Are You Ready For Your Future?

It’s there for you to discover!

The closing of a year is an excellent time to reflect.

Taking stock of your life is so vital. It allows space for gratitude and hope. Slowing down during the holidays can be difficult, but so very important.

For many, it has been a tough year. Work and personal life can be so challenging, stressful, and uncertain with the continued presence of the pandemic.

However, it is time to pause and consider your future.

Lesson to Learn

Pausing to reflect is a natural process that helps you prepare for a better future — the very act of slowing down and stopping changes in how we see our lives.

Calming our lives — even for a few moments, hours, or days — gives us the capacity for self-care and for plans to reengage more productively.

Constantly advancing is an excellent way to achieve burnout and regression. Sometimes the best strategy is to stop.

Stopping provides a time to reflect and assess. In these times, this can offer insights into what is next.

Even if this only provides for the next incremental step — that is real progress!

Answer for Me

The end of a year is often the best time to pause and review my life in its many facets. There is something almost magical about endings.

Although they can lead to sadness, most are also about new beginnings. Just turning the calendar ahead to January 1 offers a new beginning.

Why? Isn’t it just another day? Ironically, it is not for most people in the world. Nevertheless, it marks a new beginning — or at least the opportunity for a fresh start.

I use a new year to let myself contemplate resets and new chances. I use the season to say to myself and others, “What is now possible?“

For me, I see beautiful opportunities ahead. Despite the ongoing pandemic challenges and other chaotic events, I see opportunities to identify small changes I can make.

Then, I craft them into new habits and routines. One is to connect with family and friends more this coming year. There are so many ways to do this with modern technology. I have developed a simple list of who I’d like to spend time with and have committed to contacting them.

A fresh start in this area feels uplifting and puts me in a good mood.

Action

What will you do to pause, reflect, and recommit in the new year ahead? Can you commit to stopping, reviewing, and starting something new?

What benefits can you imagine from this approach? Who can you tell about your efforts that will enhance your chances of following through?

Commit to pausing — and then take action to renew your life. Make even the slightest commitment to yourself.

This will help you follow through and make your life even a little bit better in the coming year. Be bold if you can. We need courageous people in today’s world.

I thank you even now as you contemplate what you might do!

Daily Habits

Do not convince yourself this needs to take a lot of time and effort.

Can you imagine what a five-minute pause each day would do to your life? It could forever alter your life and the lives of others!

Even a five-minute pause, reflection, and commitment to a small action will change your overall outlook and build momentum.

Daily habits have profound impacts on our lives. Use the new year as an opportunity to add new daily routines into your life.

Never underestimate what even a small habit can do for you. Minutes can change your life.

Start today to find your future!

Do you want more insights?

To learn more about leadership, visit me at www.macny.org.

To get a copy of my book Present-Future Leader, click here.