If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know that I’m always telling you to focus on what you DO want in your career and life. But today, we’re flipping the script.
Today we’re starting a series that we will carry through December for an end-of-year recap. And specifically, we are going to focus on something I never advise you to focus on.
What you don’t want.
We’ll focus on what you don’t want for next year. What don’t you want to bring with you into the new year? Do you know?
Here’s why that’s important.
Because what has transpired this year, if it’s something that doesn’t serve you, isn’t fulfilling you, that’s feedback. Evaluating at the end of the year and understanding what you don’t want to take with you in the next year is great feedback!
It’s a chance to make an informed decision about a different way to go, allowing you to make better decisions for yourself in the new year. It gives you clarity of direction because you’re saying, yeah, this didn’t work out so well for me. I’m going to try something different next year.
So we’re talking about getting really clear, giving some thought, a little thought to what it is you don’t want to bring with you into the new year.
What do you want less of? Crazy hours at work? Saying yes to everything?
What is it that maybe it is a habit that isn’t serving you, and you don’t want to take that habit or energy into the new year? Ignoring your well-being, perhaps?
What area of life is taking too much energy? It’s taking over too much of the rest of your life. It’s overshadowing some other areas of life where you’d really like to show up differently.
What do you want to throttle back on? Who are the people you don’t want to take with you into the new year? My coach calls them engines and anchors. So the engines are the people that lift you to a higher level; they fuel you. The anchors are the people that, well, frankly, weigh you down. So think about who it is that is weighing you down.
Here’s how you do this.
Sit with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, maybe at the beginning or the end of the day. And I want you to take ten minutes and let yourself go there and just think of the things and how they’re progressing in your life, how this year went. What were the highlights? What were the low lights? Make a list of the things you really don’t want to carry anymore and get that clarity about moving into the new year. What are the strategies you want to implement so that you don’t take them into the new year?
But first, you have to be aware. Awareness is the foundation of any change.
Related: Should I Take the Promotion at Work?