I don’t always love being challenged but recently I experienced just that having watched an excellent BBC programme called Moments of Time. This programme challenged me to 1) to consider my attitude and approach to “time” – including my complaining of the lack of it! plus 2) to review my 2013 in more detail than usual. Briefly, Moments of Time reviewed the major stories of 2013 through incredible, thought provoking professional and smart phone images. Did you watch it? It’s still available for a few more days via iplayer here: Moments in Time: iplayer or you can read the article here: Moments in Time: article. If you have the time – pun intended – watch it, I’d love to know what you think.
Moments of Time made me question my perspective on time and ask myself: if I viewed TIME as a God given resource in the same way I do my family, my finances, my church, my skills, gifts, what difference might that have on the way I view time, how I use my time, how I reference time, how I plan and manage each day? God is the author of time and has decreed I have the same amount of time as everyone else after all. So what will I do differently with my time going into 2014 compared to what I did in 2013? How will I use this precious resource? I’m not sure yet but should I make progress I’ll be happy to let you know next yea. Do email me your pearls of wisdom on time management for 2014!
I’m not a great believer in resolutions and I confess I do get a bit tired of all the news coverage about New Year’s Resolutions! But millions of people around the globe still set resolutions for the year ahead and as we know, most give up part way through. And there are endless statistics to support this – such as “23% of resolutions are broken in the first week” or “45% or resolutions are broken by the end of the month”.
Rather than make resolutions I prefer to review the highs and lows of 2013, to reflect and to identify meaningful goals for 2014, personally and for my business. Most importantly I want to give thanks to my wonderful family and good friends and to God for His continued faithfulness to me and to learn and grow from successes and from failures knowing nothing is wasted and to look to the future with new hope and energy. There is value in reflection and pondering (combined with prayer of course!) especially if it leads to wise decision making and action in His service moving forward. Two quotes come to mind at this point, one from St. Paul and the other from I know not who but his rationale sounds pretty goodJ:
- “I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus” Phil 3:14 – an encouragement to forget the past and strain forward to what lies ahead and
- “Just because we increase the speed of information doesn’t mean we can increase the speed of decisions. Pondering, reflecting and ruminating are undervalued skills in our culture.” Dale Dauten who sums it up quite nicely!
After all without reflecting it’s difficult to have meaningful goals. Here’s a review process which some of my clients have found helpful: if you’re not interested please skip to the professional note below!
- Use your calendar and notes (and memory!) and make a point of reviewing your trips, projects, events, meetings, social events
- Consider what you could do more of
- What you could do less of
- What you could eliminate altogether
- Look at the growth opportunities you pursued (or missed!) and judge which gave a high return and which didn’t
- Look at all the meetings, initiatives and appointments, ministries and projects and determine which ones you could do more of and which you could eliminate or set aside for another season
- Consider how much time you spent doing things that you should have delegated to someone else
- Consider who you could have loved more, forgiven more, served more
- Be honest with yourself: how much time did you spend with God
- Evaluate whether you spent enough time with family/friends
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Professional note: Well, recently some of you have indicated your interest in my career management workshops so I’m working on recreating some of my workshops for the New Year. I would love to have your help in creating the content. The subjects for the workshops include: “job security/networking/getting past common obstacles/how to interview effectively” and one on “how to align your passion with a great job”.
- What burning questions have you always wanted to ask or what specific help you need?
- What challenges have you faced that you’d like advice on?
- What is the number one thing you’d like to learn from me on the subject?
I would appreciate your help tremendously. You can help by responding to lisa@lisaface.com briefly detailing your top 3-5 questions and or challenges, where you need the most help and/or you can forward this newsletter to someone you know may be interested in these workshops.
In the meantime, during this special end of the year season, please consider taking time to reflect on your life, your calling, your potential direction. Some of us will stay on the same course in 2014 because it’s neither possible nor wise to make changes at this point. Others will change directions, some eagerly, some reluctantly. What about you? What are you doing to take stock of your life as a New Year approaches?
I send my warmest best wishes to all of you.
Lisa
ACC, MSc (Ed Man), BSc (Hons), CELTA
Leadership and Career Coach, Mentor Coach, Consultant and Facilitator
Facecoach International Ltd
