Reflections From 202

I started this year with making my goals as I usually do. Last year for the first time, I attempted S.M.A.R.T goals instead of the typical New Year’s resolutions, which are almost always abandoned by February or March. This time, I included key performance indicators for each goal to help me clearly and objectively assess whether I was achieving each goal or not.

I typed up and printed out my goals on a sheet of paper that I stuck on the wall by my bedside, so that they were one of the first things I saw each morning. The strange thing was after a short while, the list blended so well with all the other items on my bedside – books, Bible, box of tissue, MiFi modem, airbuds – that I no longer saw it.

In June or July, I saw it again and initially struggled to remember what it was. I scanned through and quickly recognised it as my 2020 SMART goals.

And you know what? Even though I had actually forgotten that list was there – indeed I had even forgotten about the existence of the list – I saw that I had made a fairly respectable dent in it.

A similar thing happened the year before when I created a vision board. I stuck-up my lovingly-crafted mosaic of aspirations by my desk. I looked at it each day, until I no longer saw it. By the end of the year though, to my surprise, I had somehow achieved about 50% of the goals represented on it. So obviously, there is a power in thinking through and clarifying to yourself how you want to spend the next year – even if that is all you do.

I am keeping the same goals and vision board for 2021 for the most part, as some very important goals remained un-met.

However, what is different now is that I have lived 9 months through the uncertainty and difficulty of a pandemic. I have seen businesses – including mine – struggle. I have witnessed more loss of life in such a short space of time than I ever have. Many of the departed would have lived much longer and productive lives if not for COVID. The losses were no longer distant like most news stories are. They hit home. They were in our homes. This pandemic has laid waste to thousands of dreams, aspirations and families leaving unfulfilled potential and broken hearts in its wake.

It’s so easy and rather trite to say that the big lesson the pandemic has taught us is the value of life. But it essentially has in the harshest way possible.

Like Oprah says, “What I know for sure is that..”

1-- Life is unpredictable: I always knew that in theory. Now, I know without a shadow of a doubt that the assumptions I make are based on how things were yesterday or last week and there is no guarantee that any of these will hold tomorrow, next week or even later in the day.

So, I hope to live with more flexibility. Make my plans, but assume that things could very easily change at any minute and move accordingly.

2-- Life is to be treasured: A well-worn cliche, but nevertheless truth. I have lost count of the number of announcement of deaths that have shocked me to my core this year. Staring at the photo of someone, usually young, in their element and in the prime of their life cut down by COVID or something else, is the worst kind of reminder of our own mortality and how precious our time here is.

Mourning 30-something year olds who crammed their lives with professional or humanitarian achievements was as instructive as seeing the 60-something year olds who never quite found their feet or did those things that they really wanted to do.

In 2021, I will treasure my days as much as I can, keeping my focus on the people and goals that mean the most to me. I don’t want to waste any time on fear or trying to attain perfection. I want to do. I want to create. I want to live.

3-- Focus is Key: It’s tempting not to make any plans because, as we already established in #1, life is unpredictable. But in #2, we recognised that life is to be treasured anyway. And because none of us knows how long we have on this earth, we might as well utilise this resource of our life as efficiently and optimally as possible and the one way to do that is FOCUS.

This does not mean living with tunnel-vision, focused only on work or whatever is most important to us. Indeed, life is richer when we immerse ourselves in new, different experiences. But it is important to learn to sift out those people, activities and experiences that do not align with our values and not waste our time on these. I hope that didn’t sound contradictory.

Like many people, I don’t think 2020 was a wasted year, because it taught me to value life so much more. It taught me to be bolder and more courageous. It taught me to laugh and play more. It taught me to turn away from my laptop more and really listen to what my children are saying. It taught me to just do the things I want to without waiting for permission or a big flashing YES in the sky. It taught me to value my health and treat my body and mind with more kindness.

So, 2021 I am waiting for you with all the lessons I learnt this year.