BIMBeing: The Journey #18

#18 – Targeting time…

Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels

Welcome back and a Happy New Year! Unfortunately for the majority of us the festive period has now drawn to an end and here we all are, back at it. Trying to restart the BIM engine after a 2 week break really isn’t easy, just setting the early alarm was painful enough, but after several cups of coffee and repeating the “how was your break?” conversation with everyone in the office we should be about ready to start working.

It’s an infamous time of year for several reasons: the post-holiday blues are underway, ludicrous over-indulgence has led to shock dieting, it’s ‘dry January’ for those still hungover, ‘Veganuary’ for those who never want to see another Turkey on their plate and it’s a month where payday is nothing more than a distant memory and a pile of loose change. Setting all of that aside, it’s also the time of ‘New Years Resolutions’ – here’s to starting the new year with a moan.

I don’t like ‘New Years Resolutions’ for two reasons:

1. They are usually really trivial and, in the long run, fairly pointless. I’m referring to the “New Year new me”, “I’m not eating chocolate for a month” and “I’m going to smile more this year” type. These are never well planned, will be forgotten after the first week and are generally useless – move along.
2. My primary issue with ‘New Years Resolutions’ is why now? I appreciate that some things are recorded yearly and therefore trying to improve year on year makes sense, but for the most part if you really want to set yourself a target (any meaningful goal or change) why does the day or month make any difference at all? I think targets are a great motivator but if you’re serious about them they shouldn’t need a specific month, lunar cycle or planetary alignment to get them started. Want to set a new goal? Good, do it immediately, whatever the day, month or year.

Moan over, time to be constructive. If you are going to set a New Years Resolution then it needs to be a real target, it needs to be SMART. We’ve all seen and heard this acronym 1000 times and, as annoying as these ‘team building day’ tools are, it really is useful. Rather than repeating what you can already find online I’m going to set out Smiths SMART Target for 2020, for two reasons: firstly, because it’s a good example; and second, well, I need your help to achieve it.

Target statement: Grow the BIM Being platform.

Specific
Increase the number of average viewers per BIM Being post and improve reader engagement with an increase in post comments. In this example a specific number of views and/or comments is not being set.

Measurable
Measured by the number of increased views and the quantity of comments received.

Achievable
Yes, this is achievable. Through topical posts, continued online exposure and social media presence the BIM Being platform will be able to reach a wider audience and therefore increase the number of average viewers.

Realistic
Yes, growing the BIM Being platform is a realistic target. BIM Being was formed in the final quarter of 2019 and has already built a solid number of average viewers. This number continued to increase towards the start of 2020. The target is for overall growth and not a specific figure.

Time-bound
The time-scale is for the year of 2020.

It’s a simple as that; a ‘New Years Resolution’ with a plan. It’s meaningful, it’s thought-out and it’s achievable. Hopefully by this time next year I’ll be able to report how successful (or not) this was! On that note if you feel like leaving some comments, telling your colleagues or sharing some Smith posts on social media then please do; this target can’t and won’t be met without you. Why not start with the new and improved BIM Being timeline?

Time to go and set your own target and plan exactly how you’re going to achieve it. Don’t have one right now? No problem, set one when you need to rather than choosing something random just to follow the seasonal trend. If you don’t think of anything until March that’s fine, just don’t wait another 9 months until January 2021 to make plans for it – get it done! Targets are motivators, the sooner they’re in place the more productive you will be.

A Happy New Year once again; let’s all make it successful.

Mr. Smith
smith@dbe.careers