Jan 1
In 2023 You’re Invited To… Laser Focus
Hello there, you brilliant minds/business superstars / sexy Bellas and beasts… :)
Welcome to 2023.
You did it! You have done so much to get here. Graciously rewarded or no, messy or clean as a whistle, thanks for doing all the things. I’m confident you have a lot to be proud of. Maybe you did too much, even?
This year I invite you to plan for less. To narrow your aperture to the critical things you want to see in 12 months.
Meaningful things. Deeply felt, vivid.
Work is complicated. You likely have many goals and resolutions.
Gut check them. Notice how they feel now.
You can ask yourself:
- What do I really, really want? What will that give me? What matters this year and going forward?
- Do my goals reflect big picture what’s important? What’s extra or missing? What are my top 3?
- If I had 20% of the time I do (time to hit milestones and/or time in a week), what would I keep?
Think more BHAG, less SMART goal (until you get to planning). As Hellen Keller put it, life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. If your goals make you excited or uncomfortable, you’re probably on the right track.
In 2023 I invite you to:
- Know your patterns and resist the usual distractions. Do you say yes to too much, go down Reddit rabbit holes, keep a billion tabs open?
- Create clarity by acknowledging and releasing patterns of under and overcommitting.
- Reorganize yourself around critical outcomes and experiences, e.g. with tailored habits, structures and social supports.
- Invest in your ability to focus, whatever tools and resources would benefit. Personally I’m a fan of the Best Self Journal, calendar blocking, masterminds, peer accountability supports and coaching.
- Commit to LASER FOCUS (this means directing your time, effort and attention powerfully, NOT becoming rigid, overly linear or deprioritizing improvisation, experimentation and exploration when these are exactly what’s needed).
Another key to laser focus is clarity on how you’re relating to key priorities. I’ll write more on this next week.
For now I’ll add that I’m a recovering self-sabotager. I’ve been successful by most standards with the test scores, full-ride academic scholarship, PhD, management consulting, solo travel sabbatical abroad, entrepreneurship and pre-pandemic adventures in NYC, successful private coaching practice and strategic advising + collaboration with a très cool early-stage startup.
And along the way I’ve had a baffling amount of work to do on being powerless, alienated and in pain, making sense of and disengaging from toxic relationships, healing trauma patterns I didn’t know I had, and biting off more than I could chew and hurting myself because of it. It’s been a ride and my body is unfortunately worse for the wear. Overall I’m still grateful, because I won’t make the same mistakes twice and because experience helps shape our values.
Focus on what matters and you will go far. Laser Focus.
If you want a catalyst in 2023 and think it could be me, schedule a call. I would love to connect. I currently have a few openings for 1:1 executive life coaching and this year I’ll launch an authentic leadership group coaching program, Elysium.
