Welcome to 2023. Here is a quick and useful New Year thought for you. It is: forget about New Year’s resolutions. These are what we think of as totally non-useful. The tradition is to make a list of serious goals, which people tend to pursue at top speed for the first few weeks of the year. Then, quite often, they will make a slip or have a setback, feel like a failure, and give up altogether.
We’ve found that long-term missions are much more achievable and forgiving than goals. With a goal, which is essentially what a New Year’s resolution is, it’s all or nothing. You score, or you miss. With a mission, you’ve got some flexibility. You can have a Plan B. If you have a bad week, you can regather, reset, take away any valuable information, and go again.
We find visuals tremendously useful here. Take a moment and see yourself in a year’s time. Where would you like to be? How would you like to feel? What would you like to have, which perhaps you don’t have now?This can be anything, from more learning, more confidence, more connection or ease. Truly focus on that person you would like to be as 2024 dawns. You’ve got a whole year to get there.
Now you reverse-engineer it. What do you need to do to get there? What help would you require? What new habits would you need to install? (And in our experience, everything is about establishing helpful habits – practical, emotional, mental.)
Give yourself the gift of gentleness and time. Changes don’t happen overnight. There are no magic wands in life; making a difference is a matter of steady, regular practice. Be realistic. Get yourself some support if you can – anything from a friendship group or a WhatsApp crew. Say you want to get healthier or learn to cook: if you can find yourself a posse of like-minded people, you’ll find the whole process easier and more fun.
Play to your strengths. If you are a naturally creative or competitive or imaginative person, look for ways to employ those brilliant traits in the pursuit of your mission. There’s interesting research to show that focusing on strengths rather than trying to improve weaknesses is a much more efficient way of achieving success.
And give yourself rewards. Find what makes you happy, and allow yourself whatever that might be every time you take a step forward. Go steadily, and keep your eye on the prize. If you play the long game instead of looking for instant results, you’ll be more likely to complete your mission. We hope that 2023 brings you everything you wish for.
Happy New Year
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