There’s nothing quite like the new year for that fresh start feeling. We feel inspired, motivated and excited. We set ambitious new years resolutions and goals with no real game plan on how to execute them. Unfortunately, as you probably already know, that leads to a lot of giving up around mid-February – or sooner.
Your new years resolution ideas are great – but you really can’t expect yourself to have completely transformed your life/finances/body in that short of a time. You have all year to achieve your goals, so focus on taking small steps in that direction and no steps in the opposite direction.
Don’t set goals that you are “supposed to” have, but don’t really care about.
Think about what you want your life to look like in a year and set goals around that idea.
For some people their ideal lifestyle may be a fast car in the big city, but others might prefer a quiet beach town and a bike. I think it’s important to really get clear on what the ideal lifestyle is for you and not for someone else.
Maybe your ideal lifestyle involves having 6+ cats
It can be difficult to envision your life a year in the future if you don’t have a lot of clarity on what you want… but that’s ok! You can gain clarity. Try to imagine what your (realistic) best life would be. If you can’t do that, try to imagine what would be the things that could happen in your life to make it your worst life. It’s often easier to think of what we don’t want. Once you figure out what you don’t want, try to think of the opposite.
Reaching your goal is like reaching the end of the game board – there are a lot of rolls and steps before you get there. You need to have a clear idea of the direction you’re going to head in before you start heading there. In short, you need an action plan.
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Set S.M.A.R.T. goals.
That’s goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timed.
Basically, the first step is that you need to set Specific goals instead of vague ones.
becomes something like:
“I will walk 10,000 steps every day.”
“I will drink green smoothies for breakfast.”
“I will start taking daily vitamins.”
“I will lose 2 lbs a month.”
etc.
Of course then you have to take some action to make those things happen, but they’re a lot more tangible, you can actually Measure and record your progress. You are also giving yourself a reasonable amount of time. Things don’t often change over night, so give yourself some realistic milestones.
Pick a theme for your year.
Maybe this year is all about personal growth for you, or maybe it’s all about professional development. It could be about improving your finances, or your year could be focused on improving your health, relationships and just a general change in lifestyle. After all, nothing changes in life unless you do.
It’s helpful if you can sum up your theme into one word and have that be your word for the year.
Personally, for 2021, my word of the year is JOURNEY! (huge surprise right?)
I’ve identified with the definition: passage or progress from one stage to another, instead of an actual physical trip. It may seem like an obvious choice, but I actually put quite a bit of thought and consideration into what it would be and mean to me.
If you don’t have an idea of what you would want your word to be, I actually have a few ideas!
It doesn’t really matter what your word is though, it only has to mean something to you. If you get through part of the year and don’t feel like you’re aligned with your word anymore – change it!
Reflect on your life
“The unexamined life is not worth living”
-Socrates
Can you think of something that has worked for you in the past? An approach you used to implement a habit that actually stuck? I know it can be difficult to pinpoint why you were able to start a specific habit and not another, but reflection is an important part of life.
Reflection really is an interesting thing. If you’ve ever read an old diary that you kept, then you probably know what I mean. I kept a lot of diaries and journals in my youth and re-reading them… well. It’s always nice to see how much you’ve grown.
In our digital age where everything has record, or people keep “receipts” it can be difficult to remember that we are ever learning new things and evolving as people. It’s only natural to grow,change and adapt.
If a new year means a new you, then you want that to be a better version of you than you were last year – a wiser, more experienced and informed version. What does that version of you look like?
A new year is a new chapter in your life and you are the author. What do you want to write?
Compare yourself
Another helpful exercise is to think about things that you want to do more of than you did last year, or maybe less of. Then make a list of things you want MORE of in the future and things that you want LESS of.
I think we all want more love and happiness, and we all want less stress and heartache. But I think you should get a lot more specific than that. Here’s an example of one I wrote up for myself:
You can do something as simple as drawing a line down a piece of loose leaf, or if you would like to use the above template, please sign up for my mailing list below & you’ll be sent the password to my printables vault!
If you are feeling more creative or are particularly artistic, a similar technique to try could be Current Me vs. Future Me. I first heard about this from Lavendaire – you can check it out here. The idea is pretty much the same though, envision what future you looks like and compare them to past you or current you.
That’s it! I am positive that if you set S.M.A.R.T. goals, pick a theme or word of the year, reflect on your life and only compare yourself to your past self that you can make whatever goals that you have happen! If you put in the work, you will reap the rewards. If you want more, I actually have 21 more ideas for living your best life in 2021! If you have any other suggestions for making yourself into your best you in the new year please leave them in the comments below!
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2 Comments
Wow this is good.
Thank you! I hope it was helpful!