The Transition List: Ready for the New Thing

The BOLD (Take a Moment to Energize a Season)

I wish you all the best of this season of deep winter, wooly blankets, blessed stillness, anticipation, gratitude, and warmth.  However you choose to celebrate, whatever your observance, I wish you the best of the holidays.

Now, on to the celebration of New Year’s Day.  It’s time to look back, forward and around.  

The Whisper (Just a Question)

As John F. Kennedy reminded us in the quote above, forward movement requires a 360 view—where we’ve been, where we are and where we want to go.  As Big Bird says, “Asking questions is a good way to find things out.” 

The Transition List

Transitions are sometimes obvious (at the start of new things, at the beginning of new years, at the launch of a new venture).  Sometimes, we provoke our own transitions.  Either way, a good dose of introspection can help us identify the wisdom gleaned from past experience, the precious components of the present moment and the deepest desires for our future.

You can use these questions for quiet reflection, for journaling or as a checklist.  Use them all or just contemplate the answers to the ones that appeal (or unsettle) you.  

To make this list effective for all sorts of transition, I’ve used the term season to describe the period of time that is ending.  At the end of the year, it can be the year that is closing.  I do quarterly planning and I use many of these questions to help make the transition from quarter to quarter.  Feel free to define your seasons as you see fit.

Where I’ve Been

1. Look back at the season that is closing.  What moment do you want to remember forever?  
2. How was your life changed by what has happened during the immediate past? 
3. What lessons did you learn?  And yes, this is a euphemism for what mistakes did you make.
4. If you could only take one memory with you from the last season, what would it be?
5. What were your biggest wins in this season?  What made them wins?  
6. If you were to give a title or a name to the season that has just passed, what would it be?
7. If a movie was made of the season through which you have just passed, who would play you?
8. What themes emerged for you in this season?  What ideas, concepts, phrases or images showed up over and over again?
9. What did you read that made an impression?
10. What did you watch or hear that caught your attention?
11. Who was with you in this season?  What role did they play?
12. What roles did you play for others in this season?  
13. Did your relationships feed you or deplete you? 
14. In what ways did you enrich the lives of others?
15. How did you live your values in this season?
16. What goals did you complete in this season?
17. Of what are you proudest in this season?
18. What goals remain after this season?  Where there finish lines you didn’t yet cross?  
19. What goals no longer feel relevant after this season?
20. What did you learn as you acted to move closer to your goals?
21. How do you feel about the season that is coming to a close?

Where I Am

1. Look around you.  What do you cherish about where you are right now?
2. Who has your back?  Upon whom can you rely?
3. What is your favorite thing about your reality right now?
4. What superpower have you developed?  How is that showing up right now?
5. What habits support you right now?
6. In what ways does your environment support you?
7. What is your favorite way to invest in yourself?
8. What emotions are you feeling?
9. Take a moment to take stock.  What are you grateful for right now?
10. Feel your heartbeat.  Notice your breathing.  What other things are happening that support you that don’t require your active direction?

Where You Want to Go

1. What do you want to be different this time next year because you did work?
2. What fun thing can you plan that will cause you to feel anticipation?
3. Who do you want to include in your future?  Who would you like to meet?
4. How can you strengthen your most enriching relationships in this new season?
5. What dream goal that has been lingering in the distant future deserves to be fast-tracked into this new season?
6. What is one habit that you are willing to commit to every day that would make change possible?
7. What is one small sacrifice that you are willing to make that would, if compounded over time, make a big difference in your life?
8. How do you want to feel this time next year?
9. How would you describe your goal or goals for this season?  Are they time-dependent?  Are they measurable?  
10. What one word best describes your posture, attitude, frame or position for this new season?  How can you use this word as a rallying cry?
11. How will you know when you’ve succeeded?
12. How can you set up my environment to succeed in your goals?
13. How will you reward yourself when you succeed on each leg of the journey not just after the goal is completely met?
14. What risk are you willing and prepared to take?
15. What is the silliest thing you can make happen?
16. How will you get out of your own way?
17. What will be the best thing about accomplishing your goals?  What will it mean in your life?
18. What will you do more of in this new season?
19. What will you do less of in this new season?
20. What new thing will you do in this season?
21. What thing will you not do anymore in this new season?
22. What declaration are you prepared to make? 

Are there any questions you would add? How will you record and celebrate your last season and declare your intention for the next?  

I wish you a happy and powerful transition and a happy new year.