New year wishes and lasting resolutions

a person who has a plan for his/her new year resolution and picture himself/herself as a winner

New year wishes

I wish each of you, who is reading this post, a new year full of happiness, serenity, success and fulfillment.

May this new year see your projects move forward in a direction you choose.

I have been disconnected from social media for a couple of months. The reason is that I relocated in a rush : I am now based in Paris. I will start to communicate more often in French. The sad news is that I am not available anymore for face to face meeting in Houston. The good news is that you can always reach me via Whatsapp, Skype or Zoom ! Let’s talk soon about your new year lasting resolutions. I am impatient to reconnect with you all.

Lasting new year resolutions

Like the past year, I like to emphasize on new year resolutions. This is a great opportunity to develop new habits or start a new project. Don’t you feel the boost this month ? Do you resonate with the title of the picture : new year new you ? It is fine : it is always the time to make a change during the year whenever you are ready.

Let me share with you mine. I hope that this will inspire you.

My first resolution is to meditate daily. I know that I need to do it 21 consecutive days in order to set it as a new habit. Why meditation ? I want to have a clear mind and get better quality sleep. What would be your new habit ? Keep it up : you can set it in 21 days like me as well !

My second resolution is to focus on Life coaching for kids aged 6 to 13. After having coached over 150 hours professionals, I realized that my real passion is to coach kids.

As you may know, I got my “WISDOM coach” certification last year. I want to help kids to choose who they want to be, what they want to achieve, how they want to feel about themselves, and how they want to respond to challenges in their lives. If you know kids who have low self-esteem or low self-confidence, let’s have a conversation and see how to support them.

Be in the look for coming articles about this topic.

This year can be a continuity for you or it can be a shift, like for myself. 

If you need an extra push, book a free 30-minute call.

 

Top 5 tips to set up lasting New Year Resolutions

Here are 5 tips to set up SMART resolutions for the New Year by Elevating Coaching.

In the Western culture, January is the month dedicated to fresh starts. You might have experienced, like me, to take tough New Year resolutions and dropping them at one point during the year. Indeed, it is hard to commit to a dramatic change or improvement when no one is holding you accountable.

A survey conducted in 2007 by Richard Wiseman from the Bristol University over a sample of 3000 people. 88% of the resolutions failed !

5 tips to help you be successful with your New Year resolutions.

1. Set a SMART resolution

SMART is an acronym which is used for goals setting. I advise you to use it for your resolution(s) as well. It stands for :

Specific – A resolution shall be one action or objective (ex : reduce stress level).

Measurable – Find an indicator (ex : quality of sleep, number of coffee/cigarettes a day).

Achievable – What are the steps (ex : focus on one task at a time, leave office earlier, work out,…)

Realistic – Is it too or not enough demanding ? (ex : work out twice a week versus every day)

Timely – How often or when do you want to commit to do what you have planned to.

2. One SMART resolution at a time

Once you have set up your resolution, do not try to multiply it. I would encourage you to focus on one resolution at a time. You can eventually think of some more that will come after three or six months.

3. Find a peer

Find someone you trust and who is having the same kind of resolution to hold each other accountable.

For instance if you decide to resume your work out, have a colleague come with you jogging at lunch time once a week.

4. Share your resolution with colleagues, friends, family

Words are powerful. The more you share about your resolution, the more you will be empowered to do it. Then, people might be asking you how it goes and encourage you along the way. You can be a role model for them too !

5. Hire a coach

A coach is a professional who will empower you to be your best self. He/she is not judgmental.  You will be supported, keep on track and reach your desired goals. Discover the benefits of coaching with Elevating Coaching

To set up a SMART New Year resolution and keep it up, contact Anne.

6 steps to move towards your goals

In a previous article, I shared the parable of the fisherman. He freed himself by accepting his situation. That is easier to say than to do, right ?

Here are 6 steps to help you move forward.

1/ Acceptance : recognize that you are stuck

You might be stuck professionally, feeling that you have reached a plateau. Or you might be stuck emotionally after suffering a loss. It has nothing to do with your person, with your capabilities. Anyone can be stuck at one point: recognize it when this happens. You have the resources to move forward. It is just a matter of perspective, as I already demonstrated in this post: Professional transition, victim or victor ?

