include a sub 40m 10k run and a return to competitive tennis) next to working aspirations and most importantly some family and friends goals. That is why it is such an interesting and thought provoking process.

Obviously there are tensions between the different areas, which is where the thinking really begins. It leads me to reflect that goal setting professionally in the absence of the personal dimension just isn’t being honest with yourself, your colleagues or most importantly your family. It’ll be a busy year, but hopefully very rewarding one.

Unfortunately this busy year starts with a shoulder op on 13th Jan. That will mean a period in a sling and a crash course in one (left) handed typing …so please accept my apologies if my blogs are somewhat less frequent for a while!