Like most hard working professionals, every year around the mid December time frame, I start to wind down projects, clean up paperwork, organize my desk and office space, minimize my demanding travel schedule, and bring outstanding financial matters to a close. I do it so that I can breathe a bit, rest a lot, reflect on successes and lessons learned, and set goals for the upcoming year. I call it my time my annual sabbatical/retreat/vacation, and time of reinventing myself.
A Change of Venue Is a Good Idea When Making Plans. I’ve developed an annual ritual, and I’ve done it for at least the last ten years, of just getting away to a tranquil, quiet, tropical paradise where I can think and reflect. I review my successes and accomplishments for the year just ending. I look at setbacks I’ve experienced and mistakes and missteps I’ve made. And I figure out what I need to do differently to reprioritize, revise, or just reinvent myself. Whatever time works for you, I recommend that you just get away and do it. I do it at the end of the year because the first part of the New Year is approaching and it’s the best time to be thinking about making a new start. I don’t recommend setting New Year’s resolutions, because by most accounts, 50% of them are broken by Valentine’s Day and 75% are broken before April 15.
I recommend having a Life Plan and setting goals towards achieving it. A Life Plan is a roadmap of your life’s purpose, mission, and vision that spans out over your lifetime. It identifies WHAT you want to achieve, HOW you want to achieve it (the goals and tactics) and what resources/skills/experience you need to make it happen, WHO you need in your life to support you, and by WHEN you will achieve certain milestones along the way. And each year, each quarter, or even monthly, you should refer to it so that you remain focused on your goals, and make any necessary adjustments that life’s realities require.
This time every year is a great opportunity to revisit your life plan (or for some, to establish one for the first time) to ensure that you are on track or to determine where you need to make adjustments. I use this time away to identify those things that I need to put into place so that I have the rest of the year to make those things happen. And I certainly don’t want to repeat the same mistakes of the previous year, so it’s important to inventory what worked and what didn’t.
For me, it means getting away from home. I recommend you do that too because, if you’re like me, being at home it’s too easy to look around and see everything that needs to be done. It’s so easy to get interrupted with phone calls when you’re in your own house. If you’ve got children at home as well, obviously, you’re not going to have a whole lot of peace and quiet since they are on school vacation. There are just too many distractions. So it’s good to get away—even if you have to limit it to a day or two. It might be an overnight trip; it might be to a friend’s house where you know that it’s going to be a quiet place where you can have peace. More often than not, friends will respect and appreciate your need for alone time.
So, as we set goals for ourselves, it’s important that we think about our broader life plan and not just set New Year’s resolutions that are often unrealistic, unachievable, and lack our true commitment. We need to make sure that, despite all that’s on our plate, we are reprioritizing our goals, staying on track, remaining focused, and making sure that we’re disciplined and directed toward accomplishing our true WHY in life. When we don’t take time for ourselves to smell the roses, reflect on each year, celebrate our successes, acknowledge our missteps, and reinvent ourselves for each New Year’s opportunities and possibilities, we take the risk of burning out, repeating mistakes, and becoming stagnant, bitter, and apathetic. Ultimately, it can mean vacating our life’s goals altogether and settling for “whatever life brings us” versus ‘creating’ the life that we want.
I challenge us all to establish a Life Plan. Begin with the end in mind. Where do you want to be 5 years from now, 10 years from now,
and in 20 years? What dreams do you continue to leave behind because they seem so elusive and unobtainable? What opportunities are you talking yourself out of because of fear? Are you your biggest obstacle to success? Do you have the wrong inner circle of relationships with people who are no better off or no more successful than you? I challenge you to get out of your own way. Get out of your head and step into your greatness this year. Reinvent yourself and start living the life that you were created to live. Only you can make it happen…And it starts with a made up mind and a plan. Begin your journey today.
For more tips and strategies on Reinventing Yourself in 2016, download my eBook or order a hard copy of my book today at https://new.drshirleydavis.com/product-category/books/
And for a limited time only, I am offering The Ultimate Success Reinvention Package including 6 personal coaching sessions, books, and other development resources that will help you establish a Life Plan and begin to take your life to the next level. Invest in yourself today and begin your journey of reinventing yourself for success. Only 25 slots available.
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