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Reflecting and planning as the new year begins: How I do this

I’m not someone who sits down ahead of a new year to reflect on the year just gone and to develop my goals for the following year…

When I think about it, it’s typically about now, as we head towards the end of January, that I sit down to do this. This gives me an opportunity to spend some time unwinding and relaxing so I actually have the headspace to do this reflecting and thinking… so here we are.  

Reviewing the year’s intentions

I don’t always follow a particular approach, but I do think about the broad areas of my life and reflect back on the past 12 months in terms of what I achieved, based on what I intended to achieve. It’s not really a review of goals for me, but rather a review of my intentions for the year. For me, the use of SMART goals doesn’t work, as things change so much over a year and especially now we are in the midst of COVID. I’ve been very fortunate in that what I intended to achieve in 2021 pretty much happened, in spite of some of the significant challenges that I faced.

Setting a focus word

We are moving into another uncertain year and one that is likely to be more unpredictable than the past two years. My focus word for this year is ‘transition’. I have just resigned from a long-term CEO role and moved into what I describe as a more flexible career journey of Non-Executive Director roles and running my coaching practice. I am looking forward to more time to spend doing the things that I love doing in 2022. 

Starting with a healthy foundation

Given the changes ahead, I encourage you to spend more time focussing on your own health and wellbeing, which also includes your mental health… I know that I will be. Getting this bit right is the foundation for achieving whatever else we want to achieve. Looking after ‘you’ is so important and yet, for many of us (including me!) these areas were somewhat neglected last year.

For me in 2022, this means things like: 

  • Daily exercise
  • Regular massages
  • Losing some extra weight accumulated in last year
  • Attending retreats and day spas
  • Catching up with family and friends
  • Kinesiology and reflexology
  • Healthy eating
  • Good sleep
  • Learning through reading and listening to podcasts and webinars
  • New hobbies
  • Going to the movies
  • Starting a gratitude journal
  • Continuing to give back to the community
  • Spending time in reflection
  • Doing new fun things

What are you planning to do in 2022 to look after ‘you’?