No more persecutory New Year Resolutions

If we’re not making New Year resolutions today then we’re actively “not” making resolutions – there’s no escaping the pressure to think about doing things differently in 2007. But so often, New Year resolutions turn into a persecutory list of “shoulds” as distinct from a list of “coulds” and some time around mid January we give up and say “what’s the point?” I don’t want to live my life as a “to do” list so this year I’m trying to think about it differently.
Most resolutions or plans are really a way of us articulating how we want to “feel” when we’ve achieved the task in hand. Yes – we’ll have tangible outcomes etc but more often or not we’re trying to achieve a gut reaction, a new sensibility that tells us that things are “right”; on the “right track”; we feel confident or secure that there’s a shape to what is about to unfold….Lists are a way of managing our anxiety about the unknown that is the future.
So for 2007 I’m not making any lists of things I should do. Instead I’m making a list of how I want to feel as the year unfolds and so far it looks like this.
1 I want to feel confident that the work I’m doing matters to my clients and to me
2 I want to feel excited by the relationships I create with clients, co-workers and those I bump into along the way in 2007
3 I want to feel intellectually stimulated by the projects I embark on
4 I want to feel “full” intellectually, emotionally and creatively by the conversations I participate in in 2007
5 I want to feel satisfied that the choices I make in all areas of my work life are nurturing, healthy and contribute to my growth and deveolopment as a consultant
6 I want to reach December 2007 happy that I was present – really present to my self, clients and colleagues throughout the year.
How do you want to feel about your professional self as 2007 unfolds?