Want a vintage year? Here’s a good place to start…
My good friend and top coach Andie Hemming is the brains behind this guest blog post.
Andie’s coaching exercises are always thought-provoking and insightful – highly recommended. So I’ll hand over to Andie…
HAPPY NEW YEAR! – I hope that 2016 is a wonderful vintage year for you full of excellent things! Now, this is rarely an accident (although I am a GREAT believer in serendipity) and so of course there are things we can do to make a vintage year more likely. So – it’s time for some investment in ourselves.
Here are a few things that can help to round up last year and prepare for this one – of course, you don’t need to answer all the questions if you don’t want to – you’ll know which ones are important for you. This is also quite a nice little team building exercise – suitably edited of course!! You can make it a short one over a cuppa and use it to celebrate what was good and learn from what wasn’t in 2015 and prepare for 2016. Just substitute ‘our’ for ‘my’.
So – here we go…
Take a few minutes to reflect on 2015
1. What was my biggest triumph last year?
2. What was the smartest decision I made last year?
3. What one word best sums up and describes my experience of 2015?
4. What was the greatest lesson I learned last year?
5. What generally went well?
6. What didn’t work out as I had hoped?
7. What unexpected joys did I discover?
8. What unexpected obstacles came up?
9. How did I deal with the obstacles?
10. Could I have done anything differently, with the benefit of hindsight?
11. Are there any unrealistic expectations that I need to let go of?
12. What is my biggest piece of unfinished business from last year?
13. What am I most happy about completing last year?
14. Who were the three people that had the greatest impact on my life last year?
15. What was the biggest risk I took last year?
16. What was the biggest surprise from last year?
17. What else do I need to do or say to be complete with last year?
Looking ahead to 2016
1. What would I like to be my biggest triumph this year?
2. What advice would I like to give myself this year?
3. What are my goals for the coming year?
4. What steps must I take to get each goal started?
5. What are my dreams for the coming year?
6. What steps can I take to change each dream into a goal?
7. What would I be most happy about completing this year?
8. What treat am I going to give myself this year?
9. What would I most like to change about myself this year?
10. What am I looking forward to learning this year?
11. What do I think my biggest risk will be this year?
12. At work, what am I most committed to changing and improving this year?
13. What is one – as yet undeveloped – talent that I would like to explore this year?
14. What brings me the most joy and how am I going to do or have more of that this year?
15. What one word would I like to have as my theme for this year?
Once your goals have been set, ask these questions
1. How will I structure the year to support my goals?
2. How do the elements of my lifestyle support reaching my goals?
3. How can I change the non-supportive elements?
4. Where do I need to be more disciplined?
5. Where do I need to relax?
6. How am I measuring progress towards my goals?
7. How will I celebrate milestones and accomplishing my goals?
A book suggestion to support this – Gene Hayden’s “The Follow-Through Factor: Getting from Doubt to Done” – It’s a good read – full of strategies on how to achieve your goals.
Thanks Andie! You can find out more about Andie and her work here.
