Happy New Year!!!!!!
A brand New Year is upon us!! It’s time for that last late-night party of the old and the first late-morning brunch of the new. Time for fireworks and first nights and the good old dropping ball in New York City! It’s time for black-eyes peas, sauerkraut, cookies, greens and more. All in faith of a good year to come.
It’s time for resolutions too… similar ones to last year: lose weight, stop smoking, enjoy life more fully, get fit, get organized, get a new job, find love, spend more time with the fam. Do any of those sound familiar? They should. They are among the top 10 new years resolutions made by Americans almost every year.
Do you make resolutions? If you do, how many of your new years resolutions are the same as last year? Come on come on – where are ya’all? :=) I used to be right there with you!
Then I started to wonder….
Why are my resolutions the same resolutions over and over again year after year? Don’t I ever make any real progress? Don’t I ever move forward?
Statistics say that only 8% of those who make resolutions are successful in achieving them, so I know I wasn’t alone with my repetitive wishful thinking and my mid-January slump.
Finally, a few years back I realized I needed to make a change…. I mean a real change – not just a change in the new year, but also a change in how I make change. Still with me?
Here’s the change I made in the way I make change:
I stopped making resolutions and I began making yearly assessments.
Instead of making a list of one-liner resolutions every year, I now sit down for extended quiet time to reflect on my previous year and set new goals for the next. I look at areas such as:
my finances
my career
my level of happiness
my relationships
my spiritual life
my personal growth
my overall health
*I read through my assessment from the previous year to see where I was then and where I am now.
*I assess my progress and figure out where I got stuck and what I can do differently to reach higher and deeper in the year to come.
*I set new goals and lay out significant action steps to reach those goals.
*Finally, I make a move right away, completing a significant step towards my new year’s goals that very same day. No waiting until tomorrow. If my life is going to change, it’s going to change today – Right now!
Making resolutions used to leave me feeling like a failure by February 1st. Making yearly assessments and setting goals and actions points gives me a feeling of empowerment, and sense of direction, and a vision to lead me through the days ahead.
What will it be for you as you begin this New Year?
Resolutions or Assessments and Goals?
What will you do, to ensure 2014 is everything you want it to be?
Inspire others by sharing your thoughts in the comments section.
Read the replies of others and encourage them in their journey too.
Let’s make sure we make this next year as great as it can be.
Don’t leave it up to chance. Do an assessment, set your goals, and dream your dreams.
It’s Your life! Create it!
Always Remember:
Be Inspired! Be Inspirational! Be a Leader!
See you in the comments section!!
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- Could Making a Promise Enhance Your Wonderful Life? | LouAnn Stropoli - […] Last year we talked about taking our resolutions and throwing them out the window and instead doing a full…
I gave up on making New Years resolutions years ago due to what you identified in your blog, LouAnn. Lack of success for must of them. Plus I seem to have more time to reflect on where I want to be going in my life at other times of the year than in the midst of the holiday hurry, scurry, flurry of activities. I like your recommendation to consider assessment annually with accompanying goals and action plans starting with the first steps immediately. My first step for this year will be to look at my calendar and pick a date that I can go to a quiet space and spend the necessary quality time to assess and then determine what my goals will be both short and long term.
Thanks for sharing your input, Marilyn! I’m excited for you to find your quiet space! I’ll be making time for that this week myself. Happy Goal Setting. 😉
I start fresh this year and believe to let go of the past as Wendy had mentioned. This is a new year and I have learned from the past and move forward positively and with power and strength. I ask my inner guide to help me to solve problems and move me to my teachers. I assess more than make a record of where I was last year. I live in the present and work toward a wonderful future trough patience, love, and trust. I don’t beat myself up for what did not happen and believe my inner self is what is really important. I am glad for what I have leanred this year.
Hi Laurie,
Good for you!! It’s always empowering to start fresh. I’m glad it’s been a year of learning and growth for you.
May 2014 be personally successful in many many ways!!
Thanks so much for sharing your input and wisdom here on Inspirational Leading!
Can’t wait to see what 2014 holds for you and each one of us in our community!
I agree, LouAnn! I’d never really “bought in” to the “resolutions” thing anyway because consistency is arguably the biggest challenge in my life (for many reasons), and also because for most of my life I’ve been a perfectionist and still naturally lead toward that way of thinking, that self-defeating choice! If I make a mistake along the way, at best I begrudgingly and joylessly continue, at worst, I throw in the towel altogether. I very much enjoy quiet time reflecting on the year past the days before the first and around my birthday. I like to remember what happened, good and bad, and what I did or failed to do. I like to consider the events of that year personally, locally, and globally. I enjoy celebrating the victories while opening my heart to hopes for the coming year with my God. The president of Proverbs 31 Ministries uses a phrase I like: striving for “imperfect progress”. I think learning to accept that approach is a healthy goal for me. Last year, I decided I’d like to live with less of everything, material, psychological baggage, etc…my motto came to mind to the tune of “Let it Snow” as “Let it go! Let it go! Let it go!” Sounds corny, but it often worked for me! I’ve been able to clean up and let things go more this year than the last. I also discovered how one can truly count hardship as pure joy, as I experienced it! When the next hardship and/or trials come, I pray I’ll remember the lessons I learned this year to make things easier in the next (both for myself as well as those around me…the family that I lead)!
Thanks, Wendy! I love your take on things and your motto, ‘Let it go’ is a very creative and fun way to master your freedom!! It’s true too, that writing down those lessons we learned will help us to live by them in the new year. I’m looking forward to my yearly assessment. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and inspiring us!!