A fresh start

Sharpened pencils, new shiny shoes and a fresh outlook. This is what my three kids took to school at the beginning of the autumn term as they started another academic year with fresh hopes, a new teacher (without too many preconceptions) and a rebooted attitude. It would be great if we could do this in our grown up lives too, without having to move company or change boss. In the workplace, the financial year, budget year and appraisal rounds are often our punctuation points in our corporate story that help us to do this. However, this is often a somewhat sterile and imposed process as opposed to the energised and buoyant start that I described for school. So what can we do as individuals to make this more like the latter? How can we recreate the hope filled exuberance of a child?

Colleagues I have worked with are great exemplars of a self-driven approach. They would take themselves out of the corporate setting, a coffee shop or home for a day and uninterrupted, work on their review of the previous year and look forward to their personal hopes and dreams and goals for the year ahead. This pause in their work effort gave them a grounded approach to the coming year. It also acts as a 'guide to action' when looking at direction and new projects.

I have children's school holidays as my natural punctuation for thought and reflection and so am embarked on my hypothetical shiny shoes and sharp pencils phase as I write this piece. Being a full time mum of school children and developing a coaching and consulting business alongside this, has its challenges. Time is not abundant, interrupts are embedded into my daily life and cannot be erased. However, with time constraint comes focus and I appreciate wholeheartedly the opportunity to sit down and write this article or work with a coaching client in the knowledge that I am also fulfilling a parallel role as a parent. I know that this is a common story for many of you too, whether it be children, elderly parents, spouses/partners, dogs; we all have responsibilities which have an equally loud voice to that of our business lives. Making time to focus on your goals and aspirations which recognises the needs of all of these elements is vital. Here are a few things I am thinking about and I would love to hear your thoughts on.

As we approach the end of 2024, what are your reflections? What are you proud of? What have you learned? How will you make time to look forward to 2025? As we approach the end of 2024 what are your reflections? What are you proud of? What have you learned? How will you make time to look forward to 2025?

How do you make time for personal goal setting (beyond work-dictated appraisals)?

What tools do you find most useful in goal setting?

How do you track, re-energise and celebrate?

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