At New Year, I’m always reminded of a part in the book, Gates of Fire, when the Spartans do battle with a city called Artemisium.
To give you some context:
With an army of professional (and v. disciplined!) soldiers, the Spartans were the “creme de la creme” of Ancient Greece.
The locals, on the other hand, were amateurs. They were fishermen, potters, and farmers, picking up arms to defend their home turf.
So…
The two armies are facing off…
And interestingly, have polar opposite ways of preparing themselves.
The Spartans quietly put on their armour, get into battle formation, and march forward slowly, chanting a hymn.
Whereas the locals?
Give this huge “rah-rah” motivational speech. And while this gets them pumped up and charging into battle, after a few minutes, the inevitable happens:
The motivational “high” (which the Spartans called, “fake courage”) wears off, and their spirit crumbles.
Why am I reminded of this at New Year?
Well…
Come January 1st…
Most people, like the locals, are “pumping themselves up”.
How they’re gonna “crush it” in 2025, making ambitious resolutions, ready to go out swinging.
But what happens?
Statistically, 95% will quit in two weeks time.
Now, don’t get me wrong.
I’m not saying that New Year is a terrible time to make changes. Au contraire - it’s a fantastic time to make changes.
But there’s an “amateur” and a “professional” way of going about it.
And the “professional” way is what I’d like to share in today’s Coached.
Let’s go.
🔤 “1,2,3, Ubuntu!”
In 2007, the Boston Celtics finished almost last in the league.
To turn things around next season, the coach chose one word he wanted everyone to focus on:
“Ubuntu”… which comes from the old African proverb, “I am because we are.”
I.e. he wanted the focus to be teamwork.
The result? The Celtics finished with the best record in the league with the best ‘team’ stats.
So…my first suggestion is:
Choose a one-word “theme” for your year that’ll guide everything in your life, not just your career.
Mine last year was “foundations”, and the year before was “mindset.” This year, it’s “creativity.” (Why creativity? I wrote about it here.)
Then, put the word somewhere it’ll stare you in the face:
- A sticky note on your desk or bathroom mirror
- A daily 5am recurring slot on your calendar
- Your phone background
P.S. reply with your word of the year — I’m curious what you’ll choose!
Once you have that, ask…
🎯 What’s your 1 thing?
Now, try to turn your word into a single career goal. To do this, ask Gary Keller’s focusing question,
“What’s the 1 thing I can do this year, such that by doing it, everything else becomes easier and/or unnecessary?”
For some, that might be building better professional relationships, or optimizing your LinkedIn profile. Stuff like those can open doors and bring you new opportunities, and makes everything else easier. (P.S. if you want to optimize your LinkedIn profile, try this free tool)
The point is, simplify your goals down to the one most important thing.
More practically:
- If your word is “mindset,” commit to a 2-minute mini gratitude exercise.
- If your word is “creativity,” commit to breaking your routine in a small way each week.
- If your word is “relationships,” set a weekly 10-minute block to check in with someone at work — no big lunch, just a quick Slack or LinkedIn message to see how they’re doing. Over time, these mini-connections stack up.
The point is to let that 1 thing become the driving force that aligns with your theme.
This can obviously evolve in a month or two — but start with just one regular activity.
〰️ Distill it down to a “lead” measure
The problem with goals like:
- Lose weight
- Gain muscle
- Become a writer
- Build a personal brand
- Learn French
… is simple.
They’re not directly in your control.
(You can’t wake up in the morning and decide how much weight you’re gonna lose, or how much French your brain remembers).
Reason being, they’re “lag” measures that result from other actions. These other actions are called “lead” measures, and that’s what you want as a goal.
For example:
- Walk 4000 steps before work every morning
- Do a 5x5 program in the gym on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
- Spend 30 minutes writing a part of an essay everyday
- Write 8 pieces of Linkedin content a month
- Take two hours of conversational French classes per week
Doing these will get you closer to the goals above, but they’re things you can control.
In terms of your career:
Think of your big “resolution” (maybe “get promoted by Q4”) and ask, “What daily or weekly actions am I in full control of that would make that more likely?” That’s your lead measure.
Could be scheduling bi-weekly catch-ups with your manager to discuss growth, or volunteering for high-visibility projects.
🚨 Beware the glorious failure
In 1926, a guy called Arnold Bennett published a book titled, “How to Live on 24 Hours a Day,” teaching office workers how to get more out of their free time.
So, coming from a productivity guru, you might expect to hear:
- “Plan every minute of your day!”
- or, “Your mind doesn’t need a rest - it just needs a change!”
- or, “Sleep? You can sleep when you’re dead!”
But no.
Instead, his main piece of advice was:
“Beware of undertaking too much at the start.”
“Because a glorious failure leads to nothing. But a petty win leads to something that isn’t petty.”
So, my advice?
If you think you can study for 2 hours…
Try 20 minutes.
If you think you can write 3000 words a day, try 300.
Because remember:
We overestimate what we can do in a day, but underestimate what we can do in a year.
