New Year…. new resolutions, new plans, new goals, new ambitions, new you? Things you like to start doing, things you would like to stop doing, things you would like to be different, or perhaps things you would like to stay the same…
These were the main topics for almost every coaching session I did over the past week. Completely typical (and understandable) for the first working week of the year.
Some clients enjoyed reflecting on this and got energised by it. Many found it hard to translate their conceptual goals into clear actions and outcomes. Some felt a little overwhelmed, or stressed even, and most were thinking in terms of what they should, need and ought to do rather than what they want to do (or how they want to feel!).
Whatever your view on New Year’s resolutions or whatever you have set out for yourself this year, a short “timelines” exercise might help you reflect on it. The eight steps below may seem a lot, but give it a go – it won’t take much of your time and might give you a different perspective, a different angle from which to look at your year:
1) Transport yourself towards the end of this year, at some point just before Christmas
2) Take some time to really picture yourself in that moment: Where are you? Who are you with? What are you doing?
3) Imagine yourself in that moment looking back on this year – picture yourself taking some notes or talking to a colleague, a friend or a family member, perhaps
4) Reflect on the things you want to be able to look back on at that moment: what will you want to be able to write or say for yourself in terms of what you have done, what you have stopped or started, where you have been and who you have been with?
5) What have you experimented with? What might you regret not experimenting with?
6) How do you want to feel in that moment looking back on the year?
7) Once you have (some) answers to these questions, come back to the now and ‘sit with it’ for a bit
8) With your reflections to hand, consider these final questions: What do you need to focus on throughout the year to move towards that picture you created of yourself? What (or who) needs your attention right now? And what, perhaps, can you let go of?