January Newsletter
Happy New Year, PFP Community!
This season offers us all a great opportunity to reflect on this past year of our lives and look forward to what 2022 has in store. It’s a chance to examine who we are and who we want to be. To celebrate accomplishments and set new goals for areas we want to improve.
We look forward to continuing to grow together over the course of the next year, and in this newsletter we have some year-end updates to share along with a couple of challenges related to reflection and growth from different PFP Leadership Team members.
Here’s to a great 2022!
-The PFP Team
Podcast Season Recap
We just wrapped up another fantastic season of The People First Podcast, with 12 episodes spanning a wide variety of guests, topics, and insightful conversations. You can find The People First Podcast wherever you listen to your favorite podcast, Apple, Spotify, Anchor, you name it, we are there.
For next season, we would love to extend an invitation to the PFP community: if you have something interesting to talk about and are looking for a platform, we would love to have you on the podcast. Please email jon@peoplefirstprofessionals.org to introduce yourself, along with your topic or idea for the show.
Talk to you soon, and as always, make it a great day!
Jon Sousa
Director of Membership Services/Co-Host of The People First Podcast
Annual Friendship Review
Closing out another year is a great time for reflection on the latest chapter in life and a look forward to how we want to improve ourselves and our relationships for the future.
In the past, we’ve shared an emotional intelligence practice focused on asking personal and professional peers about our blindspots and where we can improve. Chris Sam of the PFP leadership team is passionate about a similar annual practice of having friendship reviews with his closest friends, and has seen the fruits of stronger, deeper relationships as a result.
The purpose of a friendship review is to make sure that we, and our closest friends, are still in alignment. It gives both sides an opportunity to share perspectives on where things are going well, where we’ve seen each other succeed, and also point out any blindspots.
Chris recommends reaching out at the end of each year to ask for a friendship review to go through a few different topics/questions:
1) Overall, how are we doing?
2) How do you view me? Where have you seen me grow and overcome challenges? Where are you concerned about me and why?
3) Is there something I can do to be a better friend, or is there anything I’m not doing?
If the friend is open to it, you can also open the floor for them to ask the same in reverse.
This practice refocuses and sets intention for a relationship. It shows you care, and provides an opportunity to act on areas where the relationship may be weak based on the feedback. We can learn how to love each other better or change the dynamic of the relationship as a result.
Along with our goal-setting challenge below, we encourage you all to try out an annual friendship review!
Book Club Recap and 2022 Preview
The PFP Betterment Book Club met on December 14, 2021 to discuss Michael Cornwall's Go Suck a Lemon: Strategies for Improving Your Emotional Intelligence. The breakout rooms engaged in discussion about when and how to apply Cornwall's strategies, including changing self-talk, reframing beliefs, and managing expectations. It was an awesome session; thank you to everyone who participated!
To those who may have missed the recent announcement, we will be rescheduling the book club for You're Not Lost originally slated for January 18th to the 2nd or 3rd week in March. We apologize for the change, however we recognize that some of the themes in this read align closely to new content that we'll be rolling out in March in celebration of Women's History Month. To that end we're very excited to announce that one of our members is working on securing a very special guest to join us when we meet in March.
With this change in scheduling, we’re also excited to let you all know that our next meeting is now scheduled for February 8th at 8pm EST where we will be diving into Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho. The first 10 members to register and accept the Book Club invite for February 8th will get a free copy sent to them this week!
As we enter 2022, the PFP team is excited to evolve and enhance Betterment. The discussions to date have been impactful. We aspire to continue that momentum by spotlighting incredible books while adding networking and mentorship opportunities for participants. As always, we appreciate feedback. Please let us know if there are any suggestions for improving Betterment in 2022 and beyond!
If you haven’t registered yet, but want to receive regular updates, please sign up here.
Challenge - SMART Goals
Here we are in 2022, who could believe it!? And as it is with each turn of the calendar, many of us reflect on the past year and set new goals for the coming year.
In a 2021 survey of New Year's resolutions, after 6 months, 46% of respondents were still successful in keeping to their goals/resolutions, but those who have similar goals but do not set a resolution, only 4% report success in keeping to their goals after 6 months.
Like Michael Jordan says, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. So step one is making resolutions, but why is there such a massive gap between resolutions and success? It all comes down to documenting and sharing your goals.
Those who write down their goals are 20% more successful in accomplishing them than those that did not
Those who set actionable and realistic goals, and initiate regular progress reporting with their peers are 40% more successful in achieving their goals than those that do not
Goal clarity has a massive impact on overall motivation in the workplace
33% of people who report failing their resolutions didn't keep track of their progress
10% of people who report failing their resolutions made too many resolutions
2019 survey found that 59% of americans want to exercise more, 54% said eat healthier and 48% resolved to lose weight
A 2018 study showed that 53% of americans want to start the year by saving more money
So we share common goals, but struggle to keep or meet them. Enter the SMART goal method
Our challenge to you is two-fold:
1) Document your resolutions using the SMART method laid out above. This method helps you focus your goals and keep them by making them real, achievable and time bound. This leads to a 10X likelihood of goal success vs not documenting goals at all.
2) Sharing is caring! Share your goals with a friend, peer, mentor, loved one and check in with them regularly on the status of your goals.
Going to see a lot more focus on goal setting and achievement from PFP in the coming months. We hope you will join us on this journey and here's to a 2022 filled with personal accomplishments!
-Devin Williams
