In this video series I’m asking you a Coaching Question each week.
I’ve got a đź’Şpowerful question for you this week!
If you want to create change
If you want to create something different for yourself than what you ALREADY have, listen to my Coaching Question in the video.
Setting yourself up for a successful year ahead does not have to be complicated or time-consuming. I have created a simple 5-step process that enables you the best start to the year. This process ensures that you build on your success and learnings from the previous year, align your activities with your values and create a system that keeps you on-track for the year.
Step 1 – Review your review
Did you complete a review as I recommended in December last year? If so, get it out and read through it again. If you haven’t done a review of your 2020 year, there is still time. Click here to get started on one now. It takes just a few quality questions to provide you with key learnings and an overview of your outcomes for the year. 2020 was a challenging year on many fronts and for this reason, you will likely have learnt quite a lot. The review will capture this important information and provide a springboard for the next actions you will take to move ahead into 2021.
Step 2 – Highlight your key learnings & required actions
A review is not a process to be completed and then set aside. Your answers to the review questions are incredibly valuable and you should absolutely utilise them in your early planning for 2021. Start by looking at your review answers and make a note of the key learnings. These learnings could be what you learnt about yourself, your work or the way in which you work. Certainly note what did and didn’t work for the year. Next you want to note the actions that need to take place to move you forward. This is where you tap into the power of the review, it can act as the springboard to move you forward. What do you need more of in 2021? What 1 thing do you need to change in 2021? The answers to these two questions will create some basic actions that you can build on.
Step 3 – Check in with your values
Do you have a list of your personal values? Are you even aware of what your values are? Your personal values are the intrinsic foundation to your experience of wellbeing and fulfillment. In other words, if you want to experience wellbeing and fulfillment, you simply must live in alignment with your values. Values by their very nature will shift and evolve as you do, most particularly when you have experienced changes in your life. As 2020 was the year of change, make sure you check-in with your values to assess if they have changed.
Step 4 – Set your SMART goals
What outcomes do you want in your personal and professional life this year? What changes would you like to make? Express these outcomes as a Specific, Measured, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound goals.
Step 5 – Set your tracking system
Did you know that the main reason for goal non-achievement is simply just “getting off track”? Most goals require you to engage in new habits, new ways of doing things and new ways of thinking. Acquiring a new habit takes practice until our brains have created a well-worn neural pathway and the task feels more natural. The key to habit formation is staying on track long enough to establish this familiarity with the new habit. Your habit building solution is therefore to set up a tracking system. If you track your habit you ensure that you maintain it more consistently for a longer period of time until it becomes easier. It’s natural to “get off track” when starting a new habit, so this system is the key to your success. Check out my tracking system here.
Follow these 5 steps and you will be ensuring that you give yourself and your goals the best opportunity for success in 2021.
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As challenging as these times may be, most of us still have ultimate control over our lives.The problem is that right now, it doesn’t feel like it.
You may feel tired and completely thrown off course by the events of this year.
Maybe you’re even confused about your purpose, your business, your life.
Or perhaps you’re just sick of feeling stuck and unable to plan for the future.
That’s okay. These feelings are a normal human reaction to all of the upheaval we’ve experienced. You are definitely not alone in these feelings!
However, if you’re sick of feeling so uncertain, then keep reading because I’d like to share with you 7 simple ways that will help you feel more certain.
Because the truth is, you can create certainty for yourself on a daily basis.Â
You may not be able to change what’s going on out there in the world but you can most certainly rule your own world!
You can use these strategies to easily increase the feeling of certainty in your life.
Many of them are small things that you can start right now, today. The great things is that you don’t have to do all 7, but of course, the more you can incorporate into your routine, the better.
Strategy 1: Have a plan
When we don’t have a plan, we drift with the wind and more significantly we don’t feel in control of our destiny. You can make a plan in uncertain times. Yes, you can. You may need to review it in a few month’s time to see if it’s still relevant, but you still should make the plan now.
