Live. Laugh. Love.

WELCOME TO 2022!

Hopefully you had some time to rest and restore over the holiday period.  Some of you may have gone camping or spent time at the beach with family and friends.  Others of you may have kept low key at home with some reading or Netflix binging whilst sipping cocktails.  But some of you may not have had much of a break given the busyness of the industry coming out of 2021 and into 2022.  I am hoping that not too many of you had to deal with being sick/quarantined with Covid, but it is inevitable that some of you unfortunately had to deal with it.  If so, I hope you and your family/friends are recovering well.

Whatever you did or had to deal with, hopefully you carved out time for YOU as a part of your critically important daily self-care routine and wellbeing practice.  This will continue to be vitally important for all of us to do throughout 2022.  We will need to continue to build our resilience and put our wellbeing as a priority to ensure we are able to handle the stresses and struggles ahead.

In starting the new year, I am being very intentional about having a positive mindset and thinking about new beginnings and possibilities.  It’s a great time to focus on the future with fresh eyes and a restored sense of self and know what keeps us engaged and provides meaning.  I know dealing with the continued challenges of the pandemic can be overwhelming but all the more reason to look forward and be thinking about the possibilities that we want to create in the coming year.  The infrastructure market will be booming with many projects moving into delivery stage, so the stress levels will continue or increase.  It is important to ensure we are working on things that give meaning to our lives and keep us engaged.  It doesn’t just happen.  You have to intentionally work at it!

 

 

There are many different ways to go about this, but I did a simple reflection and then goals exercise.

Right out of the gates I hit a stumbling block!  When I started thinking about possibilities for my future, I had to first deal with some self-criticism that popped up as old baggage.  You see, I’ve been told that I am “overwhelming” and “too much” especially when I am in my “big thinking” mode.  I’ve learned over time that people who have said that are fearful and have a fixed mindset, and to not allow that to stop me from being me.  You see, I am a person who has a strong growth mindset.  You may be familiar with Stanford’s psychologist Carol Dweck and her colleagues research on Fixed vs. Growth Mindset.  This is about how our unconscious beliefs impact our ability to achieve success and can have profound effects on our choices, behaviours, and ultimately our ability to achieve our goals.  People with a fixed mindset are less likely to take risks, and more likely to quit when facing hurdles and setbacks.  Dweck’s research shows that people with growth mindsets are more likely to take on challenges and learn from them as well as experience higher success. Having a growth mindset allows you to focus on the future, achieving more growth, and learn from any failures.  If you want to know more see Carol Dweck’s TedTalk.

 

 

Website: Peoplethink.biz

So, with my growth mindset in full swing, I set aside some of my self-care time to ponder and indulge in thinking about possibilities for my future-self beyond current perceived boundaries, biases and group think.  I let myself reflect on what I wanted to achieve this year and the impact I wanted to have on the world around me.  I allowed my mind to wander and explore different ideas and think about the projects that give me meaning.  I also did some reading and took a couple of relevant short-online courses to help expand my own knowledge and boundaries.  I then spent time in mindful deep reflection.

When on this short journey of conjuring up my list of possibilities I was reminded that nothing was ever invented or developed without someone daring to imagine possibilities.  Every solution ever solved came from the place and mindset of “it’s possible”.  That gave me motivation I needed to think outside the box.

I started by writing down three simple words that seemed to be guiding themes:

Live. Laugh. Love.

I want to live authentically and aligned with my core values and do things that are meaningful.

I want to laugh more often with friends and not take myself so seriously.

I want to love what I do and be around people who share my passions.

(Noting that meaning, positive emotion, and engagement are all key pillars of happiness and positive wellbeing!!)

I then focused on goals.  I put together 3-5 goals under the headlines of Career / Personal / Wellbeing.    I then prioritised the goals and highlighted the top item I really wanted to focus on.  Taking only the top priority item, I put together an action plan where I identified 5 actions to do to further the possibility:

When I needed to start and complete the actions

Who I would share them with (accountability is key when moving outside our comfort zone),

How I will measure success.

I finished this off with a short letter to my future self to say why I was focused on these possibilities and how they aligned with my values and purpose.  All this exercise took just over 30 minutes with exception of the deep reflection and research time.

So even though I didn’t get much of a break over the holidays, I knew how important it would be for me to set some time aside to imagine the world of possibilities.  Now I’m ready to start 2022 with a renewed energy for which I feel better for which inevitably has helped my overall wellbeing.

 

It’s important to focus on “what can be” instead of the negative right now.  So, as we return to our routines, our stressful schedules, and our daily habits, what new possibilities are in store for you?  I invite you to take some time to think about what your future self is screaming out for and set course for the new direction!

 

“You have brains in your head.  You have feet in your shoes.  You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”

Dr. Suess

 

Ripple Challenge – Possibilities

Take some time to think about what possibilities you want to be a part of or create!  You can use the formula I set out above.  Think about what more you need to make your prioritised goal happen?

You may want to get a promotion but to do so you need to hone in on a particular skill.  Or you may want to change careers (seems like everyone in the world is doing that one!).  So, what do you need to do to make that happen?  Perhaps you want to focus on being a more compassionate leader to help build a stronger culture.  Perhaps it’s wanting to make time to connect more with your family and / or community in the hectic year ahead.

Whatever the case may be – set up a plan and goals to make it happen.  Think about what you need to prioritise and what you may have to stop doing to ensure your possibilities come to life!  Your future self will thank you!

Be well all!

 

If you or someone you know is struggling for an extended time, please remember that help is always available 24 hours a day