So 2017 was all about setting directions.
Setting goals.
Completing things in support of a broader plan – all aimed at securing a firmer vision for myself that was years down the line.
I knocked out a ton of things for myself on a variety of fronts that I had set for myself given the sabbatical that I took that year in Clearwater, FL. The groundwork was laid for the entire year during that focused few days.
Well, 2018 started off similarly with a very focused approach to honing in on the action plans that were established in the second half of 2017. One year seemingly flowing into the next with a variety of goals setup for Q1.
Q1 goals were aggressive, I had a few breakthrough targets both at work and outside of work for Q1 – all them were hit. Q2 was where the need for some space began to truly take root.
Somewhere in the course of April/May – I realized that I needed to reset some expectations, and re-establish some goals that had to tackled first before I could move onto the goals I thought were next. Reordering of priority, reshuffling of backlogs. Similar to how I live my work life – these concepts do have carryover.
I realized on the fly that the 84 Days was something I had to do to break through my lack of regular and somewhat stalled daily writing habit. This idea of writing content every day, not necessarily publishing everyday was a goal I had set for myself at the beginning of the year.
And so this blog on this site was effectively relaunched in the spirit of uncovering and broadly sharing my authentic voice online. No more hold backs. No more reluctance to get after it online like I do in person. No more blind forwards on LinkedIn without any opinions.
The volume was going to be turned on from here on.
Some days it was loud, others it was more muted.
It was during Q2 that I readjusted my seeming need to have well established goals that were tightly planned.
No for the rest of the quarter and until I felt like I was ready – I’d skip the traditional 12 Week Year planning cycle that I was really using heavily for the past few years.
I needed a break from the hard nosed – definitive goals in all areas of my life.
Make no mistake – at work the hard nosed goals and deliverables continue unabated – even today.
Outside of work though – I needed to deliberately increase the space in my life
The habit cultivation of daily writing was a freeing habit – it unlocked and continues to unlock way more creativity and connections than I knew was inside of me. This has a myriad of benefits spanning every endeavor that I am involved in at the moment.
What also became obvious – particularly in June – was a need to dial back across the board.
A need to stop pressing so hard.
A need to flip a few dynamics in my life from a push to more of a pull dynamic.
I instead insisted on having the goals come to me, instead of me driving to the goals.
At first this was very, very uncomfortable and counterintuitive. I did this in certain areas of my life – I let go, and decided to put the daily work in on my habits and continue to move forward on previously set goals without the need to pressurize myself on the goals being attained.
I was after all doing at least one blog post every day, truth be told – somedays were overloaded than others given my work and travel schedule – yet a nearly daily writing or editing session did pull quite a bit of time. For me, this writing and relaxing on goal pursuit were the goals in the later part of Q2 and much of Q3.
Somewhere in mid August, the clarity for the rest of the year began to emerge across many aspects of my life. There were a number of things going on for me personally in August that were likely triggers for a the majority of the goals that were emerging for the rest of the year.
Yet, I did not purse the refinement of the goals. I instead captured them, and wrote them down. In some cases, they were online resources or podcasts that I had to save off for further review – as I knew there were nuggets of truth.
Then about 3 weeks ago, I had another series of really strange coincidences occur in the span of three days. This set of conversations and coincidences are going to be a big part of the second half of the year. They are complimenting so much of what I have going on in my life – it is another one of those seemingly obvious things that I should have been doing all along given my background and interest level. Now I see.
And maybe that’s the point of this multi-month exercise of surrender.
I put the request out there to have the second half goals come to me believing that the right things would emerge – provided I continued to do the daily things necessary to provide a landing spot for the creative ideas, innovative approaches, and freshened energy levels that I believed to be heading my way.
I was rewarded
I am refreshed.
I am convinced that the things I’ve really begun to focus on recently – are the righteous things that warrant my attention
I am ready to rock out the next few months with a renewed approach that will carry me through what are sure to be some intense days and nights – only to bounce back the next day even more charged up for taking the day.
2018 has been a weird and winding year. Very, very non linear.
Yet, I believe that is how most breakthroughs are experienced. Many times, the innovation, the breakthrough – it is not recognized at the time when it happens. It is many times only obvious – months and years later after you have experienced the long tail of those moments when the blockages were rolled away.
Non linear progress is definitely a theme for the year, and I am very excited about being able to now let go for a month or longer – knowing that the results will still arrive.
Sometimes the need to press is a limiting factor.
Sometimes the need to press hard is what triggers breakthroughs too.
The magic is when you have the awareness and the skill to apply both at the right time.
This is something I’ve learned to do more effectively than ever before.