Sustainable Ambition Forum - 12.21.21
Hello friends!
Can you believe it? We made it through the second year of the pandemic and 2022 awaits. I hope you’re ready to start to put to do’s down and s l o w i t d o w n during these last days of the year. Let’s start to pause and carve out space to enjoy ourselves and time with others, indulge in rejuvenation, and find moments of calm to reflect.
With that as grounding, I offer these ideas to help you enjoy the end to your year:
Create a moment to commemorate the year. In the book “The Power of Moments,” the Heath brothers talk about how small moments can add meaning to our lives. How can you create a meaningful moment to honor what’s transpired the last twelve months and close out the year?
Wonder has been in the air (example 1, example 2, example 3). It can take on different meanings. What if you leaned into awe and wonder over the coming days? It might make you think about your experiences differently and transform them. Or as you look to the new year, what do you wonder about? What is sparking your attention as you turn the page on the year?
Connect and create meaningful experiences. Below in the round-up, I share old and new inspiration to encourage connection and to fuel interesting conversations (other than talking about work and career!) with others over the holidays.
Reflect and look forward. Finally, I offer A Practice: 9 Questions to Close Out the Year & Welcome 2022. I encourage you to give yourself permission and make time to look back at your year and look forward to the one ahead. The 9 Questions ask you to reflect, evaluate, and tune-in, then follow that with writing letters to 2021 and 2022. Have some fun with it. I really appreciated doing this exercise myself.
Thank you so much for letting me into your crowded in-box this year. It’s an honor. I wish you a cheerful and happy holiday! And I look forward to being with you in the new year!
Warmly,
Kathy
P.S. I’m also sharing a few announcements below! In January, I’ll be posting a series of podcasts to accompany the launch of the Sustainable Ambition 12-month Workbook+Planner to help you build your Life+Work Resilience Rx. Consider doing your planning with a group of friends or a group at work. I’ll be providing guides for both at the start of the year. Keep a lookout for more details!
Coming soon!
The Sustainable Ambition 12-Month Workbook+Planner:
Your Life+Work Resilience Rx
Want to kick off your year with a better plan around how you want to stretch yourself in the coming year, while also sustaining yourself?
Look for our new Workbook+Planner in the new year to help you take back control and plan a more ambitious and sustainable life+work for the 12-months ahead!
The Round-Up
1. Get inspired. See humanity from your left hemisphere, and there imagine and be a part of a better world. This is an oldie, but it’s such a goodie. I rewatched this recently, and it brings me to tears each time and puts me into a different space. Hear Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor and her stroke of insight to make you newly wonder about what can be created in our world.
2. Get motivated. Listen to this podcast series from the House of Beautiful Business on transforming the state of the world, and ourselves, through more conscious relationships.
3. Prepare to gather. Refocus on connection as you plan to gather with family and friends. Hear the importance of The Art of Gathering from Priya Parker.
4. Show up with interesting questions! This holiday have better conversations. Use these On Being guides.
5. Or try these fun prompts. Have playful conversations that help you better understand family and friends with the Proust Questionnaire.
6. Or try these to know those you love. Fall in love with everyone at the gathering with these questions.
7. Or ask people to share a story. Thank you to Jenny Blake for recommending, “Storyworthy” by Matthew Dicks, as it’s been a welcome read. One of the things I love most is the practice he recommends called Homework for Life where you chronicle a story from each day of your life. To capture story ideas, he decided to ask himself: “If I had to tell a story from today—a five-minute story onstage about something that took place over the course of this day—what would it be? As benign and boring and inconsequential as it might seem, what was the most storyworthy moment from my day?”
What I love about this prompt, is that it could have so many benefits:
Getting us to pause and reflect and raise our attention
Seeing threads that show up over time
Really taking in moments to help build resilience, as Dr. Rick Hanson notes in his research
Turning it into a gratitude practice
Identifying stories to tell about yourself to help build your sense of identity
Finding meaning in our days—from what might seem mundane yet is meaningful to the wondrous
Helping you slow down time by acknowledging each day
... And, what if this holiday you had this as a conversation starter for any event. Ask people: What was the most storyworthy moment from your day? Something interesting or where you had an ah-ha and a shift in mindset? Or, a moment that caught your attention and made you pause?
8. Experience the reward of being present: What it looks like when we get present and stay in the moment.
9. And beyond your loved ones, a reminder that kindness exists and can be given. In the spirit of the holiday, everyone wins with kindness.
A Practice: 9 Questions to Close Out the Year & Welcome 2022
2021 has been another unprecedented year, and as we continue to come out of our cocoons and shape our new worlds, the end of year and the beginning of another is a moment for reflection.
Give yourself permission and make time to look back at your year and look forward to the one ahead. I offer 9 Questions to reflect, evaluate, and tune-in. Then have a little fun writing a closing note to 2021 to commemorate the year and a welcome letter to ring in 2022.
I wish you a celebratory, calming, and brilliant close to the year!
Get the Questions here >
Or, if you prefer to follow along with me on the podcast, find the episode on Apple Podcasts or here on our website.
Coming in February!
Develop your Leadership Brand
Want to have more impact in your current role or be able to communicate who you are as a leader to land your next gig?
Plan to join me for a February Craft Your Leadership Brand Workshop.
I’d love to have you join me! Look for more details in January.
The Monthly Progress Practice: December
At the beginning of the year, we shared our Monthly Progress Practice. Progress happens through small actions, so we offer a monthly practice of small actions or micro-habits to inspire positive change this year.
Our guidance for December: Contemplate. Be mindful through contemplation and reflection without judgment. Step back and look at things anew with openness to see things differently for the year ahead.
Find Your Guide:
Find the perfect guide to match your journey.
“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.”
— Confucius
//
Want to sign-up for Sustainable Ambition™ Forum, our newsletter? Join here!
SUSTAINABLE AMBITION™ IS ABOUT CRAFTING A FULFILLING CAREER TO SUPPORT YOUR LIFE FROM DECADE TO DECADE.
It is centered around articulating your personal definition of success and achieving that without burnout while honoring your personal aspirations and ambitions as they ebb and flow over time. The end game—more fulfillment and ease in your professional and personal life, while still being ambitious.
We offer 1:1 Executive Coaching, Leadership Coaching, or Career Strategy Coaching, as well as VIP Leadership Brand Sessions and Workshops on a range of Sustainable Ambition topics. We also provide tips and inspiration, advice on career management over the decades, guides on key Sustainable Ambition topics of interest, and coverage of tools and inspiration.