Use the Six Discoveries in 2022
January 12, 2022
The end of the year is a great time to reflect on 2021 and plan for 2022. Below you will find a guide for using The Six Discoveries to reflect on the past year.
Why it matters: If we do not take time to reflect on our experiences we do not learn from them, and we do not adjust our course for the future. No matter the form, reflection helps us learn and grow.
Go deeper: The Six Discoveries are six areas of focus for anyone who wants to become their best. For a full explanation be sure and listen to Ep 71 of Magic in the Room.
What's next: Use the reflection questions below to evaluate the past year, and plan for the next. This is a valuable exercise anytime, not just the end of the year.
Ignitor Mindset: Cultivate a growth and outward mindset
- In the last year, what are the challenges I embraced? How did I grow?
- In the last year, how did I take other peoples needs and desires into account when I made decisions?
- For the next year, what challenges or learning am I avoiding that I need to embrace?
- For the Next year, who do I need to seek out and understand their needs before making decisions or taking action?
Role Clarity: Clearly identify your roles, and what it means to be successful at each
- What role was I most effective at this year? Why?
- In what areas must I work to define my role more clearly?
- Is there a role I need to take on or stop doing?
Purpose Clarity: Declare an authentic purpose
- What is my purpose? Does it need to be revised?
- What did I do to live my purpose this year?
- What areas do I need to focus on in the coming year to be even more effective?
Commitments: Take action on your daily commitments
- What commitment did I keep this year? What was the result?
- What commitments do I need to get rid of, change, or add for the next year to activate my purpose?
Execution: Do the projects and learn the skills needed to live your purpose.
- What projects were finished this year that need to be celebrated?
- What do you need to learn or plan for next year to execute more effectively?
Resilience: Recover quickly from disruption and sustain performance
- How did I show resilience this year?
- What assumptions kept me from being resilient this year?
- What practices do I need to embrace to become an authentically resilient person?
The bottom line: Using these questions to get ready for the coming year will help you learn and grow in effectiveness. Let us know what you learn about yourself and your plans for the coming year.
Go deeper: To hear Hannah, Luke, and Chris answer some of these questions for themselves and model how this reflection can work check on Ep 83 of Magic in the Room.
In this episode of Magic in the Room, Luke and Hannah explore the concept of polarities. Tensions like purpose and performance, stability and change, or accountability and grace that are often mistaken for problems to solve rather than dynamics to manage. Drawing on insights from Barry Johnson’s work, they explain how these opposing forces are interdependent and must be balanced over time to achieve sustained success. Through practical examples and personal reflections, they show how over-relying on one side of a polarity leads to predictable “shadow sides” such as stagnation, chaos, inefficiency, or burnout, while effective leadership requires recognizing where you are on the cycle and intentionally recalibrating. The episode emphasizes that many recurring organizational frustrations are not failures, but signals of imbalance, and offers a more nuanced approach to leadership. One that replaces rigid either/or thinking with flexible both/and awareness to improve decision-making, team dynamics, and long-term performance.
In this episode of Magic in the Room, Luke Freeman, Hannah Bratterud, and Chris Province dive into the concept of “mattering,” inspired by Zach Mercurio’s work, and explore why it is a foundational driver of engagement, performance, and culture in organizations. They challenge leaders to move beyond assuming people matter to actively ensuring individuals feel that they matter by being valued and by contributing value to a shared purpose. The conversation highlights how mattering differs from belonging, why it cannot be replaced by perks or efficiency, and how leadership behaviors like attention, recognition, and presence directly shape whether people feel seen, heard, and understood. Through examples ranging from workplace dynamics to broader societal trends like social disconnection, they argue that disengagement, conflict, and even poor performance are symptoms of a mattering deficit. Ultimately, they position mattering not as a soft concept, but as a measurable, actionable leadership responsibility that underpins trust, resilience, and long-term success.