What do you ‘actually’ want?
As we turn the calendar to February, it’s important to reflect on our achievements for January and continue to plan and adjust for the coming months.
The next two steps in my professional planning process include “identifying my wants” and “gratitude & purpose”.
First, to give myself a clear picture of where I want to be and what I’m working towards, I write down three different types of “wants”:
Personal and Professional Goals
Promises to myself
Describe what I want my life to look like one year from today
The reason I use three different methods is because each method on its own is restricted.
But when I write potentially the same ‘wish’ or ‘want’ down in three different formats, the blended result is so much stronger. Plus, I also clearly lay out HOW I plan to achieve each item.
It’s so important to make strong.
impactful and motivating goals!
No vagueness or ambiguity.
This helps me to stay accountable and understand what my next steps are without opening up the opportunity to hesitate, second-guess or talk myself out of something.
The third step is to start being clear with what is important and what is not important in my life to help me grow and make the changes I want.
First, I write down everything that I am grateful for and how each directly impacts my current life today.
How would my life be different if it was missing, and how I anticipate it to impact my life one year from now?
I also make a second list of items, ideas, plans, clothes, people, etc. that are distracting me or negatively impacting my life, my choices, my financials, etc. and identify at least three from the list to purge that are no longer needed or do not serve a purpose.
To sign-off, I’d like to share one of my favourite quotes:
“Constantly raise the bar with yourself! […] Keeping your personal promises is the single most underused, undervalued and ignored source of power for people. […] Make bold promises that go beyond what you think you can do and then turn your life inside out to keep them!” -- Gary John Bishop