How to Take Root This Winter
Well, it’s that time of the year again! The gardens are officially blanketed with thick snow, and we are spending more and more time indoors.
For me, winter is bittersweet that way. While I do miss the warm sunshine and cheerful flowers, I appreciate that this is the perfect time of year to start dreaming about and planning for next season’s buds and blooms.
I especially love the way winter invites us to slow down. The long hours of darkness call us to rest while the snow literally slows our steps.
And the snow! How it works as a natural insulator, protecting mysterious root systems far beneath the ground! It is one of nature’s most amazing feats. Walking in the winter woods, I never tire of it.
Yes, winter is a time of quiet perseverance. A time to slow down and protect your roots. A time to reflect on the past year and decide where it is you want to bloom next.
But there are a few things winter is not: It’s not a time to surrender to feeling stuck in a job that doesn’t nourish you. And it’s definitely not a time to push yourself to do more and more, at the expense of your well-being.
I encourage you to use the slowness of this season to embrace introspection and set heart-based career intentions and development plans, the kind that will help you flourish in the upcoming spring and beyond.
Career Talk
Embracing HEART Goals Over SMART Goals
When I was at my 8-to-5 job, I was disheartened by the way the annual goal-setting process felt more like a check-the-box exercise️ than the motivating and energizing activity it was meant to be. (And this is coming from the HR girl who actually led the annual process!)
Now, as a career coach, I seek to guide my clients away from the rigid S.M.A.R.T. goal-setting activity that nearly everyone is familiar with into a HEART-based process.
Disappointed that I was unable to find heart-based goal setting within the professional development space of corporate America, I felt moved to create my own process designed around keeping overall well-being in mind (with heartfelt thanks to inspiration from some of my most esteemed colleagues).
HEART goals are:
H – HEART-CENTERED in alignment with your values
E – ENERGIZING light a fire in your belly and spark momentum
A – AGILE easy to iterate with short, quick actions
R – REALISTIC doable within the next 3 to 6 months
T – THOROUGH a detailed vision of your desired outcome
Your heart-based career goals should reconnect you to what matters most and generate energy to move forward with purpose.
Want help putting HEART-based planning into action?
My complete heart-based goal-setting and development plan is now available FREE to download. Grab yours here.
When your heart and spirit are aligned to your career, your overall well-being will improve. Guaranteed.
Nourish to Flourish
Refreshing words:
“Just remember in the winter,
Far beneath the snows,
Lies the seed that with the sun’s love.
In the spring becomes the rose.”
– Amanda McBroom, “The Rose” (1979)
If you’re ready to start planting the seeds for a career change this winter, check out my newest blog post:
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Winter is a time to reflect, give yourself grace, dig down deep, and reimagine what’s possible. Let’s do it together.
Fried to Flourishing: Signature Coaching Experience
Need help setting and meeting your heart-based goals? I’m so excited to bring this virtual career coaching experience to you. I want to help you align your heart and spirit with your career goals, so you can confidently pursue a new career path and find the position that best supports your desired lifestyle and overall well-being.
Have questions? Click the button below to learn more.
Jenn’s Flourishing Favorites
Reading – Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt If you haven’t yet read this book by New York Times bestselling author Michael Hyatt, it’s worth a read. In it, Hyatt shares his research-driven system for setting and achieving goals.
Listening to – Game Changer Podcast, Katie Wussow, specifically episode 102 In “5 Mindset Shifts You Need To Make Before 2022 Setting Goals,” Katie talks about how to challenge the flawed mindsets you might have around goal setting so that you learn how to practice setting goals from a more strategic approach.
Discussing – the article “10 Small Wins That Have Helped Us Improve Our Well-being” by Marina Khidekel Micro-steps are key to accomplishing goals and creating long-term change, but too often we overlook those tiny actions because we’re more focused on some far-off deadline or lofty goal. This article is a celebration of small wins, so that you, too, can start celebrating the baby steps you’re taking.
Thank you for reading this season’s newsletter. Please feel free to share this bulletin with someone who might find it helpful.
Let’s reimagine what’s possible together ❀
