Are your New Year's Resolutions balanced?

As I also shared in my Supply Management blog many of us use the start of the year to review our personal goals, whether it’s losing weight, stopping smoking, getting fit, seeing more of the family or setting up our own businesses.

It’s the same with work-related goals, with most set at the beginning of the financial year. In this setting, balanced scorecards are used to ensure the measurement of success of the individual, team, department or organisation and goals are considered more broadly. This makes sure short-term cost savings aren’t delivered at the expense of quality or long-term stakeholder relationships.

I wonder what impact applying the balanced scorecard approach would have to some of the new year resolutions we make?

• Getting fitter might not become a lonely trip to the gym but involve activities with family and friends.
• Going on a diet might also involve learning how to cook.
• Giving up smoking may need to be supported by learning stress reduction techniques.

Considering the wider picture may provide additional motivation, improve the likelihood of achieving your goal or subtly change it. Whatever the impact, I’d suggest success is much more likely.

I’ll let you know how I get on balancing having a life with the travelling needs of the consultant trainer.

Alison Smith

The Purchasing Coach

Inspiring change in purchasing inside and out

2013 picture above source: themiraclemomma.com via Alison on Pinterest

What's winning in your world - the good, the bad or the indifferent

I woke to this view this morning - what a fabulous start to the day. One shared with facebook friends and twitter followers. I then went to the BBC news app, as I do most mornings, and wondered why my mood changed:

• no-turn
• conflict
• unrest
• killed
• clash
• sacked
• rape victim
• kills
• crisis
• killed
• suicide
• arrested
• dead
• death suspicious
• in court
• dies
• abusive
• killed
• warning
• charged
• concern
• destroyed
• arrested

Of the remaining 13 news items (across 4 categories) I only found a two where the headlines use of words could be seen as any counter to the above list:

• progress made
• retains title (not even wins!)

So that's a 2:23:11 ratio or good/bad/indifferent.

No wonder I then went to a couple of the places on the web that I know do sustain and inspire me Pinterest and Alison Chisnell's wonderful newyearblog series from guest bloggers.

I know news isn't supposed to be sustaining or inspiring but it's certainly easy to forget the impact immersion in it can do as we go about our normal lives. As I said in a blog last year if we are reminded of the worse in people and look for it it's hard to remember that a larger percentage of the time there's so much good out there.

Please don't let the stacked odds get you down - and when you notice that feeling of negativity reach out and be inspired by the many wonderful things that are published. Just a pity they don't make it into the news more often.   

Alison Smith

The Purchasing Coach

Inspiring positive change inside and out

Get a life and reduce my carbon footprint

I know I can do it anytime of the year but I do love using the start of a sparkly new year to get myself organised. Cupboards get cleaned, clothes sent to the charity shop and To-do lists get written. I've got them organised across 4 colourfully and inspirationally decorated clip boards this year so let's see how long it lasts.

One of my goals for 2013 is to get a life (life balance that is). On reflection far too much of 2012 was spent travelling - if I wasn't driving 250 miles south I was letting planes and trains take the strain for even longer journey's. I even got quite blasé about leaving home at 1700 on a Sunday with no hotel booked to turn up at a hotel c2230 to book in for the night. If I didn't realise then the toll all of this travelling would have on me it was brought home when I started to plan January 2013. I'm able to work from home for much of it and so was busy planning joining a book club, going to the storytelling eves at the local centre, getting a block of yoga booked and getting dates in the diary with friends. These were all things I talked myself out of last year because I never knew where I'd be or how tired I'd be when I did get home. (Unfortunately I'm not one of those who can travel with no impact on energy and wellbeing levels.)

Of course as I travelled (mainly) south from my Fife based home other consultants and trainers were travelling north. Which had me wondering about what networks of associate consultants and trainers existed to make use of local resources and reduce the carbon footprint and enable us all to achieve life balance?

Any and all suggestions most welcome.

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Inspiring change inside and out

Planes, train and automobile picture source: kongvmax.deviantart.com via Alison on Pinterest