So here we
are – three days into the new year. It’s funny how such a build up happens when
ONE day ticks over. True – champagnes, beers and of course ‘healthy fresh cold,
pressed juices’ are drunk with friends in celebration, but as the clock strikes
midnight it is as if we all expect a new person to take over our souls. The new
year, new me theme spreads wide among many.
Please don’t
get me wrong – there is absolutely merit in being able to take a moment or two
to step back from the high speed freight train that has taken the form of your
life over the year; filled with career driven tasks, tough gym sessions, social
catch ups, bills and LIFE (and let me tell you – life is ridiculously
exhausting sometimes!!).
What I feel
like a I NEED to tell you is that tonight is not the only night, the be all and
end all night and one chance you have over the course of the year to re-direct
your thoughts, energies, priorities and goals into something new or ‘better’.
Taking time
out over an almond milk chai latte, a super-juice, post-meditation, gym kettle-bell
sesh or even just on your work lunch break (for some of us, as a means to
inspire us and keep those positive thoughts coming to get us through the 9-5
job in which we are dragging our feet along to), is so important and we should
be doing it on a quarterly, monthly or even weekly basis to ensure that we are
living mindfully, purposefully and more importantly a life that we love.
So how do we
do this you ask? It doesn’t need to be a gruelling and migraine forming experience,
it simply has to be a short (maybe 20minutes depending on how much you want to
put into it – in saying that, like anything – the more you put into it, the
more you get out of it) moment in time where you sit away from distraction with
a trusty pen and paper in hand (I’m a bit old – school and love to be able to
turn the pages without having to open, close and find old documents – each to
their own though!).
1) Write down a list of the great
things you experienced/achieved/made you happy over the past year (or if this
is a monthly/weekly thing for you, use the time fraction that suits you). Try
to come up with a list of 10 for yearly reflectors, 5 for monthly or 3 for
weekly – if you get more, you are doing stupendously!!!
For each of these – write down WHY they occurred. Usually it links back
to an action or thought on your part, but sometimes external factors – so THINK!
2) Write down a list of things that you
weren’t so wrapt about. (As human nature is, we tend to find it easier to think
of the negatives – but don’t fear, that is what we are working on changing!).
Again – for each of these write down WHY you think these occurred.
3) Write down 5 areas in your life that
you feel are the BIGGEST areas (Mine were career, health, spirituality/mind,
social connections and fitness….. but please, make these important and relevant
to YOU.
For each of these areas, write down three priorities for you to
achieve/complete/experience etc. this year (or month etc). For example, in my
spirituality section I want to be more mindful, complete meditation or yoga for
20minutes each day and partake in a once weekly reflective journal to ‘release’
my negative thoughts and worries.
**Note – if you only have a few moments, stick with 5 general priorities
for the year and you can put more detail in it another time, just get the ball
rolling!
4) With the above priorities in mind,
think about 5 SPECIFIC (think – detail, measureable, achievable, realistic and
timely) goals for the coming year (if you need to sneak in a couple more, go
for it – just make sure that they are realistic).
**To double check the ‘realism’ of your goals, ask yourself – out of a
scale of 1-10, how confident am I in being able to reach this goal in this
period of time? (1 being not al all confident and 10 being super confident). If
your number is below 7, then you need to adjust your goal. In my experience,
setting high expectations and goals are great to give you an overall ‘vision’,
but giving yourself smaller and achievable goals will mean you are a hell of a
lot more likely to reach these and keep climbing the ‘goal building ladder’,
rather than crawling in a ball in a mass of low self esteem.
5) What things do you need to ‘let go
of’ or not have so fore-fronted in your mind to be able to reach these goals?
Often we hold onto or continue to behave, think, react in a certain way due to
our past learnt experiences, being afraid of what will happen if we change our
ways or lifestyle or simply because of routine. The old saying “you always get
what you’ve always got, if you always do what you’ve always done” rings VERY
true!! Do what you need to do, without fear.
Got it? Now – stick those goals in a place that you will see on a
regular basis and refer to them over the course of the coming year. Don’t be
afraid to re-adjust them if need me. Life happens – just falling short of one
goal doesn’t mean your life is doomed, it happens to us all – re-adjust and get
on with reaching it at another point in time or in smaller stages.
If you’re keen – why not create a vision board and post photos, words,
magazine cut outs, mantras, anything to a large sheet of paper for you to be
inspired, refreshed, recharged and focussed each time you glance at it.
Again, these are ideas and strategies to get you thinking. If you feel
you need or want to pay particular attention (more or less) to any of these,
please do.
Who needs new years resolutions when you can take time on your own to
look at and celebrate the awesome year it was to build on it in your own way –
to live the life that you are bouncing out of bed for!
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