Today we stand at that unique point of the year 2021. We are exactly half-way through the year. Already!
Congratulations! You’ve Made it!
It’s not one to be described as an easy blissful one yet it’s one that presents us with the many opportunities.
You ask how?
Because it presents many challenges and challenges need solutions and right there is your opportunity!
Yet we cannot harness the opportunities that are presented to us or overcome the challenges unless we have a plan, a campus to keep us steadily steering this ship that we call 2021.
Maya Angelou once said, ‘You can’t really know where you are going until you know where you are coming from.’
So please take a moment and take stock of where you have come from to be able to understand where you are and clarify your path to where you are going.
If you were aware that you wanted to keep yourself focused and have some real results this year, you probably made a plan, kept notes about your accomplishments and struggles over the course of the year.
In that case, congratulations! You’re halfway there.
But if didn’t plan much at the start of the year, don’t worry. There’s a lot you can do to realign, refocus and re-energize yourself for a better final part of the year.
So just for refresher, what did you to plan to accomplish this year? Do you remember your plan, your New Year resolutions and all? What was in your plan at the beginning of the year?
Keep track of your accomplishments
Have you been keeping a record of your accomplishments? Many a time we don’t give ourselves enough credit for the things we have accomplished just because we don’t keep a clear record.
What have you worked on since the year began and what results have you produced? Be clear and have numbers ready to avoid any doubt. For example, I gained 20 more clients for my business and earned 10% more than I earned in the same period last year. Own the things you’re most proud of and especially those that brought the most value in your life or your work. This will give you enough reason to weather the storm and keep moving.
What were your struggles?
Regardless of how much you’ve accomplished, you certainly have faced struggles- especially this year! It’s important to be authentic and note both your internal and external struggles. That way, you can be able to work out a strategy to overcome your challenges or to ask for support. Is it a skill you need to learn, is it your interpersonal skills that need to improved? Could it be your communication skills that need some polishing up? Or probably it is your habits that are stopping you from reaching your highest potential.
Be brutally honest with yourself if you want to grow so that you can find ways to move forward more powerfully in the next half of the year. You still have this next half to turn things around- and you can.
Realign and Refocus
You may realize at this point that your goals were not well aligned to your actual needs, your company needs or your family needs. Or you could realize that the goal you set at the beginning of year are not helping you maximize the current opportunities available to you. Whatever your realization, this is the right time for you to realign, refocus and re-energize yourself and your goals. What you want most is not to stick to a set of regulations that you call goals, what you want is to maximize on your opportunities and finish the year stronger, happier and closer to your overall vision. Sometimes this may call for a change of course and that is fine.
Cultivate a positive mindset.
As you review your journey, it’s easy for you to beat yourself for what hasn’t gone well. I want to remind you that some things have not been in your control. Show yourself some grace, learn from your experience and refocus. Your goal is not to illuminate your failures but to show your willingness to grow and make it possible for growth to happen and for more results to be achieved by you. Think positive, think solutions and take action.
Stay Focused.
Winners never quit and quitters never win (Vince Lombardi). The fact that you have not reached your goals for this season does not mean you have failed. Keep looking for better ways, keep moving forward, keep learning and stay in action. Be proactive, pace yourself and know your goals. Don’t forget to ask for help from those who may know more or who are senior to you. You can’t do it all alone. That’s why God made man a social animal. You have all of us here for you. Make use of your networks, realign, refocus and re-energize yourself and we will meet again to celebrate your achievements at the end of the year.
Now let’s Toast to your accomplishments so far, to your resilience and your ability and willingness to keep moving forward NO MATTER WHAT!