A year ago, I celebrated Christmas in England. My mother was sick, my son could not be here, and we wore masks to exchange gifts with family.
Fast forward 12 months... I am happily back in England, this time with my new-graduate son, and my mother is (at last) healthy. I'm the one who's sick! Having been struggling with some ongoing health issues, I've spent a couple of weeks in bed and have almost no voice. My family is relishing my inability to express my strong opinions, and kindly taking care of me. I am counting my blessings, albeit quietly, and working towards regaining my strength for the new year.
2021 has been a remarkable year for me, with change in every part of my life. There has been success and joy, as well as heartbreak and disappointment. It has been shockingly busy - that's a huge part of why this newsletter disappeared for many months - and the start/stop/restart/restop of pandemic life has been draining. I suspect many of you could say the same things about your year.
2022 looks very exciting at this point, though not clear or easy. So, I am boldly going to offer some coaching. As you prepare for the year ahead, take three steps:
As part of your intentional ending of one year and purposeful movement into the next, I encourage you to do some emotional processing and to recognize people who have made a difference in your year. I share tools for each of these steps below. What do you need to move successfully into 2022? How do you balance reflection and planning? Please reach out and share your strategies - I'd love to know.
Best wishes for a holiday season that brings you what you need,
Joanna Hoffschneider
Founder, Resolute Consulting LLC
p.s. About that vanishing newsletter... the middle of the year was overwhelming and the newsletter fell off the list. I realized I missed writing it, and missed the responses I receive from so many of you. Through my own year-end review it became clear it serves me, my clients, and my community, so I put it back on the list. It'll be monthly, rather than the ambitious bi-weekly pace we started with in 2021. Thanks for your patience - and for reading this far.
I love to plan! I’m a huge fan of the Passion Planner journals (I use a weekly and a daily, and share a referral code here) and their free pdf downloads are a great way to see if it’ll work for you. My year-end review was transformed last year by the Year Compass tool, available again this year (and another free download). We’ve even made our own guide for reflection.
Once you've planned though, what happens next? If you don’t actually do something… nothing!
I learned this year that my tendency to plan both prepares me and inhibits me. Interestingly I learned this lesson for client work long ago, and I instinctively balance the plan and the flex when doing work for others. For myself, though, planning can be a trap. There are two people who deserve a shout-out for pushing me through in 2022.
Sarah Kesher and I met in a buffet line at a conference about three years ago. We actually followed up as we said we would and have become fast friends, as well as colleagues and travel companions. Sarah supports me through the tough stuff and encourages me to get going. "Do more than nothing" is a mantra of hers often written in my journal on particularly overwhelming weeks!
Gary Duke has become much more than a friend. He's a mentor, a colleague, a role model, and - sometimes - my client/boss. In the happiest of coincidences we were in the same co-working space when I started Resolute. Gary encourages me to know when enough is enough, to challenge my comfort zone, and to share of myself (challenges and all) more generously than is natural for me.
Who are your people? Do they know how much you appreciate them, and why they make a difference for you? In our reflective practice handout we talk about gratitude as vital for growth. Very few of us travel this journey alone - let your people know how much they matter.
From the beginning of this newsletter there have been recurring themes: values, alignment, choice. All of these form components of integrity and underly the resolutions and fresh starts we consider at this time of the year. Here are three pillars to support a journey to living 2022 with ever greater integrity, at work and at home.
Interested in professional development for your company or industry association? Email us to learn more about Resolute's approach.
©2021 Resolute Consulting LLC | www.resoluteconsulting.co I 301 873 9481
I'm finalizing this newsletter on Good Friday. For me, this is always a Complicated Feelings Day. As a Catholic in the Ignatian tradition, Good Friday is a highly significant day in the liturgical calendar and my faith life. Whatever our traditions and faiths, we all have Complicated Feelings Days in our calendar - anniversaries, beginnings and endings, traumatic events and poignant celebrations. Today, I offer you some tips on how to manage these within your work life, and an opportunity to...
2018 to 2024... it's been an amazing ride! I told my mum that Resolute turns 6 today. Her response? "Really? That's gone fast." I wholeheartedly agree! We have some important gratitude to share: For our clients. We literally would not exist without the people who hire us! For our allies and advocates. These people don't give us money, they give us something at least as precious - they trust us with their reputations, endorsing our work and building our reach. For our partners. Working with...
Resolute would not be a success without our clients, friends, and advocates. Many of our newsletter subscribers bring us into rooms we're not in, share opportunities and wisdom, and bring encouragement and joy. We are thankful for you. This time of year invites both introspection and gratitude. It also holds a tension between looking back and looking ahead, reflecting and projecting, learning and planning. In the spirit of the season, we are holding ten spaces for newsletter subscribers to...