Have you forgotten how inspirational you are?
Cornelia Lucey meets Mickey and Minnie Mouse
WOW. We are over two weeks into January 2025 and I don’t know about you but it’s flying by already for us at CLPL… We are cracking on with some fabulous projects and programmes with constantly innovating clients. Which is why you might be surprised to hear that it’s exactly at this busy moment that we’re also pausing to linger, savour, and celebrate our achievements of 2024 and encouraging you all to do the same. It will further boost our inspiration and energy for the wonderful 2025 ahead of us.
Grab a cuppa - and settle in for the read that could transform your 2025
Sometimes when you reach the end goal - like my daughter arriving to meet Minnie and Mickey at my husband James’s workplace in December - it doesn’t always work out as you thought. We rush to the end line without enjoying the journey or preparing for the finish. (Cue me in the picture above alone, as Ophelia has run screaming in the opposite direction as she realises just how large her two heroes are). The point of the picture and the story is that stopping to smile along the way, appreciating the steps to get there and acknowledging where we actually ended up - can help us gain more confidence to move forward and learn lessons on how to do even better next time as we walk (or sometimes run) towards our goals.
Research backs this approach up! This reflection time spent on what we actually achieved will come back two fold and build more energy for us to deliver even greater impact in 2025…. And after all isn’t that what we are all hoping to do, to give our best this year?
I know the things your busy brain will be telling you…
“Why not rush forward with the “to do” list of 2025?”
“I don’t have time”
“I can’t think of anything”
“I didn’t do anything inspiring”
The negativity bias in our brain means that we have to train ourselves to remember and celebrate our positive achievements. Taking time to savour and recognise the last year (even the last week!)- the small and the big - helps us grow our and others’ self efficacy, hope and optimism and create an energising network to increase our inspiration. This all feeds into the key resource of Positive Leadership which we have identified in our research as “inspiration”, which we have previously written about.
Over the past two weeks, you might have noticed that we took the time to write up and share on LinkedIn 12 posts of what has gone well for us and our clients over 2024, because we know that to be inspiring to others, we have to tap into, understand and learn from our successes.
Take a moment to stop now and reflect on last year’s (or indeed last week’s!) successes to help fire you up for the rest of January and beyond:
What were your 3 key big wins?
What did you do to make these happen?
What strengths and values did you lean into or move towards?
Was this sometimes hard or exciting?
What did you learn along the way that was useful?
Who can you share these successes with, or recognise their involvement in this?
Finally, how can you help others tune into their inspiration more over 2025?
Not only will this help inspire you for your goals for this year, but it will be a great reminder of how inspirational you are to others; your team, colleagues, friends and family.