Good day, team,
The coach’s challenge this week could be called “checking in mid-year.” I often find that checking in with myself around June 15 is a good idea. It gives me a chance to assess my progress toward my personal and professional goals. Did I continue with the exercise and diet program I pledged myself to last January? Have I been able to meet the goals I set for my business in the first quarter of the year? What’s been happening that I didn’t expect, and how have I been dealing with that?
It’s easy to start something. But it’s not so easy to hold to our commitments by consistently working day by day toward meeting them. We are often distracted by curve balls that distract us from our initial objectives. So much of our success, both professionally and personally, rests on our ability to remain flexible. Sometimes we have to turn on a dime in what seems to be the right direction in the moment. But these improvisational maneuvers can throw us off our original course.
It’s difficult to hold steady in the face of change. Usually, once I set a goal I also have an idea of how that goal will be realized. I am often surprised to find that the way I thought it would happen is not how it happens at all. I get to my destination, but the road I have taken to get there doesn’t look the way I imagined it would. I have to be open-minded about what I encounter along the way. It’s good to acknowledge that things don’t always go as we’ve planned and that not knowing how events will unfold is part of the adventure. As the Irish would say, “Ahhhh-it’s a mystery.”
Your challenge this week is to take stock of your year at this half-way point. Did you set a goal last January that has gone by the wayside? What goals have you met, and are you setting new ones for the rest of this year? What have you learned that has significantly changed the way you see things? Are you growing personally and professionally?
Be honest with yourself. If you set a goal that hasn’t been realized, and you still have it in your sights, recommit to it. What do you need to do to get yourself back on track? Give yourself a pat on the back for what you have achieved, and ask yourself what you need to do to re-energize for the rest of the year. Lastly, have you taken a vacation yet? There’s no better time to re-evaluate where you are and where you’re going than when you’re recreating (re-creating). And finally…it’s summertime! A perfect time to stop and smell the roses.
Have a great week!
Kathleen
Kathleen Doyle-White
Pathfinders Coaching
(503) 296-9249