If you celebrate the new year, I wish you a very happy new year, which I hope is filled with all you desire, whatever it may be.
I love the new year and the fresh start it brings, a feeling of optimism. In 2015 via a goals club, I was taught goal-setting skills and every year since have enjoyed setting goals for myself.
Katy Milkman in her book, How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, said that the new year provides us with a fresh-start moment.
These fresh-start moments, give us distant from any past failures. Those failures are the old you, and a new year is a new you. The fresh-start effect hinges on the idea that we don’t feel as perfect about our past as we’d like. We’re always striving to be better. And when we can wipe out all those failures and look at a clean slate, it makes us feel more capable and drives us forward. This clean state can keep us motivated to pursue and achieve our goals.
Author Patricia Digh in discussing the new year in her book, Life is a verb explains that "At the end of each year, I ask myself two questions:
What do I want to create in this New Year?
And, perhaps even more importantly, what do I want to let go of?"
I wonder if we are the same – in the past when I was goal setting, I was always thinking about what I want to add to my year, for example can I do 30 minutes of exercise a day, 10 minutes of meditation etc
Lately, I have noticed a wonderful idea of setting goals around what we can stop doing. It should come as no surprise to me as a brainstorming exercise we complete regularly in the corporate world is:
what we are going to keep doing,
start doing and
stop doing.
Ask yourself that question, what do you want to get rid of? What things divert your attention or drain your energy or suck the joy from you?
Can you think of at least 3 things?
Let me give you an example. On my ‘not to do list’ for 2023 I have written down that I am not going to say yes to everything. I am only going to say yes to things that I legitimately want to do and that make a contribution.
Ultimately if you let go of these behaviours/tasks which are on your ‘not to do list’, you will have more time to achieve the goals that really matter to you. I feel there is great power in deciding and writing them down for yourself.
So go ahead, decide what you want to achieve in 2023, also think about what you won’t do. You are welcome to use my 'not to do list' worksheet to help you with the exercise>>here
Write your goals and set up your routines that work for you to keep them front of mind, so you feel inspired and motivated to take action.
Happy New Year and never underestimate the power you have to take your life in a new direction.
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