Even in the midst of uncertain times, I still feel the pull toward planning and goal setting. Those things may look a little different right now, but I’m wired to be motivated by the future and that hasn’t changed even when the coming weeks and months are a bit uncertain.
Now that we’ve transitioned into the second quarter of the year, I wanted to take a moment to recognize some “wins” from quarter one and lay out some goals that I’ll be working toward in the coming months.
First, the wins:
I moved to Kansas. This, for obvious reasons, was kind of a big deal. We moved to Kansas in the beginning of January and will be celebrating three months in our new town next week. I’m feeling lucky that we were able to settle in for a couple of months before we needed to deal with the fallout of a global pandemic…
I started a new job. This milestone occurred in the beginning of February and, again, I’m feeling very fortunate that I got a solid 6 weeks of meetings in before COVID-19 caused some pretty serious disruptions. I’m also grateful that I was able to get a strong foundation of relationships going before needing to start remote work a few weeks ago.
I launched a coach training program. Wow. This is a big one. From writing a 300-page coaching guide to getting all the logistics of a multi-course curriculum designed, I’m so proud of this accomplishment. We just wrapped up the first round of the 101 course and I can’t wait to bring in a new cohort for this program in June. (Interested? Learn more here.)
I dove into digital planning and reflection. During the last couple of months, I started using Notion for weekly planning, note taking, and tracking projects. I’m always tweaking my systems, but this has been a really fun (and useful) distraction as I ease into my new job and consider how I want to strengthen different reflective practices in my coaching work.
I successfully implemented a consistent workout program. For about 8 weeks, I ran/walked and did strength training workouts 6 days a week. I’ve transitioned that program into something a lot more flexible since life looks very different right now, but I’m really proud of how long I was able to keep this up. I feel stronger and more confident in what I can do and that’s pretty great.
Now, on to the goals! Here are some of the areas I plan to prioritize in Q2 of 2020:
Deepening my coaching practice. A continued goal from Q1, this will include facilitating coach training, recording more episodes of Coach to Coach, reading, reflecting, and taking on new and different clients. I’ll also be working on the documentation I need to accredit my coach training program.
Nurturing business growth. This is also a continued goal from the first part of the year that I plan to keep focusing on for all of 2020. We had a strong Q1 of business revenue, but then I had a lot of speaking engagements cancel in Q2, so that meant some lost revenue in the short term. (Good news: I’ve heard that many will be rebooking me in 2021.) In Q2, I’ll be working toward fully enrolling the coach training June cohort and increasing sales of SoTL by Design (a perfect product for remote faculty development!).
Keeping up with exercise. I needed a few weeks to deal with the physical exhaustion I experienced from increased anxiety and stress in March, but I’m easing back into regular workouts and that feels good. My goal is to create space and time for incremental improvements in this area without perfectionism or too much pressure. I’m happy to have my treadmill handy for easy walks and runs when I feel like it.
Reflecting daily. I’ll be continuing my morning pages practice (it’s been going on for almost a year now!) and also building in space in my Notion setup to allow for opportunities to reflect on both professional and personal growth. I’m not working on any major writing projects right now, and reflective writing has been very comforting and useful to process emotions and reactions to current events.
Documenting professional accomplishments. I doubt I’m the only one with some new accomplishments that I can document after my experiences with academic continuity planning and remote working. I’ve also had the chance to participate in several podcast interviews and media interviews in the last several weeks that I’d like to get linked on my website soon.
Prioritizing resting well. This time of disruption has offered an opportunity to slow down and get a lot more rest. I’ve been going to bed earlier, sleeping later, taking naps on the weekend, and just relaxing a lot of expectations about my schedule. I definitely plan to continue to prioritize rest in Q2.
What are some of your wins from Q1? What are you prioritizing in Q2 of 2020?