Mid-Year Check-In: Are You Achieving Your Resolutions?

Photo by Palomaleca

Inspired by another blog, I decided I could benefit from a mid-year check-in.  Back in January, I chose a one-word resolution for 2014: astonishing.  My intent was to amplify the goodness of 2013, learn more, laugh more, live more, give back more, and make a bigger impact in 2014. 

In the spirit of a retrospective, let’s move on to gather data.  What have you achieved towards your goal or resolution over the last 6 months?

My “astonishing” first half of 2014:

• Learn more:  Registering for CTI’s classes was a bold step for me, and I’ve learned so much about myself and about coaching as a result.  That knowledge and the opportunity to assist ACI’s 3-day Coaching Agile Teams gave me greater understanding and appreciation of what coaching can do for agile transformations.
• Laugh more: There have been a number of changes going on at my client’s organization, which means many people have become increasingly stressed.  I have been talking to people more one-on-one and using my gift-giving appreciation language to lighten the mood, provide reassurance, and share a laugh.  Plus Star Wars-, Winnie the Pooh-, and super hero-themed gifts are fun.
• Live more: After I was promoted to principal consultant, I held a dinner to appreciate the people who helped me achieve the promotion.  It was a lovely evening with delicious food and good company.
• Give back more: I mixed my fraternity world with my professional world: one of my Improving Enterprises colleagues gave a great presentation to the Texas A&M chapter of Theta Tau Fraternity that was well received.  I see similarities between the two organizations’ values, and I’m happy I was able to connect them to one another.
• Make a bigger impact: I co-presented at the Dallas PMI Agile CoP, Keep Austin Agile, and Scrum Gathering New Orleans; taught a PMI-ACP prep class (our first class offered evenings and weekends); and made my first Open Space offering at Agile Coach Camp Canada.

Looking over your achievements, what insights do you notice?  Unsurprisingly, coaching plays a large role in my accomplishments, but I’m also recognizing a theme of connecting to and appreciating people.

Are you making progress on your 2014 resolutions? Share your accomplishments in the comments.