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There has been no year like 2020 till now. Yes, the world has seen pandemics before, but never before has the world been so interdependent and impacted by the pandemic like now.

However, the good news: 2020 is about to step aside for 2021 to show up with all its abundance and new possibilities.

There are two things that you can do:
Make a powerful entry into 2021; or,
Float into 2021 and happen to simply show up in the New Year.

I am inviting you to make a powerful entry into the New Year and make 2021 the best year you’ve had till now. If this is what you are interested in, read on.

So that you can make an authoritative and a commanding entry in the New Year, I invite you to do a review of the last year (2020) and take stock. Below, I recommend a set of questions that you ask yourself. I have broken these questions into 2 parts – one that reviews and completes 2020 and another set that helps you make new declarations for the New Year.

It might be useful to know ‘What is so’ about your life at the end of 2020; and then, as a matter of your creation, ‘where will you be this time next year’ so that you can make an powerful entry into 2021 and achieve your promises for the New Year.

Here are the 6 essential questions for you. I am suggesting these questions to you after having completed this exercise for 9 consecutive years in a row, and I can state out of experience, once you have done so, you will be making a powerful entry in to the New Year. Not only that, if you act inside of your commitments, you will make 2021 your best year yet. I have immensely benefited from this exercise in the last few years.

1. What have you achieved in 2018?
   While answering this question, what I did was to look at different areas of my cares, such as my work with the Institute for Generative Leadership, my personal life; and, my family. In each of these cares, I looked at my accomplishments of the last year.Just writing down my successes in each of these areas gave me a great sense of achievement and a lot of power to declare audacious and bold goals for the New Year!I suggest you identify the important areas of your life and list out your achievements in each of these areas.

2. What did you learn new in this year?
   Learning is not only about new knowing or simply gaining new knowledge. Learning is about “new doing” and “new practices” – through which you expand your capacity to act and to generate new results.I reflected on what new practices did I commit to in the last year. By learning new leadership practices, I have shifted my capacity for action (and hence, more importantly, my capacity to deliver results).I am inviting you to review this too. In the event, you did not commit to any new practices in the last year, then no problem – we have a chance to make commitments for the New Year, and we will do so below.

3. What is it that you want to acknowledge yourself for in this Year?
   We perpetually see the good in others and compare ourselves to others. No wonder then that most times we fall short. This is the time of the year to step back for a few moments and pat yourself on the back for all the good that you are and all the good that you have done. I made a detailed list of points that I wanted to acknowledge myself for. I encourage you to look back in your year and acknowledge yourself / pat yourself on your back. It doesn’t matter how big or small it is.

4. What is it that you missed out on this year?
   This year too, I missed out on a few promises and certain self-development goals. For example, I missed out on having my third book published this year and did not write the two research papers I committed to writing.By simply distinguishing what I missed out in the last year, has helped me re-evaluate my promises. The ones that continue to hold importance in my life have found a place in what are my promises for 2021 (the next question). Some promises I have chosen to revoke because I have other commitments that are more important to me now.

5. What are your promises for 2021?
   There are two ways to approach any promise in your life – one is to first identify ‘what’ is your promise and then figure out the ‘how’. The other is to first look at the resources that you have, the effort that it will take, and then determine your promise.A lot of people first look at the ‘how’ and based on the `how’, they decide the ‘what’, i.e., their promise.I am a firm believer that you need to figure out the ‘what’ first and the ‘how’ will start to reveal itself once you get into action. It’s pretty much like driving in dense fog. When you leave your home, you know where you want to go (your promise), but you cannot see the road. You commit to driving. You can see only a few feet ahead. However, when you travel the few feet, you see the next few feet.Commit to action. Take the first step. Subsequent steps will automatically open up. Waiting to see the entire path before you take the first step will lead you to one of two things; inaction, or setting small goals.

   Think of all the areas that you care for; in each area think of where you would like to be this time next year; make promises in these areas; make these promises specific, measurable and put a deadline. If you bring in intention and action, nothing can stop you from achieving your promises for 2020.

