Following goal and resolution setting (check out the blog post here), here’s how I track my progress every fortnight.
I believe, and I live by, creating my life. I made a conscience decision some time ago to not let life happen to me but direct my life myself, put intention into everything I do. I enjoy my life so much and commit to so many people and projects that sometimes I forget to take any time out. True time where I can mull things over and indulge in any guilty pleasures – usually a pot of tea and box of chocolate! – without a care in the world. I had no idea when I moved to being self employed how different a ‘regular’ day would feel. In fact, there is no ‘regular’ day anymore. I can work for hours, sometimes miss meals (rarely!) or sleep because there are so many deadlines and things I want to achieve. I may enjoy my work even more now but I need rest and reflection to be the best for my clients.
Twice a month I stop to review my progress of any goals with a timescale over 3 months and each session has distinctive purposes. I run these session every two weeks.
First Goal Review Session:
- The first progress session review is about really shining a light on the goal and asking myself, is the outcome of this goal something that still serves me? It must be outcome or output focused as opposed to dwelling on how hard it is to achieve it.
- If yes, it stays on the list, but can I make any adjustments to the process of achieving it. This could include planning for more sacrifice or less sacrifice depending on what I want to achieve and when. How I achieve a goal is often more important than the goal itself.
- If no, why not? What changed? Why does my future self no long value this goal being achieved? I thoroughly investigate what happened before crossing any goal off the list. Sometimes, the goal just needs to be pushed back a few months rather than removed entirely.
- What’s niggling me? Am I dealing with the niggle or just burying my head in busyness? What are my fears and worries about my goals? Are they serving me? Can I do anything about them? I always right my fears and worries on a piece of paper and burn it. Gone. Forever. (Or maybe until next month!)
- After making the amendments, do I still have the holistic set of goals which serves all parts of my life. I can often get a lot of paid client work but it will be at the expense of no time for exercise. I’ve learnt this doesn’t serve me. With too much work and no time to exercise I’m less of a creative problem solver and not as valuable to my clients so I need goals for the whole package rather than just serving one area of my life.
Second Goal Review Session:
- What can I invite in to serve these goals? Or, can I add more goals? There’s nothing like the feeling of, ‘I’ve got this!’, so this is my opportunity to up my game.
- what I’d like to achieve, complete, start or learn in the coming month. I simply write a list and keep it safe or email it to myself. I also set reminders. (see my post on planning work and life here)
- Review your manifesto before adding anything new. Are the changes and new goals aligned to the framework of the manifesto?
- Is the intention of the year still apparent in the goals?
Add your own twist:
These session for me signify this evening is dedicated to my goals. I don’t do client work on these evenings, I just focus on my goals, my feelings and thoughts about my goals, review the data and close the session. All lists, calendars etc must be updated before closing the session.
I do the sessions alone and close the session by having a cup of tea and some chocolate followed by a bath. I use the time after the session to ensure I’m happy with the conclusion of the session because when the alarm goes off in the morning, I’m back to clients taking priority rather than me, my well being and my intention for my business.
You can make these sessions whatever you want – music, white board brainstorming, meditation etc. The secret is to keep them interesting for you so you’ll look forward to them and have fun planning. I love working on myself, my business as well as working for my clients, I need the balance.
The outcome:
I need to create. If I don’t work hard on my own dreams someone else will pay me to work hard for their dreams. NO! If I work for someone else it’s because I want to. Not have to. I want to contribute to their story and be part of their journey. These nights I assess where I’m focusing my efforts. Am I being true to my integrity, would my real authentic self be happy?
Gratitude floods my life. Good or bad, there is always something to be grateful for. These evenings make it easy to spot the lessons I have learnt, the contribution I have made, the future opportunities to make better choices. T H A N K Y O U is easy to see.
I’m still awkward! Every time I think I’ve got my life together something reminds me I’m still a work in progress! These evenings I remind myself I’m still the old me just on a new path. I’m still like everyone else, not knowing what I’m doing at times! The only difference is I have an underlying feeling of happiness rather than sadness these days. These evenings allow me to check in with myself to ‘feel’ it’s still happiness within and there’s any sign of sadness.