by Mark Miller

The New Year is here. Although the amount of emails may have subsided over the last 2 weeks, the workload is not diminished. We’re back in the trenches. So how do you keep your head up as a leader? How do you maintain your focus and keep the main thing the main thing? One tactic to consider is to have a personal theme for the year.

First, here is a simple definition and a few examples:

A personal theme can be a word or a phase – it’s intent is to capture and reinforce an important message or idea.

Here are a few examples from college football – Mark Richt, coach and the Georgia Bulldogs recently employed the theme: “Finish” to challenge his team to finish the drill in practice, finish the block or the route and finish the game. Chip Kelly the Coach of the Oregon Ducks used the theme: “Win the Day.” This was intended to help keep his team focused on today’s game, not next week’s game.

Last year, my theme was, “Today Matters.” I was trying to strengthen my personal daily disciplines. In 2013, my theme is “Fit.” I certainly want to be “fit” in all areas of my life – but as I enter the new year, I want to be fit to lead. I believe this starts with leading myself well. So, I’m going to allocate incremental time and energy to work on my spiritual growth and physical fitness in 2013.

So, why should you consider establishing a theme for the year?

Read more here: http://greatleadersserve.org/3-reasons-to-have-a-personal-theme-for-the-year/