Same as for last year, I put down 3 goals for 2021:
- Do less but better: Decentralise work by default. Focus on fewer projects. Contribute to my peers.
- Keep good family routines and adapt to changing circumstances.
- Invest in mental and physical health.
These are a bit vague, so here is some more meat to make them SMART-er:
I’m a massive fan of the Objective and Key Results (OKRs) methodolgy, ever since we introduced them at the Stars Group back in 2017. Neither at Stars nor at XING they are used in the right way which is why many colleagues have doubts but I’m keen on changing that. Although not as strongly as making it an OKR for myself 🙃
Objective 1: 👨🏻💻 Do less but better.
- Decentralise responsibility as possible to other owners.
- More investments into my new product are planned for 2022 (because it is a success).
- I published 12 written pieces and gave at least 2 talks on product management.
While 2020 was a great year work wise, I noticed the balance in my responsibility distribution was off. Too many time, I “did it myself” because I didn’t took the time to enable someone else to do it instead. This ended in more and more things on my plate which caused a lot of stress for me and the people who had to wait for my response. Instead, more members of the team will share and be able to handle responsibilites so that I can do less things but better. This will put me in a spot to bring my new product to success and contribute to the product management community more often.
Objective 2: 👨👩👦👦 Keep good family routines and adapt to changing circumstances.
- Every day starts and ends with family.
- I work from home for half of the week.
- Rike feels confident going back to work while the kids are taken care of.
The pandemic has been great for our family as we got to spend so much time together. I will keep it that way even though Rike ends parental leave and I will go back to the office.
Objective 3: 💆🏻♂️ Invest in mental and physical health
- Meditate on 3 days a week.
- Do 100 push-ups in one go.
- Have a think week.
Before Covid-19, I cycled to and from the office each day which adds to 2 hours of exercise every day. This comes back once we are back to normal. In addition I will get stronger, hence the push-ups. For my mental health I do regular mediation sessions as well as a think week: a quite week with as few distractions as possible. Bill Gates does it, so it can’t be too bad.
Tomorrow is the first work day of 2021.
I can’t wait for the morning to begin ☕️
