September - an opportunity for a fresh start
It’s mid-September and this is the last of our blog revisits. I wanted to finish with this one as for many people September is the other New Year. In the northern hemisphere the new school year begins and it feels like a fresh new start as life begins again after the lazier days of summer. I encouraged you all to slow down over the summer. To make the most of the opportunity to take life at your own pace and on your terms and I practiced what I preached choosing to take the summer off from both the blog and podcast.
For many of us when we slow down and take a break from our usual routines we find ourselves considering our lives. In the past I've referred to this as sun lounger ponderings although given the fact that the British summer can be far from sunny at times they don’t always take place on a sun lounger!
The last two Septembers I’ve shared some concrete ways you can use this time to reflect on what you want and move yourself forward with your goals and I thought it would be worth revisiting these.
So, if having had a break from your normal routine you have reflected on the changes you’d like to make in the coming year here are my tips to get yourself started.
Write down what you want to achieve.
Get specific – what is it you want to achieve and by when? Work backwards from the date you want to achieve it by – if it’s in six months, where do you need to be in three months, in the next six weeks, in the next month? The more specific you are the more likely you are going to get there.
Brain storm the resources you already have that could help you.
Who in your life could help you? What have you already achieved that is similar? What or who helped you then? Write it all down because this information will help you to work out what you can do to get started.
You’ve worked out where you need to be in a month’s time so what actions do you need to take in the next fortnight?
When I’m coaching I often talk about a river. Imagine that you are on the bank of a shallow but wide river and what you are trying to achieve is on the opposite bank. There are lots of stepping stones to get across this river. They aren’t in a straight line so there are lots of possible routes. All you have to do is work out what the next stepping stone is and how you are going to move forward on to it. So, if you want to find a new job, your brain storm about what you could do to get started may have included:
research where the types of jobs you are interested in are advertised
speak to your ex-colleague who moved jobs recently
check what qualifications are required for the type of job you want
update your CV
get in touch with recruitment agencies
speak with your contact in a similar role already to ask for advice
let contacts know you are looking for a new role
update your linkedin profile
You then decide which of these ideas you are going to commit to taking action on and decide in what order. Don’t worry about lining up too many of these stepping stone actions at once. You may decide to speak with your contact in a similar role for advice as your second stepping stone and having heard what she has to say your third stepping stone is something that isn’t even on your list yet. The main thing is to keep taking action. Which brings me nicely to my next question to consider.
How are you going to keep yourself accountable?
How are you going to make sure that you follow through on your actions? It’s important to stay focused if we don’t want to end up sitting on a sun lounger next summer realising that we haven’t moved forward at all.
My advice is:
Make sure that you have shorter term goals within the bigger goal as when anything is going to take us longer than 12 weeks it’s too easy to put off action until later. So if your goal is to save money in the next 12 months make sure that this is broken down into monthly and weekly goals so that you can’t keep putting off action.
Tell other people what your goal is. This could be a friend, partner, a coach. Someone who will check in with you, support you and see how you are doing. A word of warning though. People who love us don’t always make the best people to hold us accountable. They can end up enabling us in putting things off. So, be clear about what you need from them. I had one client that knew her husband would be a terrible at holding her accountable as he would tell her “It’s okay, you’re tired, have a day off” but she knew her dad would be great at it. She knew that if she told him she wanted to exercise more so she could be healthier for herself and her family he would be right behind that, check in with her and encourage her to take action.
Find an accountability partner – someone else who is working towards a goal so that you are providing mutual support. If you are working on your fitness this could be someone you commit to meeting with twice a week for a walk or run. You are then in a position that if you back out you are letting them down and are likely to think twice about it, get your trainers on and get out the door.
Get really clear about why you want to achieve this. Write down what you want to achieve and why in as much detail as you can and put it somewhere where you will see and read it regularly. Your why is so important. Share that why with anyone you ask to hold you accountable so that they understand too.
Even when life is pretty great most of us have something that we want to work on. A dream for the future for ourselves and our families. Have a think about the advice I’ve shared today and make sure that it doesn’t just stay a sun lounger dream. That you don’t keep living as though you are going to have endless tomorrows! Be intentional and take action – your dreams for your life deserve it!
