If you are a living, breathing human being you may have
tried that old, tired path of New Year’s resolutions. It never worked very well
for me because there was no foundation to make it happen. So this year I have set in motion what will
be a more thoughtful and productive path to an excellent 2016 in both my job
search and my home life.
Job Tip #9 – Not only
embrace the blank page of 2016…write it!
My journey to writing 2016 started with accepting an
invitation from a colleague named Hanna Cooper who is a talented Executive/Leadership
Coach. Hanna generously offered a mini-end-of-year
web retreat to create a plan for 2016.
Having ended my 2015 with no full time work, I felt this was a great
opportunity to organize myself for the year to come.
Hanna’s retreat had several valuable steps, but I will
recount 3 activities that helped me the most:
- 1 Writing down my accomplishments in 2015
- 2 Writing down my failures in 2016 (why did this one seem so much easier)
- 3 Writing down the lessons I learned from BOTH the accomplishments and the failures
This process allowed me to put on paper what had been
swirling in my head and clogging my productivity, and list out how I had grown
and became a wiser me from all of those experiences.
The freeing step Hanna gave next was to tear up the pages on
the accomplishments and the failures. With that action they became a thing of
the past. The accomplishments would always be with me and I could let go of the
disappointments. Best of all, I was armed with the valuable lessons to more
forward, unencumbered, into 2016. (There was much more to the retreat and I
encourage you to contact Hanna at the link above for any of her very helpful
services, or listen to the recording of the mini-retreat here).
For me, I have started my 2016 by getting a couple contract
assignments that bring me joy and are in my passion areas. Yes, I am still in
the hunt for that special job that is out there for me, but in the meantime,
all the processes I put in motion are coming to fruition with a more positive
person at the helm. I am writing and visualizing
what I want to see for my sons and me in 2016.
I hope you too will take the time to reflect, remove the
negative, and renew the positive lessons as you jump into a better life in
2016. If you have a moment, please comment and let me know what you have done to prepare for 2016, or where you
are in your job search.
In your corner as always, Susan
