What's your 2020 Vision?

The dawning of a new decade is a great opportunity to undertake new things – if you know what it is you want!

Many people come to coaching because they have a sense of wanting “more” from their job, career, relationships and many other facets of their life.

The starting point is to establish what it is they really want. To ask the question:

“If there were no restrictions at all placed upon you – if you had a magic wand - what would you want to be, do or have?”

It takes time to work through this stage. As human beings we will almost immediately start to vet and then delete ideas as they start to form in our minds, often before we even articulate them!

I have found that one of the best ways to support my clients (and incidentally, myself too!) through this process is by reminding them (or me!) that every idea, no matter how far-fetched it may seem, is worth noting and then all options can be explored afterwards. Once the client has started to think about the possibilities, often the floodgates will then open, and the ideas will come thick and fast. As Coaches, there are many tools at our disposal to use to support our clients through this stage, and I have found the most useful way is to ask my clients to write each separate idea on a post-it note.

Once we feel that (for the time being, at least) that all avenues have been thoroughly explored, then we can start to filter the ideas. At this stage, because the ideas are all noted down, we can start to group things together, and see what patterns emerge. Out of this will come an overall vision for their future, and then we can start to break things down piece by piece to create a workable action plan to achieve what it is they want to achieve.

Sometimes there will be a clear “winner” – one passion/thought/need that has become a theme which appears throughout all the ideas that have been generated. This will be the thing that makes the client become so enthused about achieving it that the enthusiasm is tangible. Their physiology will change before your eyes as they start to talk about it and imagine themselves achieving it.

For other clients, things may be more balanced across a range of different areas, though often the achievement of each of them will actively support the achievement of other identified goals.

Neither one of these outcomes is “better” than the other – both will be of best service to that individual.

Identifying what it is we want on a regular basis, and then reflecting and reviewing on all that we have achieved in the last week, month or year is the key to consistently improving and developing ourselves and benchmarking our progress against our long-term plan. This is something many of us choose to do as each New Year starts, though it can be done at any time.

So, what’s your 2020 Vision??

Please do share your thoughts……