I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas and that this holiday season brings you a tangible sense of peace and strength. Before you know it, we will be into anothernew year – 2024!
It’s been noted before that many people spend more time thinking about their holidays than they do their life. That’s a good reminder of the importance of taking some time to think about and reflect on our life. This time of year is a good opportunity to do that – pause and reflect, then think about the direction you are heading.
If that’s something you want to set aside some time to do, then I recommend reviewing the series we did back in December 2020 called ‘Life Think‘ – 13 episodes designed to help you reflect on and design the life you desire. You can read these as BLOG posts or watch them on the Soul Food YouTube channel.
All the best for the coming year. May it be filled with much joy and meaning for you.
I am a sports lover – especially basketball and football. In any sports game, from time to time a team will take a time out. A time out is a pause in the action where everyone can take a quick breather …. and think about how the game is going.
It’s the same in life. We can easily become so busy living our life that we don’t take time to STOP … and think about how’s going. Do we know our why? Are we becoming the person we really want to be? Are we heading in the direction we want to be going? If we don’t take a time out, we can tend to drift and our good intentions never become reality.
One of the most helpful habits I have established for myself is a weekly Time Out. It’s a 60-90 minute appointment with myself. I think it’s one of the best uses of your time you could ever make.
So what do you do in a weekly time out?
Firstly, it’s a chance to review the next steps you have set for yourself. A goal set and never looked again at is merely a wish. It’s so easy to drift and forget who we want to be and what we want to accomplish. We can easily be distracted and the urgent squeezes out the important. Reflecting on our next steps regularly ensures we stay on track with where we are headed.
Secondly, it’s an opportunity to review the previous week. Look back over your diary and reflect on what happened – your your relationships, your meetings, your appointments. Gather all your loose ends – messages, emails, tasks, incomplete projects, mail, or anything else in your ‘inbox’.
Finally, it’s a chance to preview the coming week. What commitments do you already have? Is your time going towards what is important? Do you need to make any changes or get released from previous agreements? What steps could you take towards achieving your goals? Do you have rest and recovery time? Time for self-care and fun?
I’ve been doing this for many years now and would say its one of the best habits for effective living. I have done my weekly Time Out on Fridays some years and on Mondays at other times, but right now I like to do it on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Find what works for you and how often. Maybe every few days is better for you or once a month.
Successful people know their priorities and focus their energy on them. They know what is important and they keep ‘first things first’. They use their time wisely and they ensure that urgent things don’t keep them from doing what is really important.
What’s your purpose? What’s your priority? What’s most important? What next steps are you aiming to accomplish? The issue is not whether next year will be busy but what it will be busy with. Lots of activity does not always equal significant accomplishment. A weekly Time Out helps us keep on track.
Let’s recap our main points:
A regular Time Out is one of the most important life habits.
Take time to review your next steps on a weekly basis.
Take time to review your previous week and prepare for the coming week.
Successful people know their priorities and focus their energy on them.
That’s all for today. Soul Food will be taking a break over the month of January. We’ve done 18 episodes so far. Why not review some of the ones you missed or that were most helpful to you. See you in February!
With the new year not far away, a lot of people start talking about ‘new year’s resolutions’. Do they work or don’t they? Are they worth setting or just a waste of time?
Well, research indicates that 25 percent of people abandon their New Year’s resolutions after one week. Another 60 percent of people abandon them within six months. Interestingly, the average person makes the same New Year’s resolutions 10 times without success. Amazingly, even after a heart attack, only 14 percent of patients make any meaningful change around eating or exercise.
What’s the point? Change is hard! And New Year’s resolutions don’t tend to work … but goal setting does!
Psychological studies reveal that the simple act of setting goals then writing down them down increases your likelihood of achieving those goals by 42 percent. There’s power in written goals.
Now I’m sure that some of you LOVE setting goals. If you do, you probably know about SMART Goals.
S stands for Specific. They’re not vague or general.
M stands for Measurable. They are quantifiable.
A stands for Actionable. You can do something about them.
R stands for Realistic. They might be difficult but they are possible.
T stands for Time-Bound. They have a deadline – a date for completion.
Saying I want to lose weight is not a SMART goal. But writing down, “I want to reduce my weight to 95 kg by the 31st December” is. That was one of my goals for this year.
Simply saying I want to get better at helping other leaders is not a SMART goal. But writing down that, “I will complete a Diploma of Professional Coaching by 30th June 2021” is. That’s one of my current goals.
On the other hand, I am sure some of you don’t even like the word GOAL! It all sounds a bit corporate to you. I understand.
So why not think about your life in terms of your next steps?
Think back through the roles we discussed in last’s week’s episode – the many hats that you wear. What are your current roles? What kind of a person do you want to be in each role? What would you like to accomplish in each area this coming year? Now start thinking about your next steps to ensure that vision you have for your life becomes more of a reality this coming year.
With little or no effort, we tend to settle into old patterns and habits. It takes a great degree of effort to escape the inertia of the comfort zone. That’s why next steps are so important. They motivate us to move forward, to leave familiar, comfortable terrain and explore new frontiers.
One other insight … best-selling author Jim Collins encourages business leaders to set 5 new goals for their business at the beginning of each year … and decide to STOP doing 5 things. The magic is in deciding what to STOP. You can’t keep adding to your life year after year. You have to STOP doing some things to create the space, time, and energy to ADD new things
Let’s recap our main points:
Carefully crafting written goals is more effective than making New Year’s resolutions.
Consider what you want to STOP doing in order to make room for new things in your life.
Set some compelling next steps for each role in your life – ones that you will be excited to work towards.
