Louise Thompson: Midwinter goal check

We are half way through the year; 2014 is whizzing past at breakneck speed. Often by now our New Year's resolutions, set in the glow and intention of summer sunshine, are all but forgotten.

As we hunker down in the winter months it's a great time to do a mid-year review. Are you on track with how you saw this year unfolding? Has life sent you some curve-balls and you have gone way off-piste?

By mid-year we can be so down in the detail of life, just getting things done day after day, that we forget to look up and see the big picture and whether we are making choices day to day that reflect the outcomes we truly want to create.

We can start off bound for one destination in January, we check the map frequently at the start of the trip as we are all excited about it, but then as the months roll by we stop looking up so often and we are unwittingly headed for a different destination altogether.

So, grab a pen, and a cup of chai and give yourself a few minutes of valuable midwinter life review time to check your course and direction for 2014.

• What were my goals/resolutions for 2014?

Write down a list of personal and professional goals you had set for yourself earlier in the year.

• Which goals have I achieved or am I on track to achieve? Why am I on track to make then happen?

This is important to identify: have you run your first 10K race because you effectively followed a training plan and chose to prioritise your training time even when it was difficult? Did you get the promotion because you conquered your fear of speaking up?

• How can I celebrate these successes?

Celebration and marking milestones is very important for your motivation. Find suitably awesome ways to big up your wins.

• Which goals have I not achieved or am I not on track to achieve? Why am I not on track to make them happen?

Be honest. Has the intention to lose the last 10 kilos and feel amazing in your jeans not really happened? The eating and exercise plan hasn't been stuck to in practice. What has come first instead? Has progress towards the goal lapsed because it's no longer what you want? Don't be judgy and hard on yourself, this is not an opprtunity to beat yourself up. Just observe what didn't happen and be honest with yourself as to why it didn't.

• What can I do to get these goals back on track?

Be specific. What can you do today to get realigned, pronto?

• What goals are important to me for the rest of 2014?

You can redefine the January goals, or, you may want to change them completely: either you have achieved them, or they are not as important as you thought and there is something you now want more. That's okay - you can change them they are just goals, not a tattoo.

• What were my goals/resolutions for the remainder of 2014? Where do I want to be by Christmas?

Set three personal goals and three professional goals for yourself.

If you need some additional structure around effective goal- setting, or as I like to call it Goals with Soul, please head on over to louisethompson.com and download the free Time Ninja workbook that will take you right through an effective goal-setting, and goal-getting process.

• What is the most valuable thing I have learned about myself so far this year?
• What do I wish I had done more of so far in 2014?
• What do I wish I had done less of so far in 2014?

Last but not least ask yourself this:

• Who have been the most important and supportive people in my life in 2014?

• The three things I am most grateful for in 2014 are ...
1. ______________________________________
2. ______________________________________
3. ______________________________________

A midwinter life review can be just what you need to brush away those winter blues and get your mojo back. Get a pen and gift yourself half an hour this week to get yours done.

Limited tickets are available for Louise's Food for Thought exclusive life coaching seminars on ditching the diet drama forever right here: louisethompson.com