by Caroline Leach | Dec 28, 2015 | Change, Work/Life
Do you want to achieve more focus in the new year?
Then pick a theme for 2016 – one word that sums up your goals.
Five years ago I chose my first annual theme.
I’d just wrapped up an intense time at work, designing and delivering our company’s first leadership development program for our CEO and CHRO. This labor of love involving long hours was all made worthwhile on the final day as the 30 participants shared how the program changed their lives.
In the community I was involved with our local education foundation, leading a refresh of our strategic plan to raise money for local schools. There was also a grade-level job for my daughter’s cotillion. And co-leading my son’s Cub Scout den. Plus a bevy of youth basketball, baseball and soccer games.
Not to mention all the related parenting responsibilities for elementary- and middle-school-aged children. (And here I’m bucking a trend the Wall Street Journal reported on, about people hiding their children’s ages. Why be that coy when our own ages, addresses and more are just a few clicks away?)
Life was full. Life was good. And life was a bit too much. Too many things to do and not enough time to do them in. Not enough time to enjoy life as it happened.
That’s why my theme for 2011 became thinning.
First was thinning my calendar. The clock ran out on some of my community commitments. No new volunteer roles made it onto my calendar for a while.
Second was thinning my surroundings. Well before Marie Kondo‘s fabulous The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, I pared down possessions. Gave away things that were no longer needed. Said farewell to items that were no longer valuable.
Third was thinning my body. I started eating healthier foods and exercising more. Several months later, I was 50 pounds lighter. That called for more thinning of my wardrobe.
And it also created space for the new in my life. New clothes. New experiences. New perspectives. All by focusing on thinning and having less in my life so I could truly enjoy what I had.
From Thinning, I moved on to Building. Shining. Reinventing. Transforming.
Yes, this year’s theme was transforming. Having led so many change projects in my career, I’m fascinated by reinvention, revitalization and renewal.
My company was being acquired in an exciting, transformative deal. So I looked forward to how that would transform my career. And it did, opening up new opportunities in marketing.
Our family had transformational moments with our youngest child starting high school and our oldest teen visiting colleges, taking standardized tests and applying to schools.
We finally transformed our mid-century (e.g., outdated 1950s) kitchen with new cabinets, counters, appliances and flooring. And we’re installing more water-conscious bathroom appliances, here in drought-resilient Southern California.
My exercise routine was transformed with forays into stand up paddle boarding, cardio barre and yoga. Now if I can combine paddle boarding with yoga in the new year, I’ll be all set.
My community involvement transformed with leading inspiration for my chapter of National Charity League and serving on a mayor-appointed committee in my city.
And I wanted to transform my writing and social media presence by launching this blog on New Year’s Day 2015.
Did I transform as much as I wanted? Of course not. There’s always more to be done. But as I reflect on the last year, I’m happy to see progress. And that is what life is all about.
The theme for 2016?
Leaping.
Leaping into what exactly?
For starters, leaping into a new and exciting role at work. It melds skills I honed in corporate communications with newer skills in the areas of measuring brand health, advertising effectiveness and customer experience.
Next is helping my daughter prepare to go to college in the fall. To become more independent and make her own decision. To figure out how to create a good life.
And then there’s this blog. It’s still a work in progress. My focus is changing and evolving, along with my professional and personal life.
Writing this blog grounds me and gives me tremendous joy. It brings more flow into my life, where I lose myself in the ever-engaging process of thinking and writing.
My leaping theme is inspired by Tara Sophia Mohr and her book Playing Big.
Mohr writes, “A leap has you playing bigger right now, is simple, and can be completed in one to two weeks, gets your adrenaline flowing, and puts you in contact with the people/audience/customers/stakeholders you want to reach through your playing bigger.”
My first leap is posting to this blog twice a week, sharing it on social media and getting feedback. My other leaps? Those will be the subjects of future posts.
What’s your theme for 2016?
by Caroline Leach | Dec 20, 2015 | Change, Learning, Work/Life
One of my favorite year-end rituals is to take stock of the last 12 months.
How did I do on my goals? What am I proud of? What am I grateful for?
It’s something I write free form and by hand, as a numbered list. It’s roughly chronological, but several items inevitably creep in out of order. That’s okay. It could be a metaphor for how life plays out.
My camera roll, calendar and to-do lists all provide digital breadcrumbs to capture the highlights of the last year.
When I started to reflect on this year’s goals, I didn’t feel I’d achieved as much as I set out to do. The year started with a few big question marks.
What was going to happen when the company I work for was acquired by another company? Where was my son going to go to high school? Where was my daughter going to apply to college?
For the last 5 years, I’ve chosen a theme for each year. It’s a personal rallying cry, and all of my goals for the year fit in with it in some way. This will be the subject of another year-end blog post.
Then comes my life vision statement, as a reminder of why I’m on the planet and how my theme keeps me focused on that reason for being.
And then there are goals in the categories of health, family, career, finances, spirituality and social/community.
Health. Everything starts with good health – for me and my family. I did pretty well with near-daily exercise. And it was fun trying new activities, like standup paddle boarding, yoga and cardio barre.
My green day challenge with Fitbit is ramping it up to a daily action. And the new exercise shoes I break out every Jan. 1 are in my closet, ready to go for my 2016 workouts.
This reflection makes me thankful for good health. It always makes me think about what I could do better next year. My biggest opportunity is sleep. That is, getting more of it. My goal was at least 7 hours a night.
It was frustrating to see minutes subtracted for restlessness on my Fitbit, so I stopped tracking sleep. I wanted credit for every last minute in bed.
