A client I was coaching this week was feeling a bit demotivated and hard on themselves that they were not kicking huge goals already mid January. Boy could I relate to this one.
A few days into January I felt like I’d failed the year as I hadn’t done any planning and goal setting for myself or my business. I was still in holiday mode after a crazy 2020 and just didn’t have the headspace to kickstart things.
Queue returning to work in the second week of January and I didn’t have the energy to hit the ground running, I felt guilty that I took a slower start to easing back into work and just working through the process.
Heading towards the end of Jan and feeling like a bit of a failure that I hadn’t really done what “they” say to do…. To hit the ground running, to hustle and grind and start the year with a bang. Luckily a coach I work with reminded me that it was perfectly okay to start the year slower and be gentle with ourselves – that generally we work so hard especially to the end of the year and perhaps instead of forcing January 1 to be this monumental reset, that we actually take that time to enjoy our downtime and the longer summer days (here in Australia). It was strange that it took another person saying this to give me permission to not be so hard on myself. But it worked. And I felt much better for it without the self imposed guilt hanging over me.
And so I told the same thing to my client who works very hard and had a huge year. That it’s important to have some downtime and let the dust settle and make some room for the big things that are to come for the year ahead. That it’s just an external perception that things have to have hit the ground running by Jan for a good year. That it’s okay to ease back in and to just enjoy “summer mode” for a moment (especially with a child at home on school holidays)… Perhaps it’s the opposite as the hibernate for winter concept – because let’s face it winter doesn’t really seem to slow down work wise.
So we decided that February 1 would be the new January 1. Or whatever date YOU feel you are ready to push the reset button, to start the engine or get your hustle on. How have you found the start to the year?
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