If you’re reading this, guess what?
It’s 2021! Happy New Year! It’s finally time to put 2020—the wildest year most of us have ever known—to bed.
Now, you may be rolling your eyes at me. Maybe you set amazing intentions for 2020, and then they all flew out the window a few months in. You might be hesitant to create more, and I hear you.
But, as I’ve said before, we must face the unavoidable fact that success is planning. No matter your education or socio-economic status, there’s magic in having goals and setting specific targets.
One thing’s for sure 2020 is a year that you could see as creating flexibility in all of us and how it relates to our plans and goals. No need to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Even though for most of 2020 we had to take things a day at a time, that may have meant swapping out some plans and figuring out some new ones again and again. Just as long as you never give up on your dreams but learn to be flexible and allow for priorities to shift and change. You may have noticed a lot of planning and re-planning, it’s ok to be flexible with your goals. It’s always a good time to reclaim some control over our lives and set some intentions. Wrapping up the year and beginning a new one with intentions is always a smart thing to do. So let’s get started:
I challenge you to be brave this week and write down your goals. Take some time to reflect and sketch-out your 90-day, 1-, 5-, 10-, 15-, and 25-year goals in 3 big areas:
Health/Fitness
Relationships/Family
Business/Career/Money
Try to be as real with yourself as possible about where you feel strong/weak in the 3 categories. This will be your guide for what needs adjusting.
You need to face where you are now vs. your goals. Are you a former athlete who can’t remember the last time you exercised? You’re not going to be able to just jump up and run a mile.
What you can do is make small changes every day that add up to a mile…and then maybe a 5K…who knows? You may run a half marathon later in the year!
But baby steps are the way. Our BIG goals, the scary, long-term goals are all made up of smaller, more-approachable subgoals along the path.
What goal is most important to you right now?
What’s one thing you can do today to move toward it?
From our example above, the former athlete could go for a walk today. It could be 10 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour…whatever seems attainable. And then they can build from there.
Or…say saving money is an area where you struggle—you don’t have an emergency fund or any slack when unexpected things pop-up. It may not be in your budget to save hundreds a week, but starting anywhere is the key.
You could create a $25 auto-draft from your checking into savings each week (or month). Heck, you could even put $10 cash into an envelope regularly. It’s all about consistency over time.
Planning the small steps you can take each day, each week, that move you closer to your goals and then TAKING THEM is the way.
So let’s set our intentions and make our plans for 2021.
If you haven’t done a wrap up re-cap of last year, do that first with these questions:
What lessons have I learned this year? You have learned many. If at first you think this is not the truth look deeper.
What results did I create this year?
How did I change and transform?
If I could have talked to my future self (the you now) before the start of 2020 what would I say to encourage myself or offer helpful advice? What guidance or advice does your end of 2021 self have to offer you for the start of 2021? Our future selves are assets to our currents selves. 🙂
How can I use this information when planning for the New Year?
Did I live my life on purpose or did it just seem to happen to me?
I believe in you, and I wish you the most amazing, fulfilling year!
