Shifting Priorities, Maintaining Values

January, and time to revisit priorities and goals, both from last year and for the year ahead. This year I waited until mid-January to review these, allowing some time and space between the years to get a clear and calm picture of past, present, and future.

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2024 reflections
 
The year continued with opportunities and engagements from new and interesting areas (nutrition, materials science, archaeology), reinforcing the importance of reputation and network (priorities 6 and 8). While there’s always uncertainty about the long-term of work, I was blessed this year with a constant and steady influx opportunities and interesting projects. As in 2023, personal development priorities (especially 4 and 9) took a back-seat to others, which has been rewarded somewhat by the extension and renewal of work with some people, again to those important priorities related to excellence in contributions, organization, and integrity (priorities 2, 3, and 6).
 
Even more of my time this year (874 hours or 60%) was working with research teams and organizations in proposal development, grant facilitation, and program and project management (aligned with priorities 2, 3, and 6). Contributing to the development of others (priority 1) remains high and represented a close second in the proportion of my work (445 hours or 30%).
 
I am getting more efficient with the administration of the business, with just 9% of my time. Sadly, the amount of time on personal development and creative projects was very low (just 2%). I spent plenty of non-work time in the creative and development spaces, with most being reading and writing about reading; I completed 79 books and book reports last year, and so perhaps can recognize achieving that objective separately from my work time.
 
One additional development this year was engaging others as part of my work. I was able to bring work to a few in my network, and this helped distribute the workload from me to others. While this increased the overall capacity of Lyric Management, and I’m grateful and happy to be able to provide opportunities for others, this does somewhat reflect a greater demand than I have capacity for myself. Something to consider carefully going forward.
 
Specific goals completed in 2024 include presenting at CARA National and PM West, and attending several networking events throughout the year. I was also much more diligent in the use of time tracking, and intentional use of time, including blocking time off. Other goals, including writing, teaching programs, and physical fitness were much less successful, and so will move forward onto the 2025 list.

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2025 Priorities
 
My priorities have remained the same over the past few years. Looking at 2024, I see some areas to focus on, especially around workload, value, and type of work. Overall, I came out of the year satisfied and happy with my progress and accomplishments, and clear-eyed about things to work on. For 2025, the priorities are:

I’ve adjusted some of the overall rankings, shifting Development of Others from high to medium. This reflects several things, but primarily a shift in my understanding of where I can add value and my desire to contribute some of that time, effort, and energy to myself and my own development. There continues to be a demand for what I supply for others (priorities 1 and 2), but the return on investment in satisfaction and compensation has shifted the balance somewhat. They remain priorities, just no longer the highest ones.
 
I’ve also acknowledged that, within my work time, there is likely to be little time and opportunity for self-expression. Again, it’s not coming off the priority list, but I recognize it must give way for the more important things right now. I will still look for opportunities but concede it will more often get supplanted by other things. Not forever, just for now.
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​Looking ahead - Goals for 2025
 
One surprise to me about my time in 2024 was that, despite spending more dedicated time away from work, I actually spent even more time on work. This left me feeling a bit weary by years-end, so I’m making some changes to get back to the comfort and joy of what I do and maximizing the benefits of self-employment: autonomy, or the freedom to choose how I allocate my time. This requires discipline in making commitments, and that I consciously schedule time for other things (priorities 4 and 9) and remember my values (priorities 5 and 7).
 
I’ll be working over the next while to refine my SMART and CLEAR goals for 2025. Stay tuned for more on those.
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Word of the year

For 2025, my word-of-the-year is enough. While last year was about sustaining the level of activity in Lyric Management, this year the emphasis will be on priority 7, just so much and no more work, while sustaining the success and good relationships I've been blessed with so far by not over-committing and potentially disappointing people by missing our goals. I want to sustain my network and community, focusing on quality over quantity and meeting the middle part of my motto: living well.
 
My January reflections this year involved acknowledging my strengths but more importantly how I can use them more effectively for myself, which will then allow me to use them well for others. This involves keeping my core values – connection, generosity, integrity, openness, and trust – at the centre of my choices and actions, and taking charge again of how I’m allocating my time and attention, being deliberate and intentional in my work and life.
 

What about you? Do you reflect on your goals at this time of year? Do your priorities change over time? Please comment below or email me at [email protected] with your questions and feedback. 

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