Planning for an Extraordinary Year
When you think of a new year does the word “resolutions” immediately come to mind? It does for me. It’s no wonder—in the quiet days after the holidays, media hops on that bandwagon pretty hard. Most of the talk circles around kicking bad habits and picking up new, healthier ones. There’s so much great information out there about how to make healthy habits stick, and thank god, because it’s not easy to do. Lord knows, we’ve all fallen off the wagon more than once or twice or ten times.
The kind of planning I have personally done for many years, and which I offer to others in a coaching context, goes deeper than changing habits. Changing unhealthy habits is great, but I like to think more broadly about where I’d like to be and how I’d like to feel in different areas of my life, and how I need to show up to make that happen.
“My experience has been (and there is science to back it up) is that when we get really, really clear on what we want to learn, how we want to grow and what we want to bring in—and we use strategies to deeply embed this—it can lead to big shifts in how we feel, think, and act—and that leads to extraordinary.”
I will be offering programs for people who are interested personal growth, and in doing the work to set their intentions and embed these in how they show up, including two groups for Vision 2022, a group specific to entrepreneurs, consultants and freelancers, as well as my one-on-one coaching packages.
Of course, I’m totally biased that creating a vision and setting intentions for the year are more powerful when you have a coach to facilitate the process, but if you’re new to this thinking, you may like to try it out for yourself.
Here are some things I work through with clients that I’m confident can be useful if you are interested in acting as your own self-coach:
Take stock – Reflect on what went down last year and make a list. What were the key moments and events across different areas of your life: work, health, finances, relationships with close friends and family, social life, etc.?
Have gratitude – Take time to acknowledge and celebrate the good things. Write them down. How did these things make you feel, what did you learn, what personal strengths and resources do these reveal?
Acknowledge what didn’t work and let that shit go – What wasn’t so great? Write down what you learned from these situations and what personal strengths you were able to draw from to get through them?
Think about how you want to feel – Get really specific about how you want to feel in the areas of work, health, finances, relationships, social life, etc. Do any themes come up? Write down key words or action points you need to take to get there.
Warning: These next ones are the areas where a coach can really level-up the extraordinary you bring on…
Embed it – They key to shifting things is to feel what it will be like to be successful in reaching your goals before you even make them happen. Try visualization, drawing it out in detail (don’t be afraid to use colour), writing the story of what it will look and feel like, doing a cut and paste vision board. Nothing is off-limits. If you don’t think of yourself as particularly creative or consider yourself much of an artist, you will be surprised at how exercising a part of your brain you don’t normally use can have BIG impact here!
Be honest with yourself – what mindsets, behaviors or circumstances could hold you back? Looking back on what hasn’t worked and re-framing those stories in terms of lessons learned and the skills and resources you drew from in challenging moments can build your resilience and shift your mindset so you have the ability to adapt when things don’t go as planned (because—tbh—they almost never do, that’s life).
Come up with strategies for holding yourself accountable – Remember that taking small steps toward what you want and how you want to feel are very powerful. Celebrate your successes, recognize what’s going well, and take a “So what? Now what?” approach when things don’t go according to plan.
If you feel comfortable, share your vision and goals with someone you trust and ask them to be your accountability partner. Invite them to do the same. This can really build connection with people at work and in your personal life—and that connection can bolster you when the going gets tough.
I’d love to hear and see what you come up with so please feel free to tag me on Instagram or Facebook. You can also email me directly. I am always amazed and inspired by the extraordinary things people come up with, and the even more extraordinary things people manifest for themselves. Don’t be shy about sharing your challenges—we’ve all been there from time-to-time, and it helps others learn and can be a source of strength.
Here’s to an extraordinary 2022!
