What's working well? How to finish strong in 2010!

September is upon us - a good time of year to pause and reflect. Below are some ideas on how you can build on the best of what you've done so far this year and finish strong in 2010.

Let me start by extending a special warm welcome to recent email subscribers to the blog feed (if you're not yet a subscriber, you can get posts from the tmc blog sent to you automatically, just go to the top-right side of this page and enter your email address under Get blog updates sent to your email or, if you prefer, click on the Get blog updates by RSS feed button).

Wow, how time passes! It's been weeks since my last post. I found myself getting agitated, about to give myself a bit of a kicking for not writing as often as I wanted to. Then I thought, "Well, that's pretty pointless now, isn't it? What would work better?" ...and so I gained the inspiration for today's post.

How's your 2010 shaping up? 

Here we are entering the final third of the year...

Yes, September: in the northern half of the world it's back-to-school time, meanwhile for those of us in the south it's spring and our thoughts are turning to how much work needs to get done before we can spend a few well-deserved summer days down at the beach!

Either way, it's a good time to take a moment and think about what you want from the rest of this year, and how you will make it happen... 


Here's a three-step activity that in just 15 minutes will help you recharge your batteries and be ready to tear into 2011...

Try the September Summary - A 15-min thought-game...

Take a piece of paper and pen and have a go with this thought-game:

1. Looking back over 2010 so far, list three things that went really well - accomplishments or actions that you're particularly happy about, proud of, or that bring a smile to your face. (If you find yourself focusing exclusively on work-related things, remember to include non-work stuff too!)
   
2. Now for each of these, list the skills, talents, resources and abilities that helped you to make these things happen. Write down as many of these as you can think of, as you reflect on what you did that worked really well to make your three things happen. (You can also write down the names of other people who played a part in these achievements, just make sure that you clearly identify the things that you did in particular to make it happen.)
   
3. Finally, think of as many ways as you can of how you will apply these skills, talents, resources and abilities to accomplish the things you want to do over the next 4 months (and on into 2011). This must include a few small, concrete actions that you want to take - but don't stop there! Other ideas might be: conversations with some of the people you identified in the previous step (for example, to say thanks for their help and point out what you appreciated about the part they played), new challenges that you'd like to undertake with "year end 2010" as a deadline, or anything else that comes into your head. 

List, sketch, doodle, mindmap, write poems, whatever you like. For the final step, set yourself the goal of a minimum 10 ideas/actions and see how many more you can do than that (20+ is not unusual...remember that when each one is a manageable size they're MUCH more likely to actually happen).

Finally, be sure to share your comments below about what you enjoyed, discovered, were surprised by, or found useful in this little thought-game.

Happy September and enjoy the rest of the ride in 2010!