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Leading into the start of this new year, I worked with a number of coaching clients on a 2024 Visioning exercise. The primary purpose of the exercise is to take the typical setting of New Year’s Resolutions — which are little more than intentions, or things we want to do — levels deeper, and turn them into a series of commitments — clear, actionable steps that no outside person or circumstance can prevent.
Before we jump into goals for the new year, however, I believe it’s critical to spend some time on wrapping up the prior year. Specifically, in two regards:
- Recognizing and celebrating the year’s big wins
- Quarantining negative experiences to avoid carrying them with us
When we fail to explicitly resolve negative experiences, they continue to burden us. Sometimes acutely, sometime beneath the surface. But in any case, they cause us trouble well beyond the point when they can positively serve us.
Resolution comes in two forms: fix it or forget it.
Have a damaged relationship? Mend it or move on. Otherwise, you’ll maintain proximity to something that only serves as a reminder of pain.
Did you fail in some endeavor? Make a plan to try again or make a choice to let it be.
Consider: let’s say you have a DVD player set up with your TV, but it’s broken. Every time you’re craving your favorite movie…frustration. It’s broken. Can’t use it. Every time you watch TV, even, and see it sitting there…why do we still have this broken machine taking up space?
Is the clock on the player broken? Well a broken clock is right twice a day, so that’s nice. It’s also wrong 1,438 times a day. Yikes.
Either fix the machine so it can serve you or throw it out so it’s no longer a burden. A strain on your psyche.
What unresolved issues can you fix or forget today, and what will it do to improve your mental state?
Regretting a few negative encounters with a student? How might you be proactive about patching things up?
Upset by some less-than-helpful feedback you received? Would it be better to follow up and ask for clarification or just put it behind you and move on?
Having a hard time connecting with that one family? Don’t take it personal. Try another tact or perhaps recruit some help.
In any case, don’t let the problems linger. Take a stand for yourself. Make a choice. And keep on moving.
Oh and by the way, with that DVD player? Perhaps even if you fix it, you can toss it anyway. We have streaming now, after all.
About the host
Ross Romano is a high-performance career coach working with individuals in all fields, a strategic consultant for companies and nonprofits in K-12 and edtech, and co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and host of the shows The Authority and Sideline Sessions.
If you’ve enjoyed this message, let’s connect further.
- Connect on LinkedIn
- For interviews with authors from education, leadership and beyond, subscribe to The Authority Podcast
- For my conversations with coaches from professional, college and Olympic sports, designed to support youth and scholastic coaches and parents of student-athletes, subscribe to Sideline Sessions
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Creators & Guests
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Leading into the start of this new year, I worked with a number of coaching clients on a 20 24 visioning exercise. The primary purpose of the exercise is to take the typical setting of new year's resolutions, which are little more than intentions or things we want to do levels deeper and turn them into a series of commitments, clear, actionable steps that no outside person or circumstance can prevent. Before we jump into goals for the new year, however, I believe it's critical to spend some time on wrapping up the prior year, specifically in 2 regards. 1, recognizing and celebrating the year's big wins and 2, quarantining negative experiences to avoid carrying them with us.
Ross Romano:When we fail to explicitly resolve negative experiences, they continue to burden us. Sometimes acutely, sometimes beneath the surface, but in any case, they cause us trouble well beyond the point when they can positively serve us. Resolution comes in 2 forms, basically, fix it or forget it. Have a damaged relationship with someone mended or move on. Otherwise you'll maintain proximity to something that only served as a reminder of pain.
Ross Romano:Did you fail in some endeavor? Make a plan to try again or make a choice to let it be. Consider this, let's say you have a DVD player set up with your TV, but it's broken every time you're craving your favorite movie. Frustration. It's broken.
Ross Romano:You can't use it every time you watch TV even and see it sitting there. Why do we still have this broken machine taking up space? Is the clock on the player broken? Well, broken clock is right twice a day, so that's nice. It's also wrong.
Ross Romano:1438 times a day. Yikes. Either fix the machine so it can serve you or throw it out so it's no longer a part. A strain on your psyche. What unresolved issues can you fix or forget today and what will it do to improve your mental state?
Ross Romano:Regretting a few negative encounters with a student? How might you be proactive about patching things up? Upset by some less than helpful feedback you've received? Would it be better to follow-up and ask for clarification or just put it behind you and move on. Having a hard time connecting with that one family, don't take it personal.
Ross Romano:Try another tact or perhaps recruit some help. In any case, don't let the problems linger. Take a stand for yourself, make a choice, keep on moving. Oh, and by the way, with that DVD player, perhaps even if you fix it, you can toss it anyway. We do have streaming now after all.
Ross Romano:This has been Ross Romano. I'm a high performance career coach working with individuals in all fields, a strategic consultant for companies and nonprofits in K12 and EdTech. And I'm also a co founder of the podcast network. I host the shows, the authority and sideline sessions on the network. If you've enjoyed this message, I'd love to connect you further.
Ross Romano:Connect with me on LinkedIn by just searching my name, Ross Romano, or if you'd like to hear interviews with authors from education, leadership, business, and beyond, subscribe to the authority podcast at authority podcast dot net. That's where we have, you know, if you're a school leader or an educator or a parent, so many great experts there to help you. If you're a coach or a parent of a student athlete, you can tune in for my conversations with coaches from professional college, Olympic sports, and more, which will support you in helping the student athletes in your life, that is Sideline Sessions. So you can search for the show Sideline Sessions anywhere you get your podcast or go to sidelinesessions.transistor.fm to find it there.