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Choose to take responsibility!

07.01.2022

 

Welcome to 2022!

 

Have you already planned your year ahead and set your professional and personal goals? 

New Year’s Resolutions divide people: Some of us jump on this chance to tell ourselves that the new year will be the best one yet, and seize the opportunity to strive to be better, bigger and more successful. 

While others … Well, they might think that there’s no point in making resolutions because these won’t last past January 15th anyway. Some call the latter realistic, others pessimistic. 

I have enough experience in both of these camps to realise that, whichever you choose, it will turn into your reality of the year. Your belief becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

And you know why? Because this is how the human mind works. 

If you think you will be successful, and sufficiently anchor your future success in meaningful goals, then chances are that you are more likely to stick to your resolution, to maintain high levels of motivation over the year and to reach your goals.

If your goals are not well founded in a strong personal meaning or you just had an idea of why you wanted it, only to realise during the year that “why” was not significantly enough for you, you will see your motivation disappear or get errorded at the first obstacle encountered. 

 

One major decision I made for 2021 was to work with mentors. Whether these were coaching mentors, business mentors, content writing mentors, speaking mentors, yoga mentors or long distance walking mentors, I followed them, I let myself inspired by them, I studied them (both their program and their becoming and evolution as a coach). Then, I decided to act and I practiced with consistency what I decided to put in action

From some of these coaches or mentors I bought their program, and what initially seemed to me a significant expense turned to be very good investments in myself. 

I heavily followed others on YouTube, as if I would have paid them too. I was such a beginner in certain aspects of the digital marketing field, so their free programs or videos were advanced for me. I took time and was patient with my digital illiteracy, and I decided that it is just a matter of time until I will be proficient. I am still on the learning curve, but I feel confident because of the long way already done, and the results I have seen accruing. I can see the light now. 

 

My overall results of 2021:

  • all my family members are vaccinated and well (this has been the best blessing of last year)
  • 16 kg less and a much better physical shape
  • built up resilience for long walks of 20 kms
  • improved eating habits
  • daily practice of at least 30 minutes yoga
  • built the habit of doing PQ Reps (these are very effective and simple exercises involving senses that allows me to release stress fast, calm down and maintain positivity)
  • obtained my PCC coaching credential by International Coaching Federation
  • obtained two coaching certifications, both at advanced competence level, one in Transformational Coaching, the other in coaching using the concept of Positive Intelligence.
  • created my own course and a subsequent coaching program dedicated to the new managers: Growth Mindset for First Time Managers (the course) and MOMENTUM (the associated coaching program)
  • grew step by step my online visibility and communicating my brand through various channels (LinkedIn, GrowthMindset4Managers Facebook Group, and alinaflorea.net Facebook Page). I regularly write there about the mindset managers need in order for them to be successful and fulfilled.
  • made a decent living from online executive coaching and business consultancy, working internationally with clients from many corners of the world including Europe, United States, Africa and Australia.

But the thing I am probably most proud of is gaining 46 new happy clients who entrusted me with their coaching journey and gave me the opportunity to be what I feel is my essence: a catalyst for change.

Have I known back in January 2021 that all these are possible in one year? Only two of them were on my explicit to-do list, however others were nowhere in the cards at that time. 

I do remember watching back at the beginning of 2021 this video by one of my mentors: Connor Neill, senior lecturer of Leadership Communications at IESE, Spain. He speaks in it about his method of reflecting on the last year. He also provided an assessment questionnaire with several questions, which I included here for those of you wanting to do this exercise seriously. 

In listening him, what I resonated most were the following questions:

  1. What made your life good in the past year?
  2. What added to your life in the past year? What subtracted from your life in the past year?
  3. Three years from now on, what needs to change to feel more fulfilled?

I did this assessment first in January 2021 for 2020 without taking any notes, just noticing my first reaction (defense!!!), my first thoughts and my feelings in the process. It was much tougher than expected. On one hand because I felt I could not remember many happenings or events that happened over the prior year. Letting aside 2020 was spent mostly in lockdown, I realized that it was easy for me to remember the annoying moments of the year, but not many happenings that I would consider  great or worthy to be mentioned. That was a wake-up call.

It was also a tough moment of awareness acknowledgeing that my health would not go in the right direction unless I do something totally different. And, with this idea in mind, I scrutinized many of my life habits and questioned each of them. 

However, the resolutions about eating and movement I made at that moment, most probably would not have stuck with me the whole 2021, if I wouldn’t have met last February the Positive Intelligence Program.  

My luck was to stumble into the opportunity of following this program first, as a client, and then as a student willing to become a fully certified coach using the Positive Intelligence coaching method. 

I found many responses in this program, directly applicable to me, and it immediately gave me simple tools to identify my emotions and to manage my behaviours triggered by these emotions.  And I will write about them in a different newsletter because it deserves proper space.

I included for you the Year in Review exercise. Hope you will take the time to do it. This year I did it properly, in writing. It took me several days to go over all the questions. It is not long, but definitely not short. It is not meant to be filled in one breath. Hover over each question! Take your time to think and reflect! After all it will be only you with yourself. And it is enough.

I suggest it is only afterwards you will be ready to set intentions and goals. I also attach here the Wheel of Life exercise. It is even better to work them both.

Choose to take responsibility and to be accountable with any goal you chose for 2022. Be strategic in choosing them! Connect them with a deep meaning for you! Create a vision of the path for reaching them! Return periodically during the year to this vision, and check where you are on it. And choose again and again to take responsibility for your interim results. Be gentle to yourself irrespective of your result! Your value has nothing to do with those results! Final result is yet to happen! You still can act! Act!

 

I wish you lots of energy and resilience, to materialize your 2022 intentions and goals! 

 

With friendship,

Alina Florea

Your mindset trainer

 


 


 

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