Hello friends,
Happy holidays. I hope you’re staying cozy and well. This week, I reflected on a full year of being a professional coach and a design educator. To capture this year with one word, it’d be courage. I started this coaching business from scratch, coached dozens of private clients, created a group program, and taught two semesters in design school. I’m grateful for a year full of unique challenges and new experiences.
Going through a year of the unknown has tested my tolerance of risk and failure. Knowing that it’s possible to sustain myself with this work fundamentally shifted my view of being employed for other companies. There’s a sense of control and conscious choice. It’s about understanding the differences between doing something “because I choose to“ instead of “because I have to.”
The hardest thing I learned to overcome this year was the fear of being judged by others. Putting myself out there was (still is) an uneasy feeling. I learned to embrace my inner critic and focus on creating value for the people I serve. It’s liberating to be confident in my growth trajectory and align my career with the highest values.
To create a powerful year ahead, I want to share a set of questions from a well-respected coach Rich Litvin that I had the pleasure to learn from. I hope they help you reflect on the past 12 months and set intentions for the upcoming year.
Questions to reflect the past
What are you most proud of—personally and professionally?
What was the hardest thing you had to overcome? What did you learn from it?
What were the 1-3 activities or habits that created 80% of your success, happiness, and health?
Who were the 3-5 people that helped you produce 80% of your results? (Clients, colleagues, friends, loved ones).
What were the 1-3 activities or habits that created 80% of your problems, unhappiness or poor physical/mental health?
What goals did you not accomplish? What got in the way?
How are you different at the end of this year from 12 months ago?
What coincidences, lucky moments or miracles occurred this year? How did you create them?
What is one thing that you spent money on that provided the most value?
How did you waste the most money?
What are you grateful for?
Questions to envision the future
Imagine 3 years have gone by and they were the best 3 years of your life… What were the top 1-3 things you accomplished that have given you a tremendous sense of pride, success, and happiness?
What’s your breakthrough goal? (If you were only allowed to focus on one goal next year, which goal would be most likely to ensure that every other goal was accomplished—even if you were not allowed to work on them).
Who do you want to be by the end of next year?
Who in your life deserves more attention next year?
What’s one word or sentence that sums up next year?
Inspiration: The Dream of Life
Life without dreams is like a bird with a broken wing. It can’t fly. It’s necessary that we pay attention to our dreams, envision what could be possible, and march in their direction.
Alan Watt once said eloquently in his essay “The Dream of Life“
Let’s suppose that you were able every night to dream any dream that you wanted to dream, and that you could, for example, have the power within one night to dream 75 years of time, or any length of time you wanted to have. And you would, naturally as you began on this adventure of dreams, you would fulfill all your wishes. You would have every kind of pleasure you could conceive.
And after several nights, of 75 years of total pleasure each, you would say ‘Well, that was pretty great. But now let’s have a surprise. Let’s have a dream which isn’t under control. Where something is going happen to me that I don’t know what it’s going to be.’ And you would dig that and come out of that and say ‘Wow, that was a close shave, wasn’t it?’ And then you would get more and more adventurous, and you would make further and further out gambles as to what you would dream.
And finally, you would dream where you are now. You would dream the dream of living the life that you are actually living today.
Dare to dream. Dare to embrace change.
Dare to conquer your fear for a newer and richer experience.
You’re your own hero, healer, and leader.
I wish you a powerful new year ahead.
❤️
Yuan