175 | A Mid-Year Reset To Set You Up For a Brilliant Second Half of the Year

Are you thinking the same thing that I am at

the moment, which is how are we halfway through the year already?

Whenever it gets towards the end of June, I'm always shocked by just how

quickly the months have whizzed by.

If you're feeling the same way as me, I totally understand, and I know that

whether you set clear goals back in January or not, it's too easy to just

keep moving from one thing to the next, getting caught up in the day-to-day

busyness of work without stopping to think about how things are actually going and

without stopping to be really intentional about what you'd like the rest of the

year to actually look like and feel like.

So six and a half years into creating the Essential HR Planner for you to help

you have a brilliant year at work every year, I have finally decided to create

a quick and easy, but powerful, mid-year reset activity for you that I'll be

adding into the planner for next year.

I'm going to talk you through the mid-year reset activity today so

you can start using it straightaway.

You don't have to wait a whole year for it.

And I really hope that if you work your way through it with me right

now, it will make a big difference to how the rest of your year unfolds.

So instead of risking drifting through the next few months, you can feel more

in control, more excited about what you're working towards, and when you

get to the end of the year, you'll be able to look back and feel proud and

content with what you've achieved.

If you're a regular listener or watcher of the show, welcome back.

It's always brilliant to have you here.

If you're new to HR Coffee Time, hello, it's great to have you with me today.

I'm your host, Fay Wallis, a career and executive coach who specializes in

empowering HR and people professionals to have successful and fulfilling careers.

I really hope you're going to enjoy this episode and find it helpful.

Let's dive in and start working through your mid-year reset.

So the first thing to let you know is that your mid-year reset uses a

framework that you might have come across before, because it's often used

in project reviews and team reviews, and it's called STOP- Stop, continue.

It's a framework I've used a lot in my coaching work and in my Inspiring

HR Leadership programme as well, which means that I'm lucky to have seen

first-hand how powerful it can be in helping people quickly get clarity

on what's working, what's not, and what they want to do differently.

I like it because it's quick, it's practical, and

it naturally leads to action.

It doesn't overcomplicate things.

It just helps you to take a short pause so you can stop feeling like you're just

reacting to everything, and start feeling clearer and more intentional again.

And if you'd like a copy of this mid-year reset activity in front of you to work

through as I talk you through it in this episode, I'll make sure there's a link

for you to download it for free in the show notes if you're listening to the

audio version of the podcast, and there'll also be a link in the YouTube description

if you're watching it on YouTube.

But you don't need to download a copy of it.

You can always just grab a pen and paper and jot down your answers to the

prompts I'm going to share with you now.

And don't worry about answering everything perfectly, just go with what comes

to mind, because this activity isn't about answering questions perfectly.

It's about answering them in a way that's going to be really helpful for you.

So if you have a copy of the Essential HR Planner that you've been using this

year, you'll probably find it useful to just flick through it and look back

at your end of month reviews and weekly planning pages to help remind you of what

you've been working on throughout the year so far, and any challenges that you've

had, and any patterns that you can see.

If you don't have a copy of the planner, don't worry.

You can always look back through your Outlook calendar and in your notebook,

if you have one, to do a similar thing.

So let's start with the section called stop.

This is about identifying what's not helping you and being honest about it so

you can then decide what you want to stop doing for the second half of the year.

It's amazing how sometimes the biggest shift comes not from doing more, but from

letting go of something that you have been doing that's just not helpful enough.

The reflection questions I've included in the stop section of your mid-year

reset activity are, number one, what has been draining my time or energy?

Number two, what am I doing out of habit rather than because it's useful?

Number three, what isn't really supporting my goals or priorities?

Number four, where do I need to say no more often?

And number five, what could I be doing in a quicker or more efficient way?

You might want to pause the episode while you think about your answers, jot

them down, and then come back to me.

But again, please don't worry about answering every single one of those

questions to do this perfectly.

If you find that one in particular really stands out to you and gives you a real

light bulb moment, then just feel free to just focus on answering that one.

But I think it can be helpful to have at least given a little bit of

thought to each of those questions as I've asked them before you then

go ahead and jot down your answers.

You might find that your answers to these are really practical, so maybe you're

going to stop attending a particular meeting that you could ask one of your

colleagues to go to instead, and then that would be a great development opportunity

for them while freeing up your time.

