I am starting out with the word magnanimous again this week because I want to talk to you about mid year. Magnanimity is generosity, which is usually spoken about in terms of being generous toward others.
I like to turn all words around to also apply them to ourselves as well as others. And being generous with yourself is a very important thing to do. In my book, this can mean cutting yourself some slack and treating yourself as you would a good friend.
When I begin a conversation about reviewing your goals, life, business, everything at mid year, I start it by asking you to think about all that has gone well so far this year. When we review the tendency can be to go right for what hasn’t been done, failures (which I call learning), what hasn’t gone well. Those are good things to review, but not the first things.
Take a moment with paper and pen to look back over this year’s calendar to remind yourself of all that you have accomplished. Progress on projects, projects finished, that difficult call you made, goals reached, new things tried- even if you didn’t like them or you failed, experiences, opportunities, fun. Write down everything you can think of by hand. Take this all in. Realize how much good you have already experienced so far this year. Be generous with yourself.
Once you have fully explored this, now turn your attention to the goals you had set- what is still important? What would you like to add or cross off the list to do by December 31st. You are a different person than you were when you set your goals for this year.
If you never wrote any goals for the year, maybe you want to do it now.
Whatever you decide to do, take the spirit of magnanimity with you. Magnanimity means being generous and forgiving- so maybe you want to forgive someone or yourself once and for all. Or it may even be a situation.
Who’s been generous with you? Who would you like to recognize or thank.
Look for ways to be generous with others while you seek to achieve your goals. And weave in generosity toward yourself. Most of all, make this fun. Life is here to be lived and lived fully. How will you create that kind of life for yourself?