Now is an excellent time of the year to do what I call “taking stock.”
Taking stock means assessing your career, life, health, relationships, financial state, and overall mindset.
Here’s the thing: Life is like a wheel, and that wheel has spokes, many of which you’re familiar with, including physical, emotional, financial, career, family, and spiritual. When a spoke breaks, the wheel starts to wobble. If two spokes break, the ride gets rough. And if another spoke weakens, we tend to ride into a ditch.
We’ve all been in that place where things pile up and affect each other. If you stay in the ditch, that’s called depression. Many things in life that are out of our control impact our wheel. My mom used to say, “No one gets through this life unscathed.”
When taking stock, look closely at the things you can control. For example, my career has been a consistently solid spoke in my wheel, which I’ve protected from other spokes that inevitably failed from time to time.
This time of the year, I like to think about what I can do to strengthen my wheel — and you should do the same. Of course, be realistic.
Like a business plan, you can only change a few things at a time, so I’d recommend picking one or two. Focus on something outside your career that could make a big difference and keep your wheel from veering you off the road.
Taking stock can make all the difference in the new year, so ask yourself, “What can I do in 2023 to stay on track successfully?”
