29 Dec 2024 · 7 min
Ellie Scarf pushes back on the year-end habit of only spotting what went wrong. She walks through five concrete reflections: where your clients came from, your highlights reel, positive feedback you should save in a folder, the impact your work had, and how you handled hard things.
Hello and welcome to the Business of Executive Coaching podcast. I hope you've had a wonderful week if you celebrate Christmas or another holiday here in Australia. We are in my favourite week of the year, the week between Christmas and New Year, and I think it's my favourite because there's just sort of a disconnect with reality. I tend to lose sense of time and date and obligations, which is very liberating. I'm usually someone who is quite, quite planned. And so I really, I really appreciate that we will be spending some time at our friend's beach house after Christmas and also just pottering around home, which I really love to do. So I have a short episode today, but an important one and it is a reminder to focus on what went well in 2024. And I'm going to tell you how I think you should do that. Some reflections that you can do. Firstly, as you get ready to launch into 2025, you just need to take some time to reflect on 2024. Now, you might have done that as part of your 2025 planning process, but there's a good chance some of you have not had a chance to do that. So do take some time for reflection. But one of the traps a lot of people fall into is that in their reflection time, they think only about what they could have done better and what they want to change, what they want to develop and what they want to fix. This is good, but if that is all you do, you are missing a great big piece of the puzzle. And of course, all of the other post psych nerds out there will know that we have a negativity bias, which means that our brains are absolutely primed to focus on what went well, what did we miss, what's the gap rather than the other side of it. So it's really normal. But you need to create sense of balance. And that means you need to make sure that you are reflecting in detail on the things that worked, the things that went well, the wins and the wins, both big and small. Now, I know it isn't easy to do this. We can feel, we can squirm about it, we can feel uncomfortable, but you need to do it. And you need to do it not just to feel warm and fuzzy, but because doing so makes really good business sense. Because when we know what works, we can do more of it. When we focus on our strengths and what we do well, and when we leverage those, our results are going to be better and we're going to feel better about it. It's going to come With a sense of well being rather than a sense of draining us. So here is what I think you should focus on when you're reflecting on what went well in a way that I hope will minimize the cringe factor. So the first thing, a really nice easy way to start is where did the clients that you worked with come from? And so you can look at, were there any sources that were easier, were there sources that came more smoothly, things that felt more natural, where did their client, where did your clients come from? And I think that every client that you work with is really a win. And so I want to make sure you focus on that. Not just the celebration of getting clients, but who were they and where did they come from. The next thing I suggest is going through a bit of a highlights reel. And I like to do that across work and life, which is looking back on 2024 and thinking about what were those peak experience you had, those moments that really, that really lit you up. And sometimes you have to go back through your calendar or your photos. But what I hope is that it is a real combination of work and life wins. And so it might be winning a client, it might be taking a holiday, it might be learning a new approach to coaching, it might be going to a school sports carnival. The combination is important and wonderful. And when we include our business wins in that view of, you know, this is the, the joy of a well balanced life, then we start to create a sense of positive association with what we're doing in work as well. The next thing I want you to focus on is what positive feedback did you receive this year? Go back through. Hopefully you've taken my advice and if you don't haven't heard this advice, here it is again. Create a folder in your email and a folder in your document system. And every time you get something positive, whether it is a comment, an email, anything like that, a feedback form that, you know, sort of gives you a sense of, wow, that felt really good, that was positive. Save it, make sure you keep it. And what I want you to do is I want you to go back through it at least once a year. Go back through your positive feedback. And if you haven't done this, just think about what feedback you received and just identify, like what were the themes, what were the individual items? Why did you get that positive feedback? The next thing is what was the positive impact that you had as a coach or facilitator or a consultant or whatever it is that you do? What was the positive impact that you had not just on the person you're working with. But what about on their organization? What about on their communities? What about on their families? What about on the world as a whole? So getting really, really reflective about the positive impact that your work has had in 2024. And then you might also want to ask, because we know that things aren't always sunshine and rainbows and lollipops, but when did you handle the challenges of the year really well? What was it that you did to handle those tough times in really, really good ways? So have a think about that as well and give yourself sort of a pat on the back for positive ways of navigating difficult situations. And then just to finish off, what I want you to think about is how are you going to do more of all of these things? So how are you going to feel more of the things that made you feel better? Pride and joy and that you found fun? How will you do more of the things that led to new clients? How will you do more of the things that you got positive feedback for? How will you do more of the work that got you that positive impact that you know you're here to do? So make sure you do that reflection as well. And look, whenever you get a chance to do this, please drop me a line. I would love to hear your big wins and your biggest, you know, positive reflections from 2024. There is nothing that I love more than celebrating coaches. So please get in touch and and just let me know and you can send me an email on ellieucentorg.com or you can drop me a message on any of my social platforms. 2024 has been an amazing year and I'm really excited to launch into 2025 with you all. So I will see you in the new year.
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