Year end

Preparation separates the exceptional from the exception. It's almost winding down season, and I hope you take time to reflect and plan. We offer so much of our time, skills and resources to the external world. At Ideas That Walk, our leadership hub has a module that focuses on personal development. Through this module, we place an emphasis on how if you are to thrive and lead well, you've got to invest time in project you.

As the year ends, I want to encourage you to take the time to offer the skills and resources you outsource to companies (work and or your job), to yourself and your personal development.

At the end of the year, many companies and organisations go into a reflection period to evaluate the year that was and to plan for the coming year.

It's important that we also do this for ourselves. In doing so, we will show up at a better capacity and clarity in the world of work. You'll see clearly what is worth your time and what is not. What feeds the bigger vision, and what may just be a distraction?

Take time in November to reflect on who you were as an employer or employee. Ask yourself where your strengths and weaknesses are. Your successes and failures, and where and how you spent most of your time and energy and what the return on investment was. The return may not just be a financial one but may also include: emotional, mental, physical, social and relational benefits.  

Use this reflection as a precursor to who you wish to show up as in 2026. In the workplace, in your family, in your relationship, in your friendships, in your community and ultimately in society and the world.

Sometimes we get discouraged from drawing in and imagining, and yet we spend 80% of our time servicing companies and entities that belong to people who value imagining.

 Creating a personal strategy and vision board is both an act of great courage and wisdom. You don't need to know it all, figure it all, or even have it all. 

The dangers of failing to plan are that you indirectly plan to fail.

You want to enter the 2026 year with a grasp of what you will pursue, partner with or even attempt. Reflection periods and vision boards enable this. In failing to do this, you risk the uncertainty and depressive nature that comes with being at the mercy of others. 

I last did a vision board in 2019, at the time I was fresh out of varsity, an intern living in a commune. The vision board includes items such as working for the UN, local government departments, health goals, owning assets, and academic achievements. It also included references to real-life figures who existed in the areas I wish to see realised. At the time, I was in my early 20s with no clear framework or network. I did not have a detailed roadmap for the future, and yet the act of courage shaped my decisions, and six years later, as I drew to the close of my 20s, I've achieved 95% of what is on my vision board. It took will, deliberate planning, failing, succeeding, "luck", timing, the blessing of the Lord and pure courage and audacity to simply bet on myself. 

I extend the same invitation to you, for you