   This year, we have committed that we will impact a hundred thousand leaders. Do know how? No.

   Are we committed? Absolutely yes.

6. What new will you learn in the New Year?
   And finally, I have made my own Personal Development Plan for 2021. There is specific new knowledge that I have committed to knowing; and as importantly, some specific practices that I have committed to – my promise to myself is that my capacity this time next year would have enhanced significantly in areas that matter to me. I invite you to design your capacity, by identifying what new you will learn, through practice, in 2021.

Feel free to add more questions if you would like. The more you question yourself, the more you will seek answers from yourself.

Once you have done this, I invite you to share your promises with someone who can hold you accountable. If you have a learning team, share these promises with your learning team. Create a structure of people around you who continuously support you in fulfilling your promises.

I have created a solid structure of people around me that hold me to account. If you would like to create a similar structure, please feel free to contact me on sameer@sameerdua.com. I would be delighted to support you.

I can guarantee you, once you have done this, you will not only make a powerful entry in 2021, you will conquer the New Year!

Make 2021 count! Like we say in IGL conferences – IT IS YOUR FREAKIN LIFE!

Good luck and have a blast!

(This blog post is simply modified from similar blog posts posted at the end of earlier years. However, I have re-done, in complete, the exercise of answering the questions mentioned above. I encourage you to do so too and see the value for yourself :))

She came into my office and sat down. Her eyes looked worried, her body tensed. I could see she was holding her shoulders stiff and was not breathing in full breaths. What more was happening in her body was just about to be revealed to her in a few minutes.

The first thing she said was “I am unable to concentrate on my work and I can see the way I am being with my colleagues now a days is not yielding me good results. I can see them distancing away from me and worse still my effectiveness at work is lowering down.” She is Vrushali, Head HR of a multinational IT organisation in my city. She has more than 15 years of work experience and is doing very well for herself but was not very happy.

Let me first tell you, this is not only about Vrushali, this may just be about you. So while you do read about what Vrushali was going through, try to relate it to your own life and see what may be missing for you to add value in your life from this.

She continued to speak to me about what was going on in her life and what was causing this anxiety. I asked her a few questions to open her thinking up but did not make progress. I knew her body was holding her back. Her body was just not ready for this conversation. I knew for us to make any headway Vrushali will have to open up and one of the best ways to do so is through the body route.

Gabriella Roth, an American dancer and musician’s approach to movement called 5 Rhythms are my personal favourite when it comes to listening to what your body is saying and revealing. I invited Vrushali for a dance. She was surprised but fully submissive, for which I was grateful.

As she moved, I gently guided her to focus her attention on the different parts of her body. I could see her expressions change slowly and it was amazing to see how different each was from the other as she focused her mind from one part of her body to the other. At one point she had tears rolling down her cheeks and she let them be. She did not want to stop and I was in no hurry. Slowly, her movements became more relaxed and I could see her sensing the transformation taking place. She began realising the stress she was carrying in her body and that was over-whelming her.

Later during the coaching session she went on to reveal the strenuous relationship she shared with her boss and her inability to express her frustration. Through the coaching, I showed her the connection between this relationship with her boss to the stress she was carrying in her body which was inturn leading her to the strained results at work with her colleagues.

All of this could happen because instead of being only in the head we explored what her body was storing and trying to say.

In the hour that followed, Vrushali told me that she was surprised how different she was feeling in her body. During the movement she particularly felt pain when she moved her shoulders and neck and had not realised till then how stiff they were. She expressed the movement had eased her body to a great extent and was astonished that she had been immune to all this happening in her body all this while! This revelation and easing of the body allowed her to take fuller breaths. The oxygen passing to her brain increased, her thoughts became clearer, she was now open to receive and see the possibilities that she was blind to earlier. She was now ready to be coached through the concern she originally came with.

Our coaching relationship was for six months where we dealt with many such issues. From that day on she developed daily practices to listen to her body and not push down and ignore what her body was telling her.

Your body is talking!

