Let’s be honest when we don’t achieve goals…

At this time of the year, we typically review what happened in global health. Are you taking stock of where you are based on your goals for this year? I am. In fact, we all are at RGH. Personally, and professionally, we all set goals every year. We do not always achieve all our goals but we learn a lot in the process. Here is a pearl of wisdom I re-gained this year: usually, it is the “reason” I give myself for not achieving a goal that is illuminating because the “reason” is actually an excuse for failure and a clue to what I need to change in order to achieve my goals.

You see, reasons are in many cases excuses that we use to rationalize not doing what should have been done to achieve a goal. Some time ago I learned that I tend to get very busy because there is so much to do in global health. However, I have learned that being busy does not mean being productive. Getting busy had become the reason for not getting some important tasks done that although not urgent, they were important enough and needed to be done to achieve a goal. So when I got “too busy” I realized that in fact I was lying to myself, and humbly I realized I needed to review my priorities. By managing my priorities better, I got better at achieving my goals.

This year, I had to learn this lesson again. We got so busy at RGH doing good work that I did not realize I was not having much time for resting myself, and focusing my energy on what matters most, instead of just being busy responding to all the demands of the day and “trying” to meet all deadlines. Notice I wrote “trying to meet” all deadlines. I was trying but not making it. Oh, yes, I had many “reasons” and some very good ones, but the fact remained: I was not on track to achieve my goals. When I became aware of this pattern, I realized I had to change and exercise my free will and make the effort to focus on getting done at least one important thing that leads to my important big personal and professional goals every day.

Isn’t it like that with some global health goals, the MDGs and now the SDGs? We try to reorganize a country’s health system to deliver better child care and reduce child mortality but somehow, we get busy and we do not meet MDG4. We try to improve a country’s management of its disease control program, but somehow we get so busy that we fail to respond to an epidemic in a timely manner. We try to get 90% of the patients that need treatment to get their medicines but somehow, we fail to also address the other health problems that affect them and their families. It is time to review the “reasons” we failed to achieve global health goals in 2016 and make an effort to change how we work to make sure we are on track for next year. I am. Are you?

Set up a call with me to discuss your achievements and review your goals for 2017. I will help you make sure you have a strategy to succeed! No excuses!