Recalibration: a reflection on the year in progress
It’s mid-August and I find myself asking where the year has gone while also being aware that after Labor Day, the rest of the year seems to fly by even faster. Before we know it, it will be 2022!
In reflecting upon the year so far, the word recalibration keeps coming up.
What this means for me is to take a moment to pause and reflect, both personally and professionally, do some visioning for the rest of year, and then determine in what ways (if any) might I need to recalibrate to attain my goals and to live into the experiences I’m seeking.
In case it’s helpful, I’ll share some questions that are coming up for me:
Personal – a major goal for 2021 is to create more space for myself and my family/relationships—to attain a better work-life balance and integration.
- How am I doing with this? In what ways have I created space? Big and small—these are things to celebrate, to reinforce in our brains—more of this!
- What boundaries have I set that I want to maintain and/or are there any that need to be set or reinforced? What support (if any) do I need, and from where or whom?
- What are my areas for growth here? Anything I want to start, stop, or keep doing?
- In regard to the rest of the year, what does more space for myself look like? How will I know that I’ve created it? How do I want to feel? Our bodies are great indicators for us; they often know things before our conscious minds do. Happy to talk more on this!
- In terms of family/relationships – what kinds of experiences do I want to have and/or anything I’d like to see happen by the end of the year?
- For each area I’ll choose one small step I can take, and then another, and another…
Work – this looks like:
- Revisiting my work plan to see how I’m doing, am I on track? Are there any adjustments that need to be made for 2021?
- Checking-in with my supervisor and team for feedback on strengths and opportunities.
- Thinking about my 2022 goals and starting to share those with my supervisor and any stakeholders involved or impacted.
- Reflecting on future career goals and doing a quick alignment “gut check”.
When I mentioned the need for recalibration, a colleague shared this with me:
“[As a scientist] when we talk about calibration, we are not talking about big adjustments. When you calibrate a scale, you may be making adjustments of one-tenth or sometimes even one-hundredth of a gram…that’s a tiny adjustment!! And we make that tiny adjustment before we begin that lab because even if the microscope is off by one-hundredth of an inch, it can ruin the results of the whole experiment.
“Just like you described, Jessica, it is a time to evaluate where we intended to go this year (what our scale should read when we set something on it to weigh), ask the right questions to evaluate if that is still where we are headed and make the small and appropriate changes (remember we might only be talking about millimeters and fractions of an ounce) to get us back on track!”
What I love about this is the reminder that it may only take a small tweak here and there to get back on track. And, if more than a tweak is needed, pick one small action to execute upon, and then choose another…
Recalibration may mean something different for you, and your process will likely look different as well. As a change practitioner and executive coach, I have the pleasure of supporting my clients in recalibrating towards their individual and organization goals. I’d love to hear more about what works for you, or answer questions that you might have about effective recalibration and achieving sustainable change. Drop me an email at jzucal@evansconsulting.com.
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