By Dr. Nathan Baxter, Executive Leadership Coach
Life can be tough. Work can be difficult. Relationships can be stressful. On any given week you face all kinds of resistance to your real potential. As you wrap up the first quarter of the year, it is a good time to hit the pause button and work on regrouping, adjusting, and re-engaging your goals and full potential.
To help my clients take a fresh look at their goals, I have asked them to answer and then discuss with me the following:
- Do you feel you are making progress or merely coping on key changes you decided to make this year.
- What old habits and patterns have showed back up to hinder your leadership?
- Are you clear on your purpose(s) and do you have clarity of vision for where you are headed?
- Have you refreshed your Critical Focus List (CFL)? This is a one-page list of “who” and “what activities” matter most to you and your potential.
- Are your goals set for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters (both personal and professional)?
- Have you shared those goals with anyone?
These are not necessarily easy questions but very helpful for leaders who want to make a significant contribution with their life and who want to finish well. You may want to tackle the questions above if you consider yourself someone who refuses to settle for mediocrity.
Excellence only comes from those who are wiling to put in the work necessary for personal development. If you want to make this year your best year for contribution then you must continually up your self leadership game.
I am still haunted by my findings from personal research on life and death. Fact: most people do not finish well. Reason: their life story fell short of their true potential.
Merely coping with life is doable for most. Making a difference, living according to purpose, aligning your most precious resources of time, talent, and treasure in ways to maximize impact is certainly a road less traveled.
If you are attracted to becoming more purposeful with your life this year, then I would encourage you to do the following:
- Make 3 one-hour appointments with yourself over the next 30 days for personal development time (PDT). Guilt-free, without distraction, and highly intentional.
- During these appointments work through your answers to the questions above.
- Set appropriate goals both in your personal life and your professional life that will help you move your story forward this year.
- Review all of the above monthly. At the end of the remaining quarters this year, repeat this process.
Do you want to just survive or do you want to move your story forward?
If you need some coaching, let us know. Myself and my coaching team find great joy in helping people just like you move toward their true potential.