New Year’s resolutions: don’t you just hate them? Many people make them, and never stick to them, or make resolutions that they think they should. I’m doing things differently this year; really focusing on what is most important to me. First, I started by creating a word for the year, and using that to guide me with my goals and intentions for the year. Along with the word of the year, I will be using several other tools in my life.
Sleep mask | Vision Board | All other photos by Tazim Damji
Here is my list of how I’m going to have the best year ever, and how you can, too:
- Sleep I don’t know about you, but I saw at least a dozen tweets and Facebook messages saying that all people wanted for Christmas was enough sleep. This obviously seems really important for a lot of people—so, make the conscious decision to get more sleep this year! This goes for me, too—I’m naturally a night owl, but since I’m on the West Coast, everyone has already been up and working by the time I get up in the morning. I’m going to turn myself in to a morning person so that I can get more done during regular working hours—which will be better for my business, and just makes sense all around.
- Goals With all the ideas floating around in my head of things that I want to do and places I want to visit this year, it’s important for me to have clear goals so that I can focus on priorities. Setting up an action plan to achieve those goals is crucial to staying on track.
- Reflection Okay, so you achieve this or that goal—now, what? Set aside time to reflect on what you’ve done, how it made you feel and decide whether or not it was a good return on investment of time and money. This is a good idea for any time of the year, not just at the end. If you schedule time to reflect, you can make adjustments as you go, rather than just “starting over” the next year. I will be doing this bi-weekly, but do what works for you and your schedule—monthly or weekly, perhaps. You don’t need to journal, if that’s not your thing—try list-making instead, or draw if you’re so inclined.
- Support Having friends and family to go to for moral support is important, for sure. But, have you considered also having a life or business coach? I’m going to be working more closely with a business coach this year—someone I can go to talk through my business goals with who has experience in that area, and can lead me in the right direction with new ventures/ideas. Do you have an accountability buddy who will check in with you to make sure you’re on track with your goals for the year? A friend or business coach can be this for you.
- Visualize Do this by meditating or by putting up a poster with your goals and intentions for the New Year. I’ve never made a vision board before, but I put mine together and also made a Pinterest board, which I can keep adding to throughout the year. If I feel like I’m moving away from my goals and intentions for the year, I can come back to these boards to remind myself where I want to be and how I want to feel.
It’s not about changing who I am; it’s about being the best version of myself possible. This year is going to be the best year yet, and I’m going to make it happen thanks to the little changes, as I shared above.
