If you have been following me for a while you will know that every year, I choose a word that captures how I want to be in the following year.
It is more than a word; it acts as my contextual beacon (hat tip to @DrJasonFox) guiding me in the year ahead. It is designed to encourage me to embrace possibilities and opportunities as well as keep me focused on my dreams for the current year and beyond.
I have been doing this practice as part of my yearly Strategic Life Mapping process, for the last 9 years, so not a new thing. I lock away 2-3 hours to allow me to focus on this activity. Depending on your experience with this type of activity it could take longer. Funnily enough, the process includes all the steps that are covered in Design Your Life on Purpose Quest - Reflection Revolution, Dream Quest, Directional Design and then Anchoring.
The Process
Here is a summary of the Strategic Life Mapping process:
Reflection Revolution – taking time to reflect on the year that has been, what has gone well, what could I enhance, or start. I generally use a went well/ do differently assessment, captured in a mind map This year I also reflected against the Life Wheel and Perma V (expanded Life Wheel as part of Martin Seligman’s work) assessments. For this assessment, I simply drew on the wheels with either a up or down arrow or a equals sign. Up arrow represented this went well, as in “on the up”, the equals sign = was it was maintained, and the downward arrow was not as good as I would have hoped.
Dream Quest – Then I looked at the areas – broad categories I wanted to focus on in 2025, basic brainstorm of the activities and where they fit into broad categories, also in a mind map. I also used the Life Wheel and Perma V assessments to indicate what 2025 should be the focus on these areas, up, maintain or down.
Directional Design – All this information is then plotted onto my Strategic Life Map. Dreams the broad categories they belong to, why that dream is important to me and how I am going to achieve it.
Anchoring – The final phase is about what I can do to ensure success of those dreams. This includes determining how will I celebrate achieving that dream and what strengths I will use from my Gallup Strengths to help me succeed. Critically, it is also about determining what is the contextual beacon that will guide me in the year ahead. Throughout the steps above I capture the ‘words’ that come to be, as possible options, then I sit with it for a little while before THE word emerges as the one.
The Result
So, was SPARK achieved in 2024?
The answer is a resounding YES
sparks for 2024 were:
We sparked off a couple of experiments
Life/Career Survey
Love/Loathe weeks
We sparked Dream Lives by delivering:
A self-paced starter for Designing Your Life – 5 Habits for Designing your Life
Design your Life on Purpose Quests – Virtual and IRL
We ensured our internal spark was kept lit through:
A healthy exercise plan
Afternoon Power Naps
Working on my mental health
We creatively sparked by:
Picking more challenging knitting projects – bobble sleeves anyone
Restyled clothing to be more wearable
Continuous sewing projects
Made a working prototype for my laundry hamper design
Read over 12 additional books, plus 5 from Business Book Club. Including these highlights:
The Design of all Everyday Things – Don Norman
The Third Space – Adam Fraser
Quiet – Susan Cain
Hidden Potential – Adam Grant
Fearless – Trinny Woodall
Sweet Dreams – Dylan Jones
We collaboratively sparked by:
Launching Working Your Mojo Show about Career Inspiration (page)
Joining Bec Chappell’s Marketing Accountability Group
Joining WCEI – Women Chiefs of Enterprises
Helped the Rethink Change team with a workshop design and delivery
Designed and delivered a creativity workshop
Overall, 2024 has delivered in terms of its contextual Beacon – SPARK!
If you want to know more about getting a Strategic Life Map – and your contextual beacon that will support, you let’s Unearth Possibilities together. Waitlist is now open for 2025, DM your interest.