Well it’s the middle of January (already) and I wonder how many people have already given up on their New Year’s Resolutions.
Every year, we engage in this ritual. We pick a single point in time each year to try and make a huge life decision, (usually with little thought or planning). We aim to change our attitudes and our behaviour through a brief moment of reflection at 11:55pm on New Year’s Eve and expect that will suffice to allow us to reach our lofty goal. Yeah right!!
According to research, most people — 75 percent — who make a resolution fail on their first attempt and most people — 67 percent — make more than one resolution.
Why not try something different this year!
Why not just undertake the reflective task of setting yourself “one word”? One big, contextual word for the year. That’s right, no resolutions, just one word that is meaningful for you and what you want to achieve for the year ahead. It’s all part of the Choose One Word ‘Ritual of Becoming’ from Dr Jason Fox.
What do you want the coming year to represent for you? What “one word” will exemplify your contextual goal for the year. Then every time you set yourself a new goal, or a new project – you can measure it against your one word.
Now don’t go for the obvious here ok!! I know it sounds logical to pick the first word that comes into your head. But don’t do that! This takes time, reflection. Your word will be with you for a whole 12 months. Make it count. Consider: What do you want to achieve this year? Do you have a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal)? Or is this year about consolidation and sustaining what you have? Your word has to instantly represent to you what you want and how you will achieve it.
My Word
The last 12 months has seen a steady year with lots of personal and professional challenges. My goal is now for 2020 to be an action packed year and a time to really surge forward and not be afraid of change and new challenges. So…. My word for the year – PHOENIX.
I was watching Harry Potter the other night (one of my favourite movie franchises) and heard Dumbledore speak of his phoenix Fawkes. He is reborn from the ashes, has incredible healing powers and can carry exceptionally heavy loads. This resounded for me and thus formed the basis for “my word” for 2020
In ancient Greek folklore, a phoenix is a long-lived bird that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. The phoenix can symbolise renewal in general.
The next 12 months for me will then focus on the following principles:
1. Healing Powers. Focus on personal wellbeing and supporting others.
I recognise that if I am going to be there to support others, then I need to be able to “put my own air mask on first” and lead by example. This has resulted in a review of my physical and mental health. I then want to review how I am supporting the wellbeing of others by supporting individuals, teams and organisations to really put their best foot forward when it comes to wellbeing.
2. Embrace the New. Be up for the challenge.
This year, I really want to focus on reinventing myself and what I can offer in my work and will be focusing on further training in positive psychology, strengths based leadership and emotional intelligence so that my clients get the best from me and I get the best from myself.
3. Use the Sun. Rejuvenate when the tank is low
Everyone needs to recognise when they have been carrying an exceptionally heavy load and when it is time to use the sun’s healing powers to rejuvenate and refill and empty tank rather than running on empty. I know that I have a lot of people relying on me, and this requires my dedication to make sure I have the mental resilience to provide this support.
My patterns of behaviour supporting the Year of the Phoenix will include:
1) Mindfulness practices - I will incorporate 4 square breathing, gratitude, diary reflection and push points into my daily routine. I will create a Third Space practice in the transition between work-mode and home-mode to ensure my focus shifts appropriately to those that are important to me, and so I adequately manage life’s stressors.
2)Focused time - I will incorporate blocks of time dedicated for focused work and study. Arranging appointments with myself for work and study allow me to recognise the best times for this practise and how I can make the most of my input.
3)OODA Loop - I will apply the OODA Loop as a continual learning process. A method for dealing with uncertainty. By observing and considering new information about our changing environment, we are able to gain the knowledge and understanding that’s crucial in forming new mental models. By orienting we adjust our mental models to create a new perspective that better matches your current reality. By deciding we move forward with our best hypothesis about which mental model will work. By acting we find out if our mental models are correct. If they aren’t, then we start the OODA Loop again using our newly observed data.
You may see me sporting a fancy necklace - a way for me to symbolise the Phoenix. So, ask me how I'm going embedding the Phoenix mentality into my daily rhythms. Better yet, share with me your Word and we can journey on this together!
Want to know more about setting your personal goals 2020? Contact Michelle on 0412047590 or via email michelle@bakjacconsulting.com
Michelle Bakjac is an experienced Psychologist, Organisational Consultant, Coach, Speaker and Facilitator. As Director of Bakjac Consulting, she is a credentialed Coach with the International Coach Federation (ICF) and a member of Mental Toughness Partners and an MTQ48 accredited Mental Toughness practitioner. Michelle assists individuals and organisations to develop their Mental Toughness to improve performance, leadership, behaviour and wellbeing.
