Happy NYE'volution 2023!!!

Up for something different?

This New Year why don't you try a novel approach to setting yourself up for success in 2023?

I call it a New Year's Evolution.

Put simply it is a word or phrase that will guide you over the year to becoming a more evolved version of yourself.

I've done this for almost a decade as you can read here. I have found it to be:

1. a great reflective process to lock in learnings from the last year,
2. a powerful way to start the new year with a clear and succinct focus, 
3. a fun thing to do with family, friends and colleagues that helps deepen alignment and connection.

Sharing your New Year's Evolution with others is also a great way to keep yourself accountable and lets people know how they can best support you in your development.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When choosing your NYEvolution, it is key to choose something you are already good at but would like to make better. 

You will grow fastest by developing a strength rather than trying to fix a weakness,

as shared with us at Abundium recently by best-selling author Ashley Goodall . This is because:

• Neuroscience reveals that learning is like "growing new buds on an existing branch, rather than building new branches". You are far more likely to succeed in developing an area of existing capability.
• Psychology shows we are more likely to pursue goals that we are moving toward. These are called 'approach' goals. They release greater levels of motivation than 'avoidance' goals, which are focused on moving away from something.
• Excellence is rarely, if ever, achieved by fixing weaknesses. Excellence is a function of fine tuning and supercharging our strengths. If your goal in life is to be well rounded then focus on your weaknesses, but that will never make you extraordinary.

So what is my NYEvolution for 2023?

This year's is a little different.

BETTER & BRAVER QUESTIONS

Please allow me to explain as my hope is this may be a helpful evolution for more than just me.

Over the years I’ve interviewed some remarkably influential and successful people from global CEOs and top management thinkers to best selling authors and world champions.  

I have found that they vary more from each other than they are the same, but there are some common characteristics or mind frames that show up time and time again. One of these is curiosity.

In a world that is exponentially changing the prize goes not to those with the best answers but the person or team with the best questions.

Put a little more provocatively

“life punishes the vague wish and rewards the specific ask. [ ] If you want confusion and heartache, ask vague questions. If you want uncommon clarity and results, ask uncommonly clear questions”

says Tim Ferris in Tribe of Mentors.

Tim also says

“the older I get, the more time I spend – as a percentage of each day – on  crafting better questions. In my experience, going from 1x to 10x, from 10x to 100x, and from 100x to 1000x returns in various areas has been a product of better questions.

John Dewey’s dictum that “a problem well put is half solved” applies.

You might be thinking that’s all well and good for someone like Tim who interviews people for a living but what about me?

Well I believe we are all interviewers of a kind. We ask questions of those around us every day, either overtly or covertly, and those questions have a huge influence on how our relationships play out.

But most critically we ask questions of ourselves almost constantly, either consciously or subconsciously. These questions without a doubt determine our reality.

A personal example might help explain what I mean.

In my twenties I had my heart broken badly. For many years I asked myself a range of questions that were all variations of the following: “why wasn’t I enough?”

That question, although understandable, turned out to not be that helpful. It directed my attention to find answers that just made me feel worse.

As Professor of Psychology David Cooperrider says a system moves in the direction about which it inquires. That system may be an organisation, a community, a family or an individual.

The more we study [question] “what gives life” versus “what’s wrong,” the more we can move in the direction of or become what we study.

A better and braver question would have been “what can I learn from this experience to make me stronger?”

As tempting as it was to blame the other person or be critical of what I could or should have done differently, doing so would not help me positively move forward.

Everyday we have opportunities to ask ourselves better and braver questions, at home, at work, with friends, with family, even with total strangers.

I am well aware that the better questions are not always easy to ask, which is why it requires some bravery too.

But as Robin Sharma says

“you find what you seek.”

In 2023 I will be seeking a better and braver future. The right questions will help me get there.

Now a question for you?

What are you seeking in 2023?

What better and braver question can you ask of yourself to step up this year?

Thanks for reading this article and all my best to you for an abundant 2023.