A memo from Abigail Jones

Abigail Jones is EA to the MD at American Express Global Business Travel. Here, she talks achievements, resolutions and professional development – encouraging you to look forward to the next 12 months, set yourself goals and start the New Year on a high.

I love advent calendars, particularly the beauty ones that dispense miniature nail varnishes, make-up products, tiny perfumes and little charms. I have been known to buy them in January and hoard them throughout the year, to have an advent calendar on a random February or July, just for the joy of an interesting gift for 25 days of that month.

As 2016 draws to a close, and there are the obligatory round-ups of past events, the days that we don’t count down to (the other 11 months of the year) get swept away in a haze. The days seem to zip by ever quicker, gathering steam, and the younger ages of first-time colleagues entering the work force takes me by surprise.

Every January, we plot our resolutions and good intentions – the diet, the gym, the self-improvement – and within a few months, these have usually been forgotten for various reasons. December comes and we suddenly remember our broken or failed promises and vow to do better next year.

Did you make any work resolutions this year? Sometimes these might be covered by your work appraisal, where you set yourself achievable SMART targets. Perhaps using SMART for our goals in our personal life might be useful. EAs/PAs are busy people and we usually allocate self-improvement as the least important part of our time. We devote ourselves to our bosses, but neglect personal edification. What is it you want to achieve for yourself in 2017? Do you have any hobbies you are able to pursue? Is there a language, skill, or craft you have always wanted to learn? Perhaps it is work related – do you want a new job, challenge, or to add something to your repertoire? Or is it simply that there is a box-set or book you have been trying to get through and failing because you never have uninterrupted ‘you time’. If so, how are you going to carve out and keep that time sacred?

In 12 months’ time, what would you like to have achieved? If your boss gave you his/her annual goals, you would schedule them in, work backwards to allow prep time, and make sure they happened. Can you do that for yourself? For 2017 I would like to learn fish filleting and knife skills, go to Iceland and continue my professional development. What about you?