The January Project 

The January Project was a creative outlet to explore career progression - set up in January, the ‘project’ reflected a strong sense that no matter how much you have already done, there is always more to learn.

The idea was to capture the feelings of the New Year when you are in high hopes for what you are going to achieve. It embodied a feeling of ‘what could be’ and promoted the idea that you didn’t need to wait for anyone to give you your next opportunity. You could be proactive, set up a project with a purpose and learn in the process. I learnt a lot from the process.

Firstly, people really connected with the idea and shared how thinking in this way had lead to a change in their lives (on reflection, after reading Brene Brown’s work, I realise now we were writing ourselves a permission slip to develop).

Secondly, by articulating a purpose, making it visible and talking about it creates opportunities that would not exist otherwise.

Thirdly, despite learnings one and two, at the time I was experimenting with this idea I wasn’t brave enough to let go completely. I kept one foot in the norm and experimented from there.