Ready for some good news?  2020 is a Leap Year – meaning we get one extra day this year to accomplish all that we set out to do, as of January 1. This may be a welcome reminder seeing that we’ve spent the last 30 or so days in quarantine.  Even if we haven’t been sheltering in place to an extreme then there’s not much argument that life has changed drastically since 30 days ago.  And January 1 seems like a lifetime ago.

 

But, take yourself back for a moment to January 1.  Many of us started this new decade with intentionality, goals, resolutions, a word for the year….maybe even a new diet or exercise routine.  Now, at 30% through the year, with 254 days to go, how would you assess your progress against those then seemingly possible aspirations?

 

For myself, I chose a word for 2020.  I wanted this year to be about being BOLD.  Bold in my approach to life and to work.  BOLD in my thoughts and my actions.  BOLD with my words.  And, things seemed to be going pretty well, as of early March.  I hadn’t done a formal assessment of how I was doing because, frankly, I was going to do that at the end of the first quarter of the year.  And, we all know what has happened over the last month that has created– at a minimum a distraction– and at times a massive disruption—to anything I had planned—only 30 days ago.  

 

What about you? What were you planning to do as of the first of the year?  If you were to reflect on your progress, what would you put in the WIN column?  How have your goals and resolutions had to change since Covid-19 became a household word?  And, most importantly, have you allowed yourself some grace to reassess your goals, aspirations and intentions?  

 

Just because a major shift to our way of living has presented itself does not mean that we have to abandon what was important to us only 100 or so days ago.

 

There are four things I suggest you do in order to reconnect to your 2020 plan:

 

1. REMIND: Remind yourself of what was important to you at the beginning of the year.
2. REVISE: Revise your plan or make necessary adjustments to get you back on track.
3. RENEW: Renew your commitment to your goals so that you continue to move forward.

 

And lastly,

 

1. REMEMBER: Remember that our time in quarantine will not last forever. As humans, we are resilient; we have the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. Use this time to look how far you’ve come and then keep going!