It’s time to try Sleep Cycle over the holiday break. I’m eager to see what it feels like to be awakened during the lightest phase of sleep, within a 30 minute period of my choosing.
Family. This has been a year of transitions. Our son finished 8th grade and needed to choose where to attend high school. He decided to continue at his same K-12 school and increase his academic commitment. Happily, heading into winter break he’s on a better path, scholastically speaking.
Our daughter started her senior year in high school. She made her list of colleges, finished most of the apps over Thanksgiving weekend and is wrapping up the few due in January. Much to our surprise, she already received a letter of admission. But for the most part, it’s a waiting game until March.
It’s like anything in life. You do your best. You focus on what you can control. And then you do your best not to worry about what you can’t control.
It’s time for her to finish her first semester strong, enjoy experiences with her friends and keep up with her job and other activities.
Also in the family arena was doing fun activities with my spouse. We worked through the NY Times-inspired 36 Hours book with weekends ranging from Malibu to Hollywood to Dallas.
We visited colleges in Seattle over spring break, went to our nephew’s graduation from college in San Francisco and returned to our alma mater for a UCLA football game at the Rose Bowl.
On New Year’s Day 2015 while I watched the Rose Parade, I decided I wanted to go the following year. That’s where we’ll be on Jan. 1, 2016.
For this, thanks go to author Laura Vanderkam and her advice to create a list of 100 dreams – or activities within a few hours of your home that you can do on weekends to make them more special.
Career. On New Year’s Day of this year, I launched this blog. My purpose was to explore the field, the function and the future of corporate communications, against the backdrop of our rapidly changing world.
Part of that change was a pending acquisition of the company I worked for. The deal closed in July. The goal I set at the beginning of the year was to contribute to the success of the merger of the two companies. Beyond that, I wasn’t sure exactly how the rest of the year would take shape.
But I’ve been surprised and delighted to find myself in a new role this fall, doing new things and working with new people. What a tribute to the company I’ve joined and the focus on developing people.
Finances. While I did save the max for retirement, I now need to focus on diversifying my investments for better performance. I’m looking forward to a financial planning day over the holiday break.
Refinance our house before interest rates rise? Check. And my goal to buy a new car? Well, let’s just say that some goals come to fruition, but not in the way that was initially intended. We got my daughter a car this summer, so she can drive to school and work. It makes all of our lives better.
Spirituality, social and community. A few highlights here are that I enjoyed my involvement with a mother-daughter charitable organization, a city committee on traffic safety and leadership of the women’s employee resource group at my company.
There were a few other community and civic involvement activities I pursued but that didn’t come to fruition. They became learning experiences in what I’d do differently next time.
Looking ahead. This year-end wrap up had many benefits. It made me smile to remember good times with family, friends and colleagues. It made me proud of several accomplishments. It reminded me that I can bounce back from adversity. And it highlighted how much there is to be grateful for.
by Caroline Leach | Dec 13, 2015 | Change, Learning, Work/Life
With 18 days left in the year, it’s tempting to put off new goals until New Year’s Day.
But now is a great time to get a jump start on what you want to accomplish in the new year.
Whether it’s physical or fiscal fitness, revitalizing your career or community involvement or enjoying time with family or friends, start now.
Why?
Skip the crowds. Being a contrarian and doing things when others aren’t often leads to a more efficient and pleasant experience.
Gyms aren’t busy right now, as they will be the first few weeks of the year. Now is a great time to enjoy a workout when others aren’t.
You can mix up your routine in early January to avoid the crowds. Exercise outside or change the time of your workout so you aren’t waiting for a machine or a spot in class.
Build momentum. Rather than feel like you’re starting from zero on Jan. 1, build three weeks of momentum heading into the new year.
It’s easier to continue along a path you’ve already started. And you can accelerate faster if you’re already moving.
Developing momentum builds commitment and confidence in achieving your goals. My Fitbit green-day challenge is energizing me to add other goals to the mix.
Develop a new habit. Science now says it takes 66 days to form a new habit, rather than 21 days, to establish a new habit.
Even with that longer lead time, if you start now you’ll be more than a quarter of the way to establishing a new habit by the new year.
For forming new habits, Gretchen Rubin‘s Better Than Before is a great place to start.
Combine complimentary goals. If one of your goals is to read more, think about how what you choose to read can drive other goals. For my learning project, much of my reading will be about marketing.
And I can read while I’m walking on the treadmill, bringing another goal together with my green-day challenge to hit a series of fitness metrics every day.
Set goals, not resolutions. The concept of New Year’s resolutions makes me cringe. A resolution sounds negative to me, like something you resolve to do or not do whether you like it or not.
It sounds punitive. And because sheer willpower is required to keep a resolution, they’re also a recipe for failure. Willpower isn’t a sustainable strategy.
Goals on the other hand feel more positive. They are affirmative statements of what you choose to do and what you will do. They can be aspirational and inspirational.
Just as you set performance goals in your professional life each year, now is the ideal time to be thinking about your goals, desires and dreams for the new year.
Just start. You don’t have to be perfect to start working on your new goals. Just begin. The future will come into focus as you do.
Take this blog, for example. I’m in the process of shifting the focus from exploring the future of corporate communications to learning about the process of learning.
The future isn’t completely clear or totally defined just yet (if it ever will be). But I’m blogging in the meantime, as I figure out the path forward.
“Take action now and learn as you go” is the valuable mantra from Just Start: Take Action, Embrace Uncertainty, Create the Future.
What could you start now that would turn into a positive new habit by the time you ring in the new year?
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