Effortless Thursdays #4: 2023 is the Year of …
What will you focus on in 2023?
The water was crystal clear and the heat along the Great Barrier Reef pulsated with an unrelenting intensity. Donning my diving wetsuit and tanks fully laden with air felt like I was going further into the furnace.
And then whoooosh.
The shimmering heat of the blue sky disappeared in an instant and was replaced by the rippling waves of the surface of the water as my weight belt brought me further and further into the cool depths of the ocean.
What’s astounding when you’re down there is the sheer variety of marine life. It’s amazing, and bewildering.
What do you focus on when there’s so much to see?
As I was reminiscing about this diving trip 25 years ago, it made me reflect on how this time of the year can be bewildering, too.
It’s a time of New Year’s Resolutions, with dinner parties and family gatherings awash with questions about what your plans are for next year.
And of “annual reviews” that hone in on what kind of year you’ve had, how well it’s gone, what you could do better next time around.
Setting goals is important, but it’s not the only way to achieve success.
They have their place to help us keep on track and aligned with what we want, but they often set us up for failure. Not that failure is bad of itself: failing provides useful information to change course, to try something different, or to experiment again.
But we fall into the easy traps of questioning ourselves - our commitment, our ability, our skill - when we’re off track.
When annual reviews and New Year’s resolutions fail…
So as we approach 2023, there’s another way that I want to offer you to try.
It helped me loosen the pressure to stick to New Year’s resolutions or quarterly goals, and focus instead on core strengths that make goals fun and easy - like curiosity.
When annual reviews and New Year’s resolutions fail, try this.
[Here’s the TL:DR version of the article:
“2023 is the year of …”
Finish the sentence by stating what you want to pay attention to and focus on.]
Over to you!
What is the focus of your attention for 2023?
For me, 2023 is the year of presence. I’ll let you know what I notice about that.
Let me know by email what you’re going to focus on in 2023!
Greetings from Derwentwater where the wind has been gusting at 40 mph at ground level. That meant abandoning a hike to the tops of the fells today, as the mountain winds were gusting at a dangerous 80 mph. Even the ducks were being buffeted around on the surface of the swollen lake.
What I’m thinking about
Presence is one of the traits of an effective coach.
It’s also important when you lead others. Here’s something I recorded in the height of the summer sunshine this year hiking along the Pennine Way about the role of presence in leadership.
That’s it for this week!
As always, I appreciate your feedback on Effortless Thursdays.
What did you think of this week’s edition? How can I make it more useful to you? Let me know in the comments, by email, on Twitter or on LinkedIn.
To your health and success,
Eric
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