"New Year New Me": Setting Yourself Up For A Great Year
Updated: Jan 1
How many times have we heard or seen the "New Year, New Me" sentiments or caught ourselves using that phrase? It usually starts making its rounds during this time of the year so let's talk about it. As we are going into the New Year we start thinking about what we are going to do differently, what we want to achieve, and the new habits that we're going to form, which sounds great but as we know a dream or thought without a plan will remain just that. In this blog post, we are going to discuss how you can prepare to Think It, Be It & Do It.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you purchase through a link.
Out With The Old, In With The New!
When we begin thinking about how we want to go into the year and the goals that we begin to set for ourselves, it is imperative to take into consideration what we have to let go of to allow new experiences, energy, relationships, and goals accomplished to transpire if we want to move into a 'new' version of ourselves. It is essentially learning what work we must do within ourselves to become that version that we desire to show up as. I recommend writing down 10 habits that you know you must let go of to establish 10 new habits that will be effective for your growth.
Identify Your Why
To create an effective plan, it's important to identify the reason why you want to do something. This might be a health goal like changing your diet, or getting better with your finances or it could be something like wanting to make small changes to feel better about yourself. Furthermore, this a concept that I am learning and would want for you as well as becoming Intentional with every decision that we make.
What does it mean to be Intentional?
It means clearly understanding what you want in your life and why. Once you have that understanding then anything that comes to you that does not align with those Intentions is when you then take the time to decipher do you want to give your time and attention to said thing.
To help get started:
Be specific about what exactly you want and why. For example, "I want a job that allows me to work remotely because this will allow me to spend more time with my family"
Be realistic about how much time and effort each step will take to make these changes. Try breaking up your resolutions into smaller steps that are easier on yourself mentally instead; this way they won't seem so overwhelming at first glance but still, allow plenty of room for growth over time too.
Put It On Paper
Write down your goals. The best way to keep track of your goals is by writing them down. This will be your guide that will continue to fuel your determination and action steps needed to keep you focused on achieving them. You can do this in your journal, by creating a spreadsheet or on a bulletin board. Keep your goals easily visible to you so that every day you are reminded of what needs to get done.
Break down your goals into phases whether it'll be daily, weekly or monthly to lessen the feeling of overwhelming yourself. In the book, "Atomic Habits" by James Clear, he presented a strategy for holding yourself accountable in the form of a habit contract that can be signed by you and an accountability partner.
Write down your habits. Habits are things that we do every day without much thought—brushing our teeth is an example of a habit! Writing down all the habits that are important for achieving our goals can help you keep track of what needs to happen each day so that you don't forget anything important along the way. For example, if one of these daily habits is "eat breakfast," then this means waking up early enough every morning so that there's time for breakfast before school/work/etc., which may require adjusting some other things like getting enough sleep at night (which requires setting an earlier bedtime), etc...
Here is a template that you can customize to fit your habits and goals for Q1-Q4!
Planning For Success
To make your New Year's Resolution as successful as possible, it's important to think about the planning process. Planning is an essential part of success because it helps you get clear on what you want and how you're going to get there, so that even if the path isn't exactly what you imagined or hoped for, at least you've given yourself a fighting chance of making progress toward your goal.
If we look at the most common resolutions—lose weight/get fit/eat healthier—they're all very broad in scope. But if we start breaking them down into smaller steps that might help us reach our larger goal (i.e., losing 25 pounds by 03/31/2023), then we can begin thinking about how much time and energy each step requires and whether or not we'll have enough resources available to complete those smaller tasks to reach our overall objective within the time frame set for ourselves at the outset.
For example: losing 25 pounds requires more than simply deciding not to eat junk food anymore; lots has changed since childhood when our parents told us "just say no!" There are countless factors involved now (local food environment; access/affordability); knowledge gaps exist regarding healthy eating options (what should I buy?), cooking methods/recipes; etc.; as well as limitations related to self-control issues like cravings (when do they occur?)
Create a vision board.
A great way to visualize what you want to accomplish is by creating a vision board. A vision board is a collage of images, words, and quotes that represent what you want for your life. It's like having an internal billboard where you can post the things that are important to you and what you want to achieve in the future.
The best way to create your vision board is by looking at magazines or websites that inspire you, cutting out the images that speak to the kind of person you wish to be, and then sticking them onto a piece of cardboard or even just cardboard cutouts if it suits you're aesthetic better than magazine pages do. If the task of cutting images, gluing, and taping is too time-consuming or just not your thing then another way to create a vision board is using a graphic design platform such as Canva where you can create your dream vision board by taking free images from the internet, creating a poster and have it mailed and shipped to you for about $11-$25 depending on size.
The key here is to keep this poster visible, having it up on a wall in your space that you can be reminded of every day you wake up, throughout the day, and before bed to have a constant visualization of what you want to acquire and achieve that year. Don't think small either!
Start With Small Changes
One of the most important things to remember when making any kind of change is that it doesn't have to be a sweeping change overnight. Allow yourself to take baby steps when it comes to improving yourself and working towards your goals. The key is finding what small changes will make the biggest impact on your life, whether it's making a certain amount of calls each day for your business or foods that you want to start eliminating from your diet and replacing with healthier alternatives.
While there are no set rules for what those changes are (because everyone's life situation is different), here are some ideas for getting started:
Start by making a list of everything that needs improvement in your life— physical health, mental health, finances, relationships with friends and family members, career improvements—and then order them from least important/challenging to most important/challenging. Then decide how you can begin to tackle an area by taking the first step, getting into that routine, and moving onto bigger ones as you progress, this will help you figure out where your time and energy should go next!
Track Your Progress
The second thing you can do to know where you are in your journey is to keep track of your progress. This means writing down goals, checking them off as they are achieved, and celebrating successes. It also means keeping a journal, noting any lessons learned along the way and areas that have room for improvement.
Here are some examples of how you might be able to track your progress:
Comparing where you are vs where you started in your journey by keeping a list of what you have gotten done since you first began.
Notating milestones with specific dates throughout the year (i.e: Published my first blog post on 09/18/2023)
Taking pictures or videos during important moments that you can look back on.
Training Your Mind
Your mind is the most valuable asset that you have to create the life that you envision for yourself. It can either be your best friend or your worst enemy depending on where you focus your thoughts and how much control you give to them. Learning how to train your mind to focus on the positive experiences and outcomes that you want to magnify in your reality is a skill that does not happen overnight. When we often focus our attention on our current circumstances rather than the ones that we want to create that can hinder our vision, confidence, and ability to create the reality that we do want.
A few habits that have helped me to train my mind are starting my day by spending time with God by expressing gratitude, praying, and asking for guidance in every step that I take.
Meditating after prayer in the morning helps me to get in the mood of being ready to tackle the day and become focused on the tasks that I want to accomplish for the day.
Listening to affirmations during times when I am performing activities that my mind feels most at ease such as driving, cleaning, cooking, and working out because during those moments I feel the most relaxed and focused on what I am currently doing rather than what's happening around me.
In this post, we looked at how to approach your New Year's "New Me Resolution". We talked about why it’s important to have a goal in mind and how you can set yourself up to execute anything that you put your mind to.
In 2023 we have a clear idea of what success means for you so that you don’t get discouraged by setbacks or find yourself abandoning your initial goal after feeling like the results that you want are not coming in the time frame that you expected. Let's also remember to be kinder and more compassionate with ourselves as we are always a work in progress.
Happy New Year Beauties!
