​Have you recently had a sit back and think about what truly matters? In the hustle of life, it is often difficult to look at the big picture and evaluate what is important to you. Last week, I had the opportunity of taking part in the Mid-Year Reset Coaching Workshop held by two of our coaches Kathryn Woof and Nicola Payne.

The Life Wheel

The Life Wheel required us to rate different aspects of our lives from a 1-10. I thought my life was quite balanced at first but when I compared some aspects to others, I realised I fell short. “If you look at your Life Wheel, you will see that you need it to be balanced for the wheel to work,” said one of the coaches. I looked at my wheel and now knew which areas I needed to improve on, and that was the main takeaway of this activity: being aware of what you need to work on.

The Goal

Writing down a goal is the first step to actualizing it, and Kath asked us, “Now, what might you have to do in order to get there?” It was important that we understood what it took to achieve our goals, and that is one essential step people usually do not take into account when formulating a goal. Not only will you be more prepared to overcome it, but it is a lot harder to use as an excuse to back out, because you knew the costs before you embarked on this journey.

The Resistance

“The Resistance is what gets in your way and stops you from achieving your goal,”

The first step to overcoming resistance is knowing what form it takes. But that wasn’t enough. Our coaches wanted us to go beyond that, to dig deeper and think of specific people and things that we might have to trade off if we were to chase our goals. While it was eye-opening to realise that other people could be affected by my actions, it also drove me to the conclusion that I can redesign how I am going to achieve my goals so as to minimize any negative effects on others. The lesson here is that you have to be flexible so that you don’t forget the important things in life.

Staying on Track

While planning a goal is very exciting, the difficult part comes afterwards: sustaining it. There is a reason why most people abandon their New Year’s resolutions by February: it’s difficult to keep motivated.

Kath and Nicola came up with 9 helpful tips to stay on track and while I won’t be sharing all of them, I will share my 2 favourite ones.

1. “Find something you see every day that reminds you of the action you want to take. Keep it front and center in your life.”

This helped me when I was studying for my O Levels - I stuck a long piece of bright green tape along the edge of my study table and repeated “<11 points” (the lower the point, the better) along it. Every time I studied I would look at that tape and it would motivate me to keep on track. Eventually, I achieved my goal!

2. “Tell people what you’re working on or get an accountability partner - this may just tip the balance when you start to weaken!”

This works really well for me because I have a certain image I want to uphold, not egotistically, but more to do with responsibility and trust. I want people to know that I am someone who honors her word and can be trusted to follow through.

As someone who has been struggling to keep on track with her goals for the past few years, this lunch-time workshop was a wake-up call. I had been passively waiting for results and ignoring the failures when I should have actively found ways to overcome them. When I went home that day, I created a planner, taped it to my shelf (which I look at everyday) and have stuck to it ever since!

What is your goal and how are you going to achieve it?

If you’d like to attend 33 Talent’s next coaching workshop, check out the details of upcoming events! And whilst you’re there, do check out 33 Talent’s coaching practice!
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