In a recent conversation with my son about how to best serve him during stressful moments, he told me to “just breathe.” It reminded me that there is nothing as important as taking a deep breath to pause and reflect before (re)acting — in particular during this hyper-busy end-of-year rush. It seems everybody is just frantically trying to finish that ever-growing to-do list before the world (or the fiscal year) ends on December 31st.
This little note is an invitation for you to stand still, breathe, and take a pause to look back at the year that’s nearing completion and to make some awesome plans for the year to come. It is designed to give you some guidance to help you reflect on your personal and professional achievements.
So, take a deep breath.
- Think back to this time last year and think of your accomplishments
since then. What are your big wins personally and professionally? - What did you learn about yourself? Even if not everything went as
planned, there’s always learning. If you haven’t done anything, you
cannot fail, and most often, our greatest learnings come from our
biggest failures.
Take another deep breath (or two).
- What are you celebrating? The one thing we often forget while being
busy is to celebrate our milestones. So, this is an invitation to
celebrate your wins, no matter how big or small they are. Or as
mentioned above, to celebrate your learnings.
Breathe properly again.
- Looking ahead a year from now, what successes do you want to
achieve? What’s your big dream? Remember it’s not just about having that
dream, it also about becoming aware of the areas that you need to
develop to get there. It’s about how to grow and learn to become the
person to accomplish this. - How will achieving this dream propel you forward? One way to keep
track of your goals is to build in some accountabilities. Getting the
help of a trained coach is a good place to start to turn your dreams
into accountabilities, aka into reality.
I trust you enjoyed your moment of reflection. And as a final thought for when all is overwhelming, just continue breathing, the sun will rise on the 1st of January 2018 no matter what.
Happy Countdown to December 31st!