So it's a win-win situation.

Or it could be the answer that stands out to you after thinking about these

questions is a more emotional one.

Perhaps you want to stop being so self-critical because it's hurting

you rather than helping you.

Or perhaps you want to stop procrastinating about getting

started with an important project.

You might also find that some of your answers help you decide

what you want to start doing.

As an example, maybe you want to stop being interrupted at work by other

people asking for your help or asking for your opinion constantly throughout

the day, so you decide you're going to start setting certain times of the day

when you have an open door policy and clearly communicate to everyone that you

need to safeguard the rest of your time to focus on other projects and work.

As we're naturally drifting into the start part of the mid-year reset, let's move on

to this part of your mid-year reset now.

So the start section is where you focus on what's missing or

what you've been putting off.

The reflection questions to think through and jot down your answers to

are, number one, what have I been putting off that could make a real difference?

Number two, what goals do I wish I'd prioritized in the first half of the year?

Number three, what would help me have more impact in my role?

Number four, where do I need to step outside my comfort zone?

And number five, what would make the second half of the

year feel more fulfilling?

Again, your answers to these questions might be practical or

emotional, or a combination of both.

Perhaps you want to start carving out more thinking time so you're able

to be more strategic, or perhaps you want to give yourself permission to

shut your laptop at 5:00 each night, put your phone away, and not think

about work until the next morning.

Or maybe you want to prioritize yourself for once instead of everyone else

around you, and book yourself onto a course you've wanted to do for ages.

This is all about being intentional with your time and energy going forward.

And then we have the next section, which is continue.

This is just as important as the other two sections, but it's something

that can be really easy to overlook.

We're often just so focused on what we're not doing well enough that we forget

we're doing a lot of things well already.

Because when things are busy, we don't always take the time to recognize

what's working well, but I think it's important to not only recognize them,

this is also your chance to celebrate a little too, and to give yourself

that important pat on the back for the things that you have been doing well

and the successes that you've had.

There will be lots of things you're doing that are really helping you, that are

positive, and that you want to continue.

So the questions from this section for you to reflect on are, number one, what

am I most proud of so far this year?

Number two, what has been working well?

Number three, what habits or ways of working are supporting me?

Number four, where have I seen the most positive results or progress?

And number five, when have I felt at my best?

These can help make sure you don't lose the things that are

already helping you to succeed.

And as with the other sections, you might find that your answers are

practical, emotional, or a bit of both.

And if you'd like me to cheer you on and congratulate you for what has been going

well and what you would like to continue doing, I will be very happy to do that.

I think we could all do with a bit more cheerleading and recognition in our lives.

So please do drop me a note to let me know what you've decided you'd

like to continue and I'll reply.

You can always reach me on LinkedIn or through my website,

which is brightskyhr.co.uk.

But coming back to your mid-year reset, so once you've gone through the stop, start,

and continue sections, the very last step is to turn your reflections into action.

Even taking a short amount of time to do this can really shift how you feel

about your work from feeling a bit caught up in everything and it feeling

chaotic or too busy, to feeling much clearer and more intentional So to

turn your reflections into action, just ask yourself, "What actions will

I take as a result of this exercise?"

And try to keep them simple.

Focus on a few meaningful actions rather than creating a long, long list.

They could be things that will be ongoing, or they might be things that need to

start or end with a specific deadline.

So as well as writing down what actions you'll take, put a date next

to them that you'll be starting them, if you need to have a date there.

That's what can turn reflection into something that

actually makes a difference.

And that brings us to the end of this episode.

I hope you've enjoyed giving the mid-year reset a try, and that it helps set you

up for a fantastic rest of your year.

If you think other people might enjoy this episode and find it helpful too,

I would be hugely grateful if you could help it to reach more people by either

giving it a like if you're watching it on YouTube, those likes are very exciting

when I see them come in, or by rating and reviewing the podcast if you're listening

to it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Or if you're feeling really generous, you could even post about it on LinkedIn and

recommend that other people give it a try.

If you do go ahead and do any of those things, please do let

me know so I can say thank you.

I truly appreciate your support, and I'm looking forward to being back again in two

weeks' time with the next episode for you.

Have a great couple of weeks in the meantime.