As we start to move through the year and you begin assessing how you’re doing compared to previous periods, base your performance on pre-Covid times, says Erich Jacobs, president of the Jewelers Board of Trade. “2019 is a better benchmark to use for 2023 than 2020 and 2021. That period was an outlier,” he says.
TRAININGIntroduce “Desirable Difficulties”
The training paradox: Being challenged results in faster learning, but it also shows us how little we know, which makes us feel ignorant. A recent study of a Harvard humanities class found introducing such challenges upped test scores by 33 percent, but the students involved thought they were learning more from non-active lectures. The lesson: Introduce “desirable difficulties” into your training, despite the pushback you’ll likely encounter.
PSYCHOLOGYShare the Self-Love
It’s the month of Valentine’s Day, the perfect time for a reminder on the importance of sharing the love – with yourself. “The biggest life hack is to become your own best friend. Everything is easier when you do,” says mindfulness teacher Cory Mascara.
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MANAGEMENTInstitute a Progress Ritual
One of the biggest problems with being the boss is that few people will give you direct feedback on your performance or offer kind words to inspire you when things get difficult. And yet studies show that the single biggest motivator of performance is the feeling of making progress in a meaningful task. But if your underlings aren’t likely to do that, you have to go out and find the feedback yourself. And the best way to do that, says business author Dan Pink, is to establish a progress ritual. “At the end of every day, take just 60 seconds to record and memorialize what progress you made that day.” You may well be pleasantly surprised by just how much you get done.
OPERATIONSLog and Laugh
The healthiest work environment is one where people take their jobs seriously but can also laugh about and learn from the ups and downs of retail life. To support this, keep a “Daily Disappointments” booklet of funny things that happen throughout the year. As one of our Brain Squad members told us: “We go out as a team twice a year for a nice dinner. We review the booklet together over drinks and get some good belly laughs in!”
MANAGEMENTAim High, Settle for Less
If the “Door-in-the-Face” technique is in your bag of management tricks, feel confident in bringing it out — a group of psychologists from the University of Cologne has proven it works. According to the study, if you were to make a big request of staff (“Please work the next three weekends without a day off”) that is rejected, but then follow up with a request for a smaller favor (“How about this Saturday?”), you are 40 percent more likely to have the second request granted than if you hadn’t primed your employee. Devious? Perhaps. Luxury goods retailers do it all the time, positioning a very expensive item near the front of the store to make everything else look downright reasonable.
MANAGEMENTReward Small Victories
On the way to a grand goal, celebrate the smallest victories as if each one was the final goal, writes WIRED co-founder Kevin Kelly on his blog: “No matter where it ends, you are victorious.”
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