Our bodies speak to us all the time, we just have to develop the capacity to ‘listen’. In today’s world we hustle around from one business meeting to the other, one project to the other, one deadline to the other, between office and home we become distanced from our body and its sensations. James Joyce, an Irish novelist in his book “The Dubliners” vey rightly said ‘Mr. Duffy lived a little distance from his body’.

Our body gives us cues in various forms like sweaty palms, knotted brows, tingling sensations, short breaths, drooping shoulders, raised heartbeats and many more. Our bodies have a conditioned way to react to different situations and events, if we listen deeply to these cues we will more often be in a position of choice. A choice to course correct or stay on the same path. A choice that will enable us to drastically change the future.

As for Vrushali, when she intently began listening to her body she began to see patterns. One of the many things she realised was when she would get angry she would hold her breath for those little moments! This in turn would reduce oxygen supply to the brain and that would fuel her anger even more and this worked drastically in the reverse direction of nurturing any relation. Only because she was aware of her way of inhabiting in her body that she had the choice of changing it because this way was taking her away from the results she wanted. Till then she had not known about her not stiff shoulders and breathing pattern.

My invitation to you is to develop this little practice for yourself –

3 times a day stop whatever you are doing and just notice the way your body is. Observe if any of your body parts are feeling tensed up and ease them out. You can increase the number of times you observe your body and slowly you will begin to see the difference this has in your life.

Remember, your body does not lie!

*Fictional names have been used to protect identity.

SheejaShaju, Program Leader and Leadership Coach at the Institute for Generative Leadership, India is also a columnist for the Indian Magazine of Dance Therapy. This article was originally published in their magazine – https://cmtaisiteblog.wordpress.com/2016/12/22/are-you-listening-to-your-body/

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Named as a Global Management Thinker to watch by Thinkers50

As a part of the biennial ranking of the 50 leading management thinkers, Thinkers50 publishes an annual list of 30 thinkers who will do most to shape the future. Sameer Dua, Founder, Institute for Generative Leadership (India) and a bestselling author was selected to be a part of this “Radar” that lists “the 30 management thinkers most likely to shape the future of how organisations are managed and led”.

According to Thinkers50, the world’s most reliable resource for identifying, ranking, and sharing leading management ideas, “this is a list of global emerging thinkers who have the potential to make lasting contributions to management theory and practice”.

This is what Des Dearlove and Stuart Crainer, Founders, Thinkers50 had to say, “Some ideas and some thinkers resonate. This is the basis of our annual selection of 30 thinkers to watch in the coming year. These are the people whose work we have encountered in our physical and intellectual travels. These are the people who have piqued our interest.”

They further added, “This is as powerful a group as we have ever identified in our annual selection. These 30 thinkers cover enormous ground – from AI to employee engagement, from cognitive diversity to immigration. The 30 are the most diverse group we have ever assembled, a dream team of researchers, advisers, entrepreneurs, and organizational leaders. They are the people to watch in 2019.”

“I am delighted to be a part of this year’s Thinkers50 Radar list of the 30 Management Thinkers. It is wonderful to join a truly global community that values business ideas that can improve the world around us. The list has experts from London School of Economics, Warwick Business School, Asper School of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, Harvard Business School, Henley Business School, London Business School, Ashridge-Hult Business School, Saïd Business School, Oxford University and many other leading global experts” stated Sameer Dua.

Sameer Dua is the world’s leading authority on Declaring Breakdowns, a powerful leadership move, and his best selling book on this subject continues to be used as study material by several management and leadership institutes globally. His second book “Become: The Five Critical Conversational Practices that Shift ‘Who You Be’ as a Leader” became the number one book on Amazon in 5 different categories within the first 6 hours of launch.

The Thinkers50 Awards Gala that happens once every two years has been dubbed as “the Oscars of Management Thinking” by the Financial Times, UK.

About Thinkers50

Thinkers50 identifies, ranks, and shares the very best in management ideas. It’s definitive global ranking of management thinkers is published every two years. The 2017 winner was Roger Martin. Previous winners include Clayton Christensen (2011 and 2013); C K Prahlad (2007 and 2009); Michael Porter (2005 and 2015); and Peter Drucker (2001 and 2003).

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