Every January magazines (online and hard copies) have an article about the new year and usually reads: “New year, new you/me!”
It’s Thursday evening the 4th of January and, naturally, I am thinking about what I want to achieve this year, AKA new year’s resolutions – those BIG questions. The response is usually a long list of what I desire, with the usual culprits being: weight-loss, finances and a new lifestyle. Unfortunately, this courage and dedication do not last longer than January for some of us – a very dismal realisation. I have consequently been exploring my intentions for 2018 in the last quarter of 2017 and I just did not feel compelled to write a long list of things to achieve anymore. I wanted something different, more compelling, more enriching, more encompassing than a list of weight-loss, financial freedom, and all the other mundane, daunting aims. I rather compiled a list of HOW TOs instead of WHAT TOs and hope it adds value to your 2018 moments:
It included everything I was driving in 2017. I also identified 5 supporting words that define ‘expand’: Courage, Visibility, Collaborate, Creative and Abundance. One theme word is easy to remember and, I must say, “expanding” is stuck in my mind; 12 months of embodying a word can become a part of your life and therefore I have chosen to include “expanding” as an additional word for 2018. Expanding through practice becomes YOU.
Add colour and flavour by including what feelings (imagine the experience) you want to experience as you achieve each area of focus. Don’t forget to link it back to your 2018 word. This was my 2018 moments I aspired to experience: I wish/ desire to experience this year for moments that will give me joy, laughter, knowledge, wisdom, lessons, love and more love, to become me in a better way that serves me in the world I live in. I want to experience servitude, courage, abundance of thinking, opportunities, consistency and determination).
What made you successful in 2017 will not suddenly disappear because it’s 2018. The source of inspiration is also re-igniting with your meaningful moments from the previous year. Remember your powerful moments, the feelings associated and what made you successful and you will recall you were in the centre of it all. You are the driver of your success and it is critical to centre yourself by re-igniting yourself through your successful stories, they are you. We become our stories, so, make sure you remember the successful ones, learn from the not so successful ones and imagine news ones because we are always BECOMING.
What made you successful in 2017 is not only your list but also the behaviours you embodied throughout the year. Connecting with your successful behaviours is part of your winning spirit. When I was approached to be part of a project that I felt was beyond my wildest imaginations and had no previous experience, I remembered I chose EXPANDING and expansion required courage, so I jumped in with what I knew and believed myself to be. It was an opportunity to become by creating a new story!
I believe we all have the capability to dream big, however, what sets us apart, is what we do with the time in-between the idea and its manifestation. I call this the buffering zone. The time between where I am and where I want to be. Some of us fall off in the buffering zone, the buffering zone is the time to polish the dream/plan, to practice, to apply, to embody and to BE the lofty dream at that moment.
When I asked one of my clients what she wants to achieve in the coaching journey, she said: I want to be an executive in two years. My response was, “Let’s not wait for two years; BECOME the executive now so that when an opportunity comes, you are ready!” (She did get hired as an executive after a year of our journey). Every day presents us with an opportunity to BECOME that successful executive/ businesswoman/ manager/etc. through our daily acts. Become it NOW and the wheels will turn in your favour.
I believe that the new year presents a season where we can continue to engage with ourselves, reflect on past experiences and activate, based on how we choose the story to become. I realized that it is about how I consciously continue to experience 2017 in a better way in 2018.That is at the core of each year: How do I become a better me this year in order to be better at what I already know exists within me.
We just continue to expand ourselves in ways that help us and the world to become better.
#Expand the Expanding.
I think, for me, there is no new me more than there is a ME BECOMING BETTER at being ME.
My name is Nokubonga Mbanga and I am committed to making an impact.
I work with talented, driven & productive individuals and organisations that want to make a difference in the world while honouring their values & inner wisdom.
