As one year draws to a close and another one begins, we naturally look back and reflect on what we’ve achieved. We also look forward and project toward new goals in the form of resolutions.
Sadly, most resolutions fail before February. Simply saying you want something to change doesn’t catalyze your subconscious mind into action. Fortunately, there are ways to engage body, mind, and soul in creating lasting, positive change and enjoy the journey along the way.
Saying Goodbye to the Old Year
Before we step into a new year, it’s important to reflect on the year we’ve just been through. Reflecting on your experiences can help you grow as an individual. It allows you to take a step back and think about what you've learned, what you've accomplished, and where you want to go.
By contemplating the events of the past year, you can gain a deeper understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, identify areas where you need to improve and set appropriate goals for your personal development.
As you seek out the patterns in your thoughts, actions, and interactions, you will spot behaviors that aren’t obvious at first. The subconscious mind drives our habitual actions, and we rarely look beneath the surface to understand ‘why’ we act the way we do.
Reflecting on your experiences throughout the past year — perhaps by writing in a self-love journal — is an important way to build self-awareness and create a sense of purpose and direction in your life for the new year. Ask yourself these questions:
- In what areas of my life have I grown?
- What experiences have helped me develop?
- What challenges did I overcome?
- What relationships have enriched me?
- What do I want more of?
- What am I proud of?
Preparing for the New Year
If you would like to start the year with drive and direction, here are some ways to increase your motivation and the likelihood of successful resolutions.
- Celebrate Your Results: Get in the right frame of mind by focusing on what you achieved before setting new goals. Be proud of yourself for every achievement, and focus the mind on your accomplishments first.
- Give Yourself Permission: It’s not wrong to want a better life for yourself. You deserve to be healthy, financially stable, happy, peaceful, satisfied, relaxed, and enjoying life.
- Prioritize Your Desires: Decide what is really important to you. Choose an area of your life to focus on that will deliver maximum results.
- Set Specific Goals: Rather than vague resolutions like "exercise more," always set specific, measurable goals that you can track and work towards. For example, "Walk briskly round the park for 20 minutes during my lunch break.”
- Make a Plan: Once you have identified your goals, create a plan for when and how you will achieve them. Break down your goals into smaller, actionable steps, and schedule them into your calendar.
- Seek Support: Consider what help you might need to make it easier to reach your goals. Surround yourself with others who will aid and encourage you as you work towards your desires. Consider the people and products you might need.
- Be Patient and Flexible: Change doesn't happen overnight! Be kind to yourself and don't get discouraged if you encounter setbacks along the way. It's important to be flexible and adjust your plan if your goals are not realistic.
Methods to Achieve Your Resolutions
Kaizen (Japan)
Big personal transformation rarely happens overnight. But, with small improvements over time you can create huge changes and that keep you motivated. The Japanese call this approach kaizen, which literally means “the act of making bad points better,” or “continuous self-development.”
Also called the “strategy for 1% gains,” kaizen can be applied to any area of your life in which you want to grow. With kaizen, you never reach your destination; instead, you recognize that the path of growing and learning never ends (mimicking nature, which is always evolving). But, instead of being overwhelmed by this, you calmly take it one step at a time.
How to Practice Kaizen
1. Choose What to Improve
What meaningful pursuit would improve your life? Maybe you want to exercise more, learn a new language, or play a musical instrument. Make sure you can see/feel the benefits for yourself (don’t choose something you think you should want to improve).
2. Start Very Small
If your goal is to exercise and you’re very new to it, start your first day with a single pushup and a single squat. The next day, do 2 pushups and 2 squats. In a month you’ll be busting out 30 pushups and 30 squats. In a year, you’ll be in unrecognizably good shape!
Or, say your goal is to learn Portuguese. On the first day you commit to learning one Portuguese word. The next day, you learn 2 words. In a month, that’s 30 novo palavras (“new words.”) In a year of continuous kaizen, that’s 365 new Portuguese words… and you only need 200 words to have a basic conversation, and feel like you can speak a language.
Or if you want to learn guitar, spend one minute practicing on the first day and add a minute per day. In a month you’ll be practicing for half an hour at a time. This way you gradually build up confidence without losing motivation.
3. Work on Several Goals at Once
When you’re working on large goals it’s difficult to divide your attention. But with kaizen, because you’re working in small steps, you can work on a few goals at the same time. All you have to do is aim for 1% better than you did yesterday. Before you know it, your tiny steps have created massive positive change.
No-Limit Person
What would your world look like if you had no limits? The No-Limit Person method, created by the late author Wayne Dyer, teaches that you can’t control things outside of yourself, BUT you always get to choose how to respond to them.
Human history is full of challenging events; wars; natural disasters; institutional greed; acts of violence; and ecological catastrophes. It’s not because challenging events happen that we get down and lose motivation... It's how we choose to process challenging events that gets us down and destroys our motivation. Did you get that? If not, read it again.
Being a No-Limit Person is about taking responsibility for how you feel about positive, negative, and challenging events and responding to them in a way that keeps you moving in the right direction. When you let go of limits, you can aspire to think, feel, and be anybody you desire, setting goals to reach for what you truly want in life.
How to Be a No-Limit Person
Being a No-Limit Person is about shifting your mindset from reactive to responsive.
- Recognize that how you respond to events is more important than the event.
- Seek new opportunities that can come out of challenging events and personal growth.
- Develop a solution-oriented mindset and ask yourself how to resolve the issue.
- Refuse to allow people to treat you in a way that makes you unhappy; call bad behavior out.
- Focus on the development of your character, competencies and skills — you have the power!
- Ignore the negative opinions of others because you have no power to change them.
- Commit to act when challenging events happen, inaction lets problems build up.
- Nourish relationships with people that build you up, break off from people dragging you down.
What’s important to you in your life right now? What do you want more, or less, of? What limits are holding you back? What dreams are you ready to reach for?