Strategy 2: Make decisions
Again, one quick way to start to feel more in control of your world is to make decisions. Allowing yourself to stay in indecision because you’re “not sure what will happen” or “don’t have enough information” does not serve you. It will create more uncertainty. Even if you don’t want to decide something now, you can still decide to get further information and review it in a month with a view to making the decision then. Do you get where I’m going here? It prevents you from going back and forth over the “will I or won’t I” that makes us all feel so powerless. You can instead decide to forget about it for a month, get more info and then decide. Or, decide now.
Strategy 3: Take action- small things count
The idea is to think small here. Can you clean out one drawer in your home or office? Can you do one task on your to-do list? Taking small actions in a positive direction make a big difference. In particular de-cluttering will give you a sense of control over your environment. Just remember to do small bits at a time to avoid overwhelm.
Strategy 4: Strengths and gratitude
Gratitude helps you to look for what you already have and to acknowledge it. This helps you to see that you do actually have what you need. Focusing on this at least once a day and seeking out your personal strengths will assist in keeping the uncertainty at bay.
Strategy 5: Daily practices to anchor you
What habits or rituals have an anchoring effect for you? These are the practices that rejuvinate you or keep you focused and feeling in control or confident and secure. Is it keeping up an exercise routine? Chanting, prayers, meditation? Patting your cat? Whatever restores you and gives you a sense of being in-control and secure can become an anchor for you on a daily basis.
Strategy 6: Boundaries – fear mongering and media
Use your boundaries. Don’t allow in too much uncertainty from other people(family included) and the news/social media. Stay informed but don’t let them tell you how uncertain or worried you must feel. Limit your daily intake of news to avoid feelings of overwhelm and anxiety driven by what is mostly bad news.
Strategy 7: Re-frame the situationYes it’s been a challenging year and even at times quite a confronting one. Things seem to be shifting and life is not what it was 6 months ago. Sure, but try asking yourself these questions to re-frame this current situation:
What are some good things that have come out of this?
If there was an opportunity right now for me, what might it be?
What have I learnt about my real values in the last few months?
These strategies work and they will make a difference right away, so do start as soon as you can. It’s best to try implementing one or two for a week and maintain consistency with those first. Then you can add more as you like.
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Not sure if you might benefit from working with a coach? Today I share some common situations that professionals and small business owners are finding themselves in right now. If you relate to these scenarios, you might want to consider hiring a coach.
I’ve been hearing the declaration “I can’t make plans” a lot lately. This is usually followed by an explanation that, clearly in this time of uncertainty, “it’s just not possible to plan ahead”.
Bullocks.
Not only is it possible, it is now more important than ever!
As a leader(and most people reading this are) you must still have a plan. Your team, your employees, your family, yourself all want you to have a plan. They will not say this out loud perhaps. They may even scoff at the notion of planning when the world will likely be upside down again by next week. But so what?Â
Plans change. All the time. Not just in times of uncertainty. I’m sure you’ve had many plans and projects where you’ve set out on one course and ended up changing it more than once to get to your destination.Â
It’s okay I do get it. I understand that things are changing more often and it feels like nothing can be certain.But when is anything ever certain? And why should that stop you from moving forward, from leading however best you can with what you have?
Here is how it works. You consult the current information about the landscape you and your business/team find yourself in. You may also consult with others around you. Then based on the information you have now, you make a decision on a course of action. The point is, you must make decisions about your strategy and run with that model so long as it’s viable.
When we stop making decisions become inert, we feel powerless. Those around us, who look to us for leadership, get confused and apathetic. Now is the time when your leadership is needed more than ever.
Whether you’re leading a team, a company, a family or yourself – all are important. Don’t stop making decisions and taking action. Just adjust some other things…
Yes, you will need to adjust your expectations.
You may have to change the plan again when you have new information. But that’s good right? You want to making decisions with the best and most up-to-date knowledge.
You will need to be flexible.
Holding on too tightly to your plan is not a winning strategy. Goals are always meant to be guideposts and you while you still continue to look to your destination, be a little flexible with how you get there and how long it takes.
You will need to review your plan.
Of course it goes without saying that you will make a plan and also a plan to review it in a month’s time (or week’s time..).
All of these three things work together: adjust your expectations, stay flexible on your path and review regularly. Apply this approach and you can make any plan right now.
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