OG Tuesday Issue #171

Start your morning with this affirmation:

Today’s checklist: Get (back) into the groove, find your match in goal-setting heaven, set an open-ended resolution, and take the pressure off.

Your holiday season may be hectic. It may be cozy and restful. It may be fulfilling but also jam-packed with activities. In all scenarios, switching from “holiday mode” back into “work mode” may be a struggle.

Here are some ideas for reconnecting to your rhythm when you feel like hibernating:

Create a mood board to get focused and motivated for the year ahead.
Canva has free tips and beautiful templates that make designing painless even if you don’t have an artistic bone in your body.

Schedule a power lunch or brunch.
Get your besties together to enjoy some delicious food, swap holiday stories, and discuss your hopes and dreams for the new year.

Create a fresh-start playlist filled with music you find uplifting and motivating.
A few on-theme tracks you might consider include:

Pump yourself up with a self love letter.
Tell yourself how wonderful you are and outline in detail all the ways you plan to treat yourself right.

Lynn Rossy recommends including:

Engage in activities that empower you.
Post-holiday sluggishness can leave you feeling incapable. Participating in activities you excel in will naturally feel restorative. For example, if you’re a talented painter, take time to create something beautiful and then admire and appreciate your work and your talent.

Finding meaning at work can be a journey, and the steps to get there will vary for each individual.

Luckily, this handy Career Goal Template can help you get your thoughts organized to figure out what drives you.

As you fill out your Career Goal template, do the following:

• Reflect on your values and strengths. Think about what drives you and what you’re good at. Consider your values and how they align with the work you’re doing.
• Identify what brings you joy. Think about the tasks and projects that you enjoy doing the most. What about them brings you joy? How can you incorporate more of these tasks into your work?
• Set goals: Set career goals that align with your values and interests. Having a clear sense of direction can help you feel more purposeful in your work.
• Seek feedback from others, such as mentors or colleagues, to gain insight into your strengths and areas for growth.
• Be open to new opportunities. This could mean seeking out new projects within your current organization or exploring new job opportunities.

Fill Out Your Career Goal Here

Pick a motivational quote to find out which goal-setting strategy you might want to use as you plan to be an absolute badass in 2024.

A. “You will never plough a field if you only turn it over in your mind.” Irish Proverb, Anonymous

B. “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

C. “I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.” Herman Melville, Moby Dick

A
If you chose: A. “You will never plough a field if you only turn it over in your mind.” Irish Proverb, Anonymous

You might enjoy the SMART goal-setting approach. Adjust your goals to meet the following criteria:

For example, if your overall goal is building better relationships with funders, then your SMART goal might be facilitating at least three social gatherings with your organization’s top three funders before April 15.

B
If you chose: B. “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist 

You might enjoy the HARD goal-setting approach. HARD stands for heartfelt, animated, required, and difficult.

Answer the following prompts to flesh out your goal mindset according to the HARD approach:

C
If you chose: C. “I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.” Herman Melville, Moby Dick

You might enjoy the WOOP goal-setting approach. Think about your goals as consisting of the following components:

For example, if your overall goal is guiding more strategic decisions, then your WOOP approach might be to confidently share ideas and opinions by creating an accompanying bulleted list that addresses every concern you imagine leadership raising about your ideas.

“Effort within the mind further limits the mind, because effort implies struggle towards a goal and when you have a goal, a purpose, an end in view, you have placed a limit on the mind.” Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do

Considering this quote in the context of a New Year’s resolution, a translation might be: Go ahead and set goals and make resolutions, but also keep an open and flexible mind, meaning:

This year, try setting a more open-ended resolution by being specific about the “what” but allowing the “how” to be an exploration that leads to insight and surprises instead of a predetermined restriction or prescription.

Resolution pivot:
Instead of: I will eat only 10 grams of sugar per day.
Try: I will truly nourish myself. (Let new ideas for how to accomplish this goal come each day.)

Feeling overwhelmed or pressured by all this talk of New Year’s “visioning?” These light-hearted resolution ideas are a healthy reminder that you can totally set silly resolutions or even skip the whole thing altogether.

🛠️ Tool: If you need a super user-friendly way to plan out projects and work with your peeps that won’t cost an arm and a leg, Smartsheet’s gotchu covered.

🏠 Work From Home: If you’re working from home and looking to elevate your set up, consider a standing desk so you don’t experience all the negative effects of sitting all day long. (Pair it with a walking pad and you can seamlessly burn calories while you work!)

📓 Journal: The Five Minute Journal is can completely change your mindset. Gratitude shouldn’t just be something you do every year on Thanksgiving, and this journal will help you do it in — you guessed it — 5 minutes a day.

📄 Template: Liven up your next team meeting with this free Challenge Bowl icebreaker. It provides a fun and easy way for team members to answer questions and complete short activities to deepen team bonds.

I have a heart that doesn’t beat, but I can hold and protect what’s precious. What am I?

⭐ Answer here.

🔖 Catch up on all OG Tuesday newsletters here.

🏪 The Assist Store: Check out our Etsy Store or get our most popular templates for free here.

🚨 Job Openings

❗If you have a job opening at your company that you’d like us to share in our newsletter, please submit it here.