Question 10: When September 2012 rolls around and you receive your answers to your 10Q questions, how do you think you’ll feel? What do you think/hope might be different about your life and where you’re at as a result of thinking about and answering these questions?
The beauty of this kind of annual time capsule experience is that this time next year, you get to visit with yourself and look at where you were at a year back and compare it to to where you’re at now. The confronting thing about this kind of experience is precisely the same thing; you get to visit with your last year’s self and see if you’ve achieved any of the things you dreamed about. In 2010, one person expressed this dichotomy beautifully, “Last year I gave a highly aspirational answer that slapped me in the face as I realized that I am more or less at the same position. I have only climbed laterally and so with that knowing I’d like to say that by next year I am going to use all of my effort, spirit and imagination to start moving upward.” Others spoke directly and comically to their old selves: “I think I’ll probably laugh at myself. I tend to take these things too seriously sometimes. Hi Vick. Are you in love? Are you still working at Walgreens? Are you back in school? I hope you’re in love. I want that more for you than anything right now. Love, Vick.” And some were hopeful about where they would e a year from now: “Hopefully I will smile and think: I knew that setting up goals, thinking about these things and taking them and myself seriously would really help me in achieving it. Look at all the things I have mastered and achieved during the last year! Wonderful! What are my next goals and aspirations?” Where do you think you’ll be this time next year and how do you think you’ll feel about reading your answers from your last years self? And remember, while achieving wishes and dreams are terrific, and it’s important to use 10Q to stop and congratulate yourself for what you have accomplished in a year, confronting ourselves with lack of movement in certain areas of our lives are just as great a gift. Often, we can go for years without realizing or admitting that we are stuck in a certain pattern or rut. Coming face to face with this tangibly in your own life is one of the best ways of propelling change. You are holding yourself accountable to yourself. And that’s a huge gift. However icky it may feel in the beginning. So, take a moment and ask yourself, how do you think you’ll feel this time next year and what might be different as a result of this period of pondering?