January Joy and February Focus

February 2, 2009 4:27 PM | Related Categories: Appreciative Inquiry

I took some time over the weekend to reflect on the month of January and what has given me joy. What would feature on your January Joy list? For me it was going to a traditional pantomime, meeting up with friends I had not seen for a while, inviting some friends round for dinner at short notice and having as one of them said "a delightful evening in good company." Also on the list is a " be a tourist in your own city day" when a business meeting at Edinburgh Castle focused me on what an amazing place the castle is and also opened my eyes to all the fascinating places in Edinburgh. The view of Edinburgh from the castle ramparts is wonderful. An unusual and innovative cello concert also featured - more of that in another blog.

Yes you might say these are all leisure or fun activities and they are needed to refresh and restore energy. There were moments of joy related to work too. Helping my husband's business by manning the stand at a trade show and gaining new customers, identifying new opportunities to apply the appreciative approach nearer to home here in Leith.

So now its February. What is your F word for February? In Edinburgh today it is cold, some might say freezing. There are wintry snow showers and cold winds. A few seconds ago there was a blink of sunshine and now its a snowstorm.

Your F word for February might be Fun or it might be Finances given all the recent events. My F word for February is Focus. What are you focused on for February? What would enable you to feel fantastic at the end of February? What first steps can you take today , right now!

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Trust me to spoil the mood - but you're tempting fate Margaret ;)
# Posted By richard | 2/2/09 5:21 PM
Is fate your F word for February Richard? If so maybe you can say a bit more on the topic and what you mean.
# Posted By Margaret | 2/2/09 5:59 PM
Hi Margaret - I was being mischievous as I'm sure you guessed, and I didn't even realise that I had unwittingly proffered my own f-word.

I have to say that I don't think it's realistic to concentrate your life for the coming month on something beginning with F or any other letter. I'm also a bit doubtful about splitting goals and ambitions up on a temporal basis - seems a bit artificial - like having your horoscope read for example. Of course sometimes if you feel a bit stale this sort of thing can help - New Years Resolutions being a good example.

I do think it is worthwhile looking at achievements (and failures), whether they be large or small, and over whatever period of time, and learning from them, whatever letter they start with
# Posted By richard | 2/2/09 6:47 PM
Well-that is interesting because now that I see what you mean by your comment, I reckon we will get to the same place-its just that we are using different language to describe how we will get there and where we will end up. By reviewing the month and asking what was the highlight or what went well you discover the achievements and by asking a follow up question about the future and and what you want that to be like ( in the case of this blog entry it is the month of February ) then you do in a different way get to what needs to be different or better in the future. You could say its about failures but most people do not want to admit to failures or will find it difficult to talk about them openly. This way the focus is on improvement, the energy and the motivation are different. It also tends to open up conversation and creativity as opposed to talking about failures and what did not work which tends to put people on the defensive. The brain works in a different way in each case. Its a bit like 'blue sky thinking versus being in the Dock in court under cross examination!
# Posted By Margaret | 2/2/09 7:12 PM
I've no problem with setting goals - I think we have to strike a balance between setting goals and reacting to opportunities and challenges. In addition these are not neatly packaged into month long intervals, nor are they conveniently alphabetised. We have long term and short term goals by the very nature of things. It depends if you mean all your energies are going to be diverted into focus, or if it's just a handle you can hang things on as and when.
# Posted By richard | 2/2/09 9:26 PM
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# Posted By essabra | 8/13/09 2:01 PM
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