Pausing and Planning for 2020

This December, I am dedicating a chunk of quality and focused time to build explicit 2020 goals, strategies and action plans for LHS Coaching and Broad River, the women’s networking program I initiated this year.  Before planning forward, I am taking a “purposeful pause” and looking back at 2019.  Taking a “purposeful pause” to reflect is valuable for anyone regardless of what type of goal setting you are undertaking: for your personal life, your business, your career, your fitness…

Here are the primary questions I am asking myself and that you may want to consider as well:

• What have I accomplished in 2019?  (I am considering all aspects of my life here, not just my work/business)
• How did my accomplishments align with the 2019 goals I set last December?
• What did I learn in 2019?  (This is my favorite part!): What went well and what should I keep doing?; What could have gone better?  What should I stop doing altogether or approach differently to be more effective?; How should my 2020 goals evolve given all that I have experienced and learned this year?

The “purposeful pause” is particularly valuable as I consider my answers to these questions.  Through-out the year – I do ask myself versions of these questions – but I have not taken much time to purposefully consider the implications or make significant adjustments.  This month, I will be more critically assessing the implications of my answers and building my 2020 goals, strategies and plans from there.

Here are some things I am already considering:

There is a lot to celebrate! Many of us have a tendency to focus on the negative first.  I accomplished a lot to be proud of and likely you did too.  Remember to celebrate your successes – big and small.

What’s really working for me: Connecting and collaborating with other people.  Almost all of my key accomplishments that I am most excited by and energized about are powered by connections established with other people and collaborations.  I will continue to build on that in my 2020 strategies and plans.

What could be better: Setting goals with quantitative, objective goals.  While I did set some pretty explicit goals and strategies last December, they were primarily tied to qualitative, subjective metrics.  For example – one goal was to launch my website – check, launch achieved.  But, I did not consider how to measure a successful website - how many new contacts generated, how much time and resources spent updating it.  Without the more quantitative goals, it is more difficult to really assess success and adjust strategies on-going to enhance effectiveness.  Launching my website is certainly one my accomplishments for the year BUT I don’t think it is working as hard for me as it could.  I will be setting some quantifiable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for my website this month and will use those metrics to guide my 2020 planning.

What else have I learned: be clear about my intentions and what I want to get out of every activity I undertake.  I started setting intentions consistently this Fall when my commitments began to feel overwhelming.  By purposefully considering what I wanted to achieve from each new activity, idea or opportunity that came my way, I became more engaged and effective overall.  And – I have started to manage the level of energy and time I commit to each activity based on what outcome I want to achieve.  I am thinking that combining intention setting with quantitative goals is going to be really powerful for 2020 planning.

Take a moment: How are you thinking about 2019 and 2020 goals?  How can you fit a purposeful pause into your 2020 planning?  How will your 2019 reflections influence and shape your 2020 actions?

Taking a “purposeful pause” is a practice I advocate for in my coaching.  If you are interested in collaborating with me to navigate through your “purposeful pause”, set-up a complimentary discovery session with me and let’s consider the possibilities.