Weekly writing on decision-making, authority and leading under pressure. For leaders who want thinking, not motivation.
September is the New January
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So you were lying on a beach, or having an Aperol on a terrace, or maybe sitting in a field and you realised that you were relaxed. That, a few days into your well-deserved and long awaited holiday, you felt like yourself again. And then you turned to your significant other and you said something about thinking you were ready for a change. That when you get back to normal life and the kids go back to school you were going to dive into that important project, go for that promotion or figure out what to do with the next phase of your life. Am I right? And here we are. It's September, life is more or less back to the usual rhythm. The tan is fading. Summer clothes are no longer in the rotation. The inbox is filling up. So what are you going to do? Are you going to let those good intentions go to waste? Or are you going to do something about it? There are good reasons to make a fresh start in September, not January. January comes loaded with resolution fatigue, "New Year New Me" baggage, and a stigma because we've all failed at resolutions before. September doesn't have that baggage. And the landmark is older than we realise. School terms taught us what a fresh start feels like before New Year's Eve ever did. The feel of a new school bag is linked to this season. Also, the Fresh Start Effect is real. It's not folklore. And it can be measured. Dai, Milkman & Riis, 2014: Google searches for diet, gym visits, goal commitments all spike after temporal landmarks. like Birthdays. Mondays. New Year. The start of a school term. But this will fade. You know it will. So, harness that summer energy. The real you focus. And do something about it now. Before it is too late. And, if you need some help with that, spend 15-minutes talking to me and I'll tell you if I can help. Paul did that on Monday and he's already having transformative insights through coaching. As he said to me yesterday, "I should have done this years ago". Have a brilliant day, Stephen -- If you’re curious whether coaching could help you find more clarity or direction, book a free 15-minute Clarity Call and we’ll explore it together. If you want help to think about where problems might be arising in your organisation, try my Complexity Pressure Check. For anything else, hit reply. I answer every email personally. |
Stephen Lock's Newsletter
Weekly writing on decision-making, authority and leading under pressure. For leaders who want thinking, not motivation.
The weekly session in the Stephen Lock Academy today is about Overcoming Fears. I don't mean spiders and toy dolls (my brother Andrew hates them). No, I mean the more emotional and interpersonal fears that hold us back. Some of them are really common like: Rejection: "If they're unhappy with me, I'm not safe." Being judged: "Their reaction to my work is a verdict on me." Others are a bit less common like: Success and visibility: "If this works, more will be expected and I'll be seen."...
Yesterday I told you I have decided to do build from my passion. This is it. To be clear, I love my work. I love 1:1 coaching. I love team coaching. I love motivational speaking. I love facilitating. But my absolute passion? Is helping people to become the very best version of themselves that they can be. Now THAT is lights me up. People who follow my process and say, "I want to be the best in the world", or people who were stressed and then say, "I realise that I am already happy", or people...
In March this year I achieved something huge and it ruined my progress. Let me explain. Four years ago I set out to turn my vocation (coaching) into a business. I had no idea how to do that when I started, but I had faith that if I trusted myself, worked hard and didn't quit, I could do it. And I did. I've made my living from this for 3 years now, which is something I am very proud of. So what's the problem? What happened in March is that I ran the numbers on my current year and realised I...