MONDAY BYTES — December 26, 2016
To celebrate the end of the old year and welcome in the new, here’s a kit for Engineering Your Better 2017 arranged in twelve steps to get you there.
Last week I promised the first 7 Steps to Your Better New Year but only gave you 6—my bad math! Don’t worry, the complete 12 steps are here, just in time for you to launch your better 2017.
Again, these are adapted from Your 2016 Year in Review, Dallas Travers‘ terrific work. I’ve shortened and arranged this for the musician community—and included my own take on these as examples. I found doing these very helpful and I look forward to hearing how you experience them.
In contrast to typical new year’s resolutions that end up being broken promises, these steps build on our success from the previous year, and the habits and resources we can build on. With a few days of downtime to help us detox from all the plum pudding, turkey, cranberry sauce, or pumpkin pie, let’s reserve a little time to reflect on 2016 so we can engineer a better 2017.
I’ve included a quick recap of last week’s steps (1-6) and then you’ll see the final steps (7-12). #12 is surprisingly effective—see what you think.
To get started, you just need pen and paper, your 2016 calendar, and some quiet time, and maybe the beverage of your choice.
1. Reflect back on 2016. Review your calendar month by month and list your successes: both professional and personal. Most people find they’ve accomplished more than they thought!
2. Identify themes. What in your “intentions, patterns, or beliefs—helped guide you forward” in 2016? (For me, one theme was courage: feeling the fear and going forward nevertheless.)
3. Acknowledge your challenges. Make note of what has been difficult. Dallas says look back at your behavior with compassion and honesty. (For me, I saw a number of opportunities I didn’t follow up on. It’s one area I want to challenge myself with in the coming year. What about you?)
4. Reach a sense of “Completion” for 2016. Dallas describes this as active self-acceptance. It’s not ignoring where we fell short—it’s looking at it clearly. And then letting go of the negative self-talk and any resistance to change. What does it feel like to try this new attitude on?
5. Create a healthy celebration ritual. As we’re saying goodbye to 2016, choose a positive way to celebrate the challenges you moved through and the successes you experienced. What would feel optimistic and energizing to help mark the end of 2016?
6. Envision your better 2017. Write down 3 specific goals for what you’d like to accomplish. Andrew Simonet, in “Making Your Life as an Artist”, suggests having one goal in each category: personal, professional, and artistic. Choose specific and concrete goals that will have the most positive impact on your world.
If you did these first 6 steps last week, that’s great, read over what you wrote, make any changes needed and then go on to the finish:
7. Invite Change. To bring about your desired accomplishments, what changes do you anticipate or hope to make? How would you like to make these changes? And who might you connect with to help you bring these about?
(Here’s what came up for me: one of my big projects and goals for 2017 is to finish the third edition of my book—the deadline is Sept. 1. To do this, I want to increase my productivity, to have my writing time be focused and creative. And I want to be able tune out the self-criticism. To help, I’m planning on connecting with colleagues to get feedback on specific chapters and to brainstorm with me when I’m feeling stuck in a chapter.)
What I love about this step is it focuses on HOW you can move ahead. For me picturing doing the writing with more ease and creativity is a great motivator to follow through on the reaching out to colleagues.
What changes do YOU want to invite into your life? Does your professional goal include booking a certain number of performances? Recording a new album? Upgrading your self-promotion? Attracting a certain number of students? Think it through and write it down focusing on how you want to make the changes and who you want to connect with for support.
8. Keep the good. Dallas recommends thinking about the habits and resources that you have that you want to continue in 2017. What do you want to recommit to or cultivate developing?
(For me, I’ve been finding the most important thing is regular habits—for my writing, for taking walks, and for going to bed early. I know this sounds bland, but it’s actually making a big difference in my productivity and in how I feel throughout the day and the week.)
My guess is you’ve also identified things that have been working this year that you could renew your commitment to. Write them down.
9. It’s all about relationships. Think about who’s in your life and make a list of 7-10 people you’d like to get to know or get to know better.
I was speaking with a musician last week about her “heroes”—musicians whose work she admires and whose career is a model she’d like to emulate. We spoke about writing to these people and asking for specific advice, such as their recommendations for what to read or study that would help her move ahead.
Or if they’re local, offering to take them out for coffee or lunch—to ask a few questions about how they built their careers and any advice they might have. Be intentional about the influences you have in your life. So who’s on your list?
10. Give it up. What patterns, principles, or actions are you going to commit to giving up in 2017?
I was brainstorming with another terrific musician last week about the habit of taking care of things last minute. I know I’ve been there!
The antidote is to plan ahead and designate specific time in your calendar for particular work. This can move projects ahead over time instead of panicking, pulling all nighters, and not doing our best. If that’s something you’d like to change, the habit to give up is that of procrastinating the start of projects. And the new habit to cultivate is that of planning ahead.
11. Bring your vision to life. Think about how you want to experience 2017. Make it more real in your imagination by using your senses. Create an image in your mind of you going through the year, dealing with challenges and doubts in a positive way and building your successes step by step. Write down what you picture and how you will experience it—how do you want 2017 to feel?
12. Write to your future self. Once you’ve got your better 2017 plan completed, place it somewhere you can refer to throughout the year. You might post it within eyesight of your desk or on your fridge.
But Dallas also recommends writing up your goals as an email to send to future yourself. On Futureme.org you can schedule an email to arrive in your inbox one year from today. So next year at this time you can open it and feel even better celebrating all that you accomplished!
Thank you Dallas! I just sent mine off—and you know what? I’m feeling more confident and motivated about 2017 already. I’m also looking forward to hearing your comments and feedback on what Engineering Your Better 2017 was like for you! Let me know at Angela@BeyondTalentConsulting.com
Want to work on a custom-tailored plan to implement your better 2017? Let’s set up a time to talk – reach me at Angela@BeyondTalentConsulting.com
Dream Big, Plan Smart, Live Well
