2022 IS HERE!

What is your goal or theme for the year?

In 2017, I wrote a blog entry looking at developing themes for the year – given our individual experience(s) and journey through 2020 and 2021, I felt it was worth republishing (with a couple of edits) – keep reading:)

Did you decide on any New Year resolutions?  If you are anything like me in the past you will have given them a cursory thought and moved on to looking for somewhere with sun to enjoy anything remotely resembling summer!   By the way, who actually has HAD any summer? Please send it to me, I will cover the postage

For a number of reasons, I have a number of new resolutions this year – well, to be fair they are more like a revised bucket list!  There are a whole lot of things that I have decided that I want to learn and / or do this year.   A bundle of items are actually from existing versions of a bucket list but it’s been completely tossed in the air, re-prioritised and extensively added to – I love it.

But what about developing some goals for the year? We are nearly into February and have had time to think about what we would like to achieve for the year. So how do we approach it?

Here are some ideas to help get you thinking about what you want, get creative and planning to design a theme for 2022!

Grab a pen and paper and take some time (just a couple of minutes a day would be a good start) to jot down some things that you would really like to happen this coming year.  What are your goals?

Some ideas:

• A new career
• Volunteer for a charity or cause that is important to you
• Getting fit
• Eating healthier
• Travelling
• Starting your own business
• Being more social
• Finding a hobby
• Signing on for a course in something you are interested in
• Saving for something special
• Getting your motorbike licence or BUYING a motorbike or car that you’ve always wanted

So to help you identify some goals have a think about the following questions:

1. If you could have anything that you wanted in your life, what would that look like? Conjure up some images to help visualise a possible future state.
2. Set up a Vision Board with some of the images from point 1. Keep it somewhere where you can see it without looking for it.
3. What makes you happy? When you are doing something that you really enjoy that puts a smile on your dial, what is it?
4. When you feel motivated and excited, what are you doing?
5. When you were young, what did you envision you would be doing at this stage of your life? Do you have a Bucket List?  Write one!
6. If you already have a Bucket List – what is the priority on that list for you? Is it time to change it around?  Add items to it?
7. What do you have in your life that you no longer want or don’t want to do anymore? (Oh and this includes people by the way!)
8. If you had the luxury of unlimited time and resources, what would you do?
9. Is there anywhere special you have always longed to go? (Local right now, but nothing like planning overseas travel a year or two in advance)
10. What new activities do you want to try?
11. Is there anyone you would like to meet, or see?
12. Is there a new skill you would like to try?
13. Are you looking for a new job or career?  Talk to a recruitment agency or give me a call for a chat

Designing a theme is less about having milestones and a detailed plan (quelle horreur!) and more about opening your mind to new possibilities and new ways to enrich your life through experience and growth. It could be a moving feast of possibilities as you find a new hobby, become more social, meet someone special, and so on.

Take some time to review your answers and really think about which is most important to you in your current life – which out of all your responses, motivates and excites you?  What or who inspires you the most?

Take that and make that your theme for 2022.   Write it down where you can see it every day.  Add it to you Vision Board.  Feel it!

Support your theme or goal by committing it to paper. What is it?  How do you feel about it?  What is the first step towards achieving it?  Who do you need to talk to, and where do you need to go to find out more information about the process?  Are there any books on the subject that might help?  Any websites that could provide more detail?  Try Mr Google, Siri or Alexa or whatever tool you have – you might be surprised at some of the information available. Research, research reasearch!

Think about conceptualising the goal by creating a visual of your theme.  For example you might have decided to learn to ride a motorbike.  Your theme might consist of roads you want to ride, bikes you would like to buy (eventually!), contact details for ‘Ride for Life’ and other organisations that will help guide your learning.

Make it big, cut out pictures from magazines, put your visual on your Vision Board where you can see it every day to remind you of how it’s going to feel when you achieve your goal.

• Focus on the theme every day
• Keep a record of your progress and any new ideas you might have
• Update your visual if you have designed one
• Go the library (or buy) at least two books on the theme that will help provide you with guidance and ideas or inspiration
• Set up a budget to help support the theme

Don’t let life pass you by, you are not a bystander. Own it, be daring, be different, be YOU in all that you can be.  It all starts here.

If you or your team would like help to develop your theme and goals for the year, both (personally and professionally), please contact me at Chrissie@whitfieldfactor.com or give me a call on +64 21 769 826.