Wow, we’re approaching something really exciting
A new year.
A new DECADE.
And that can create a lot of pressure to assemble the most detailed, specific, and robust plan you can imagine.
If you’re like most of the coaches I speak with, you’re focused on where you’re going and what’s next and haven’t given yourself permission to pause, celebrate, and harvest the lessons from the past 12 months.
If you’re willing to pause for a few minutes, you’ll discover some beautiful (and unopened) gifts from the past year.
You see, gifts come in all shapes and sizes.
Gifts show up in the form of non-ideal clients or non-ideal team members.
They come dressed up as products or offers that didn’t pan out as intended.
Gifts come in the form of unexpected expenses.
They come in the form of a year that allowed for a substantially different amount of income than you planned for.
I’m inviting you to consider that there isn’t “failure” as long as you harvest the lessons from each experience.
I know, I know, this isn’t what the normal goal setting guru’s will share with you.
When you reflect on the past 12 months, allow your mind to pick out one client, one promotion, one team member, that worked out differently than you originally hoped. Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and fully feel the frustration, judgement, anger, or whatever it is that comes up for you.
After a few minutes and several deep breaths of reflection, open your eyes and journal your response to these questions:
- What can I learn from this experience?
- If there was a gift in this, what might it be?
- If this wasn’t happening TO me, but instead it was happening FOR me, what opens up?
When you go through this process and give yourself permission to recalibrate, you’ll notice that you feel lighter and have renewed energy.
You’ll also be excited to take the experiences – the gifts – from this past year and pull out the lessons you can incorporate into your life and business as you move forward and look at what’s next.
And, if you do only one thing as you plan for 2020 and beyond, don’t waste it looking at where you’re going.
Nope, instead I want you to look back at the last twelve months. Look, I mean, really look for what went great and what went not-so-great
Then, journal your responses to these questions to set the foundation for what you’ll create next year.
What am I most proud of doing /creating/experiencing this past year?
What worked?
What didn’t work?
What are the 5 biggest lessons from this past year?
What am I willing to release (old stories, relationships, clients, mindsets, etc.)?
What actions will I take next year based on the biggest lessons last year?
When you’re clear about the most amazing gifts you were given this past year, take another big, deep breath, and celebrate. Appreciation and gratitude for what you’ve experienced will allow you to move into 2020 with a clean slate and positive expectation about what’s yet to come.
