It’s December! Do NOT try to make up for the year in a single month.
That’s the message. If you’re busy, take that in, and move on. But, if you’re needing more nourishment than that, I encourage you to join me for the next couple of minutes while I explain.
December is very often a time when we realize that the intentions and goals we had back in January… maybe we didn’t reach them.
If you’re like most humans, you over-estimated how much could be accomplished and could happen in this particular twelve months. I’m also guessing that there were also events that happened that you could not have predicted that shifted your priorities in significant ways.
Please do NOT give in to the temptation of trying to “make up” for the last 11 months, or even the last five months, or even the last three months…
We are where we are. It is what it is.
Here’s what I recommend actually doing:
- Grieve. We don’t grieve enough in this culture. Taking the time to grieve the lost dreams and hopes of this year, the ways things missed or didn’t happen, is really important. There were several things that were really important to me that didn’t happen, and I’m grieving them.
- Celebrate. There were things that did happen. It is often much easier to come into gratitude and celebrate what did happen after grieving the real loss, rather than trying to just paint gratitude on top of pain.
- Check your heart for loose ends. Is there something small but significant that could be wrapped up this month, so many of sticking the landing, so-to-speak, without hurting yourself? There may not be, and there may be something.
Then, most importantly, as you consider moving forward into 2022, allow the experience of this past year, and probably past many years, to really land.
When you set goals and intentions…
- First, see your business as it is, with the capabilities that it has, with any team and support you have in place, and truth of its capacity. Embrace it and love it as it is.
- Next, think about your life, your commitments outside of your business, your actual capacity for work and how much time you need to rest, self-care, not be productive. Embrace yourself and your life as it is.
- Think about how many unexpected events happened in your life this past year and what kind of time/capacity they required of you. Embrace the truth that a similar number of unexpected events may well happen in 2022.
- Given the first three items, pick one or two important pieces/elements/projects that will help your business become more stable, be easier to run, be more profitable and impactful.
Of course, you can get into a lot more detail than this, but be kind to yourself.
The objections to this approach.
People will say, “But you can do so much more!” Okay, sometimes that’s true.
And if it is, you can always, always, reassess. if you finish your priority early, you can then pick another one, in April, or in June, or in October, whenever you finish it, if you do.
People will also say, “What about miracles? What about something unexpected moving you more quickly?”
Sure, I love and welcome miracles! By not overwhelming yourself with painful expectations, you actually then have space in your life to notice and welcome miracles. And when they do arrive, you can then reassess your priorities!
Your business is worth doing, your life is worth living, but it is not worth sacrificing your life for your business, and it’s also not worth being unkind to yourself in setting unrealistic, undoable expectations.
With love and care,
Mark Silver, M.Div.
Every act of business can be an act of love.
