What new future could you create in the next decade?
I’ve always loved Steven Covey’s advice ‘begin with the end in mind’. As a public health and a medical leader, I used this metaphor to help me and my colleagues and partners to vision where we were going in the longer term, the outcomes we were seeking to achieve, in order to inform the process and to measure the impact.
As the last decade draws to a close, there is a great opportunity to consider what our idealised future would be at the start of 2030, both personally and professionally. Here is my Christmas and end-of-decade gift to you: an invitation to take time out to dream about the future you could create for yourself.
So….grab yourself some flip chart pens and paper or something similar, put the ‘occupied’ sign up on your door (literally or metaphorically) and imagine that we bump into each other on January 1st, 2030. You’re brimming with enthusiasm and excitement about how well your personal and professional life is going – and you can’t wait to tell me what’s been happening.
Using your pens and paper, draw out what your ideal future looks like in ten years time. Add as much detail as you can. Try saying it out loud and describe it to your nearest and dearest, or a trusted colleague. Use the present tense ‘I am doing….’, ‘this is happening….’, ‘I’m spending my week doing….’. Consider stretching reality in both your personal life and your professional life (if you are still working).
I’d love to hear your ideas, so please do feel free to let me know! And to make this a gift that keeps on giving- you may like to invite others to articulate their own ideal future in ten years’ time. Take the time to listen to other people’s hopes and dreams, I guarantee their excitement will be infectious and you’ll both have fun creating new futures for yourself. Happy New Decade!
Find out more about medical leadership coaching for medics, career coaching for medics.
Dr Fiona Day is the world’s only Leadership Coach with advanced coaching psychology, medical and public health qualifications (MBChB, FFPH, BPS Chartered Psychologist in Coaching Psychology, EMCC Master Practitioner Coach & Mentor) and is in a unique position to help you and your teams to flourish. Fiona specialises in coaching medical and public health leaders, is a coach Supervisor, and an EQA Foundation Award Holder. Get 3 hours of FREE CPD with Fiona’s Health Career Success Programme here. Book a free confidential 30 minute Consultation with Fiona here.