2/ Reflection : lesson learnt from past experiences

Have you been stuck in the past ? If the answer is yes, do you recall how you managed to move forward ? You can relate to it and see a way forward for this time. If not, you might have heard, read or watched a story of someone stuck and shared how he/she got unstuck. That’s what I call a coaching story! It will inspire you and help you rebound.

3/ Visualization : see a bright future

Similarly to an athlete who visualizes him/herself winning a race by anticipation, see yourself as the winner of your game of life. What would it be like to free yourself from this situation ? How do you portrait yourself once you have decided to move forward new goals ?

4/ Action : first easy step

What would be a first and easy step for you to get closer to where you want to be ? Start small, start simple. There is something you can start doing, or do differently or, on the contrary, stop doing something that does not serve you right now. Focus on what is within your control rather than circumstances.

5/ Verbalize : speak up

Maybe you did not have the opportunity or the idea to share what’s going on for you with somebody. Verbalize the challenge that you are facing will help you gain clarity and put things into perspective. Open up to someone can also be your first step in this process to get unstuck.

6/ Support : who are they ?

Identify who your supports are. There might be people who noticed before yourself that you were stuck and offered help. Be supported, encouraged in this process. Take care of yourself as much as you care for others. There are times where you help others carry their heavy backpack. This time, that might be a good idea to allow others carry yours for a change.

If you want to get unstuck now, have a coach to walk you through this process, contact Anne Rotschi.

The magic and benefits of coaching

Picture of a lightbulb showing how coaching can be enlightening.

Get someone to listen to you without judgment

When was the last time you talked to someone who gave you his/her full attention ? Someone who listened to without judgment ? Someone who truly understood your issue and helped you find a way to solve it without telling you what he/she would do ?

Each time I coach someone, and each time I am being coached, I am amazed at the outcome.  Indeed, I see my client moving forward and I move myself forward much more than I had expected !

Gain leadership on your career plans

My clients become more intentional about things and stop procrastinating. They are more enthusiastic and confident in the future. They take the lead and decide the direction they want to go.

Coaching is a powerful process to learn, change and progress.

Time is money. If you hire a coach, you will save months of procrastination, dissatisfaction or frustration. You can get rid of your fears, self-limited believes in a few coaching sessions.

That is the best investment you can do for yourself.

Some companies are already using coaching for some individuals rather than training. One-to-one coaching sessions are eye-opening and transforming.

Try a free executive coaching session to experiment the power of coaching and start your transformative journey.

How to get unstuck ?

Picture illustrating the fisherman parable

The parable of the fisherman…

A Bajau fisherman, in Indonesia, was diving with an air compressor. He knew it was a risky practice. However he would earn more money to support his family.

One day, he wanted to catch a big fish which was getting inside a cavity.

What happened is that he got literally stuck at the entrance of the cavity. His buddy tried hard to pull him  off, with no effects. The diver knew that he had two remaining hours to live, based on his air consumption.

He fought hard with the rock to get unstuck, he felt rage against himself and he even cried under water. Getting no result, he ended up calming down, accepting his fatal situation.

The moment he accepted, his muscles relaxed, and his body got finally freed from the cavity !

Since then, he went back to fish the traditional way and appreciated his second chance in life.

… and the benefits of acceptance in professional life.

When I watched this news, I was uncertain about my professional future within my company. And that ultimate experience of acceptance which leads to survival and life had triggered my mind. That was a coaching moment !

A few months later, I finally got laid off, like so many off my colleagues. And I did this journey of ending up accepting the situation. There was no other way for me. No blame, no guilt, no excuses anymore. There was no other way for me. No blame, no guilt, no excuses anymore. I had freed my mind and was able to move forward through 6 steps, I presented in another blog post.

Are you feeling stuck right now ? What have you done so far to get unstuck ?

Where are you in the process of accepting the situation ?

A coach can help you get unstuck, find your own solutions and eventually accept your situation faster and move forward in a direction that you choose. Get in touch to discover how I can help !

To know more on the topic of acceptance, check out the post on how to deal effectively with a professional transition?