Happy New Year and Welcome! As 2023 is well underway, and I know a lot of us have taken time to evaluate the last year. As we explore making this coming year more in line with what we truly want in our lives, we may set new goals and aspirations. If you follow my work, you know I stand firmly on VALUES to help clients more easily and JOYFULY achieve those goals. New habits are easier to form when the values underlying them are really clear. Goal setting becomes fun and achieving the smallest goals become daily wins!
At the New Year, moving forward with new goals and expanding on successes can be energizing. Reviewing our values and re-prioritizing can be exciting.
But, before examining what values and goals to move forward on, it is important to reflect on what goals just didn’t germinate. Instead of being discouraged by this, I would like to introduce you to a new term: Closing the Circle of Curiosity.
An incredible entrepreneur I work with recently noted that she was stepping back from a new and potentially exciting project that she had invested a lot of time and energy on. She noted that maybe she had finally completed “The Circle of Curiosity.” I found this frame to be intriguing. The project had been stuck for a while, her co-founder had just not been carrying her weight and no matter what she tried shifting, the project was just not taking off. Worse, it wasn’t really lighting her up anymore and had lost its value to her. In essence, she had explored it with curiosity, worked hard, and it wasn’t what she had hoped on several levels, especially interpersonally.
She had completed the Circle of Curiosity. The goal of exploration was achieved. The result may not have been what she planned, but the goal itself: “try this thing and see if I can make it work” had been satisfied. It didn’t work, wasn’t a great fit, and she learned a ton from the experience, especially about patterns in the way she engaged with certain people and opportunities. She was backing away, not because it wasn’t a success, but because she knew there was nothing more to learn from it. It no longer served her values! Once she was comfortable with “failing forward,” she could let go of the work and shift to a project that was more valuable.
Can you imagine if we all walked away from things dragging us down once we completed the Circle of Curiosity? We would have so much more energy and vitality to explore the things that really matter and have more potential for joy. I truly believe this applies to relationships as well as projects, habit building and career development.
When have you completed the Circle of Curiosity?” How did you feel when you realized you had learned all you could from it? Did it free you up to work on something new and interesting or did it stop you in your tracks?
Tara Travia, PhD 