January is an interesting month for me. Not because there’s anything special in January - except of course for my wife’s birthday - but it’s a month to sit back and reflect on what we have done in the past year and what we still need to do.
It’s typically a slow month so we get to work on things that we normally don’t have time for such as updating our showroom or reorganizing our workstations.
A common theme on Jan. 1, are New Year’s resolutions. A new year, a fresh start. It makes sense. I’ve never made any New Year’s resolutions or at least I’ve not made any serious ones that I’ve told others about. If I made one it would definitely be about getting all those important things done that I’ve been putting off for way too long. I’ve known far too many people who have made them and within a week or two have forgotten all about what they committed to do. Depending on what surveys you read, over 90% of people who make New Year’s resolutions on Jan. 1, have bailed out by Feb. 1. This is not a very good percentage.
Why is that? It can’t be for lack of knowledge. We live in an age of massive amounts of information at our fingertips, but still we procrastinate. I’m sure human nature has something to do with it. Most people take the path of least resistance, especially if they are busy.
How can we solve this problem? I don’t think there is one answer that works for everyone, but I do have some observations from some of my colleagues and myself that seem to work at least some of the time.
The first one is having a deadline. When there is a real deadline we usually find a way to get it done right at the last possible minute. There may be some desperation at the 11th hour, but we’ll find a way to get it done simply because we have to. That’s why we see so many husbands Christmas shopping for their wives on Dec. 24, or students studying for an exam into the wee hours of the morning the day before the big test, or writing a column at the last possible moment.
But what about the things that don’t have a deadline. They have a much smaller chance of ever getting done. I often have people ask me to drop over to their place, whenever I get a moment, to talk about a kitchen design. I know what will happen if I don’t make an appointment and mark it in my calendar right away. It will simply be forgotten. All because I didn’t give it a deadline.
But as soon as I put it in my calendar I have put a deadline on it and it gets done. This is a simple and obvious solution that I’m sure everybody follows. The next step up from this is to put all the important things that don’t have deadlines into your calendar and give them deadlines. This will improve the odds of getting those things done whatever they might be. The biggest improvement however, will be if you get someone else involved. A business partner is the best person to keep you accountable, but there are other options if you work mostly by yourself. It could be a spouse, friend or as in my case a business mentor.
We talk about what needs to be done to improve things in my business and he holds me accountable. When things don’t get done by the agreed upon time, I end up having some tough conversations to explain why they didn’t get done. I can fool myself or justify just about anything in my own mind, but my mentor Bill sees right through all that and sets me straight. It’s important that your accountability partner is totally honest with you. Otherwise, what’s the point?
On the home front at the CKCA we have just gone through the past year in a transition phase to a new association management team. With most of the bugs worked out we are looking to grow a little larger and introduce some value-added features for our association.
After three years as president of CKCA, it will be time for me to step down. Jim Lawrence of Avondale Kitchens in New Brunswick will take over as our new president. Every president brings a little different flavour to the association and I’m looking forward to what Jim will bring to the table. I will remain on the board for the next two years as past president and Caroline Castrucci will be leaving the board after serving almost 10 years.
On a sad note, I would like to offer my condolences to one of our past presidents, Harvey Short. Harvey lost his father this past Jan. 4. Harvey Short Senior was the founder of Nu-Way Kitchens Ltd. in Newfoundland. This loss for Harvey comes just five days after also losing his father-in-law.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me these last three years as president.
I still hope to see everyone at our future meetings this year. And you can all be my accountability partner on that one.
Jake Wolters is President of the Canadian Kitchen Cabinet Association and the President of Nu-Way Kitchens Inc. near Guelph, Ontario. He can be reached at: jake@nuwaykitchens.ca
