With the New Year almost upon us I thought I would share one of my favorite year end exercises I have done for years. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.
In wrapping up this year and the most recent new evening classes I have to look forward to outline 2019. What were the biggest take aways for actors? How do I try to schedule? What else can I share of the teachings of Eric Morris & No Acting Please ? And what else do I want personally outside of teaching or coaching others? It's a lot for anyone to balance! Well, here's one way to go about it.
For the past several I have done what I call The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: My Year in Review. It's great tool for celebrating accomplishments as well as setting goals and it's become one of my favorite yearly activities. You can make time to either do it at a coffee shop or cafe, bakery or restaurant or carve out time at home. It helps whether it is for yourself as an artist, your career or just personally in relationships, emotionally, even financially. I've benefitted from using this for them all.
First, the Good.
Celebrate your successes for the year! You literally list (I do it in part of my journaling) all of the good things for the year; the success, the moments, the growth, the chances you took, the things in which you are grateful. It's a wonderful exercise and helps give perspective, great for your self-esteem and gives you a reference as to what has happened in the year.
Note: If you have a hard time remembering you can look at a monthly calendar for 2018 and remind yourself of some of the dates and things that may have happened. Since I journal, if I struggle I review my writings from earlier in the year.
With this foundation and feeling good you can move on to the next step.
Next, The Bad.
These is journaling the list of things that you wanted for yourself and for the year that you didn't get around to or just remained the same. Maybe you wanted to stretch and try something new, or explore new options. Maybe you just wanted to change up some old habits, exercise a little bit more or try some meditation. Maybe you wanted to expand your circle or go out more.
The good news is this can help be the list of things for the New Year and the new You. There are some areas I wanted to stretch in or invest in this year that I never got around to but wish I did.
Finally, The Ugly.
It's called ugly for a reason. This calls for you to get very real and honest with yourself. Is there something you know you are avoiding – something that’s been a problem for a long time and you just don't know how to tackle or change it? Have you been lying to yourself or making excuses in an area?
I have some "ugly's" that have been plaguing me for years, I hate to see them pop up year after year but I just haven't figured out how to conquer them. The first steps in any kind of change is creating awareness. Confronting the ugly helps to do this. It might be a long-term correction or fix, it may still require trial and error. It may take a brave new big change.
You don't need the solution, just the honesty right now because maybe it’s not be something you can do this next year and that is ok, we are just working to create the awareness to take steps and face it. With mindfulness you may tackle it, maybe you won’t.
Now you have an outline for what worked and are worth celebrating as well as things you want to change for the New Year. Take the time to not only write it down but here’s something else you can do, send an email to yourself with these celebrations and wants. There is an easy to use webstie called FutureMe where you can do just that. I recently received mine and it was such a surprise since I had forgotten that I had even done it. You can do it for yourself here at FutureMe.org.
The point of all this is it's a good time to celebrate and reflect, to become mindful that the New Year is a great place to map out changes for your new You or best self. Celebrating and growing is a lifelong process and we take it one year at a time, one month at a time, one week at a time, and one day at a time.
With love for you, who you are today and who you might want to become,
Adam
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