It’s that time again, where we say goodbye to the old year and welcome in the new one. I am sure many of you are also wondering where on earth the time has gone, as it only felt like yesterday we were wishing
each other a Happy New Year going into 2022. We often use this period between Christmas and new year as a time to reflect back on the last 12 months and celebrate the successes, mourn the losses and if we are really intentional identify any lessons learned. Into the mix of reflection and possibly future planning I would like to suggest we also add in the subject of our value.
We understand value as a generic term that means the importance or worth of something or in some cases the usefulness of that thing. The values we hold, whether conscious or unconscious play a huge role in how we live, how we interact, how we communicate, who we do life alongside as well as the decisions we make. Understanding our personal values can be instrumental in creating an opportunity to assess varying aspects of our life and if we want to continue walking down a particular path.
Understanding and knowing our values for 2023, or deciding what they ought to be can help us to prioritise the areas that matters most this year. If security, for example, is an important value establishing systems to both create and building wealth is going to be a priority. Additionally, partaking 
in all the activities that lead to security and reducing the ones that detract from that. For others, an important value might be peace, success, contentment, or growth.
I wonder how our daily and long-term decisions would differ if they were considered in light of our values, not just the outcome or goal. One of the values that has been important for me in the last 12 months has been consistency and remaining consistent despite setbacks. A goal I set in January 2022 was to attend a Pilates class 2x every week, and that goal was exceeded some months with me attending 3x a week. It was also paused for a few weeks as I recovered from an injury and also travelled at other times. So whilst consistency did not look exactly the same every week, as I reflect over the year I have been consistent overall with my Pilates goal and am pleased with the results it has produced both mentally and physically. Another area of consistency was in writing, which allowed me to publish 3 books this year, despite not writing every week.
Values help us to prioritise, say the right no’s and the right yeses. When faced with a decision we can ask ourselves does this align and support the values of the life I am creating. Or would this take us up in a different direction. I am sure 2023 will be full of opportunities, and some will support the values we are
focussing and help us achieve the overall goals, whilst others may seem good but ultimately not good for us. Several years ago I made a decision to step down from a Managing Director role that was well-paid, secure, and had many opportunities because I wanted to build my business. I remember being told it’s okay to leave a good job for a good reason, and that principle applies to other areas of our personal and professional life.
As you map out and strategically plan out your 2023 consider what values are most important as well as the goals you would like to achieve. Whatever that looks like for you, I hope it is a fantastic 2023.
Francesca McDowall, December 2022