Every year we have the opportunity to renew and reaffirm our commitment to self. Are you a New Year’s Resolution setter? Or do you prefer just to get on being the best you can be? Personally I no longer set New Year’s Resolutions, I prefer to theme my years. And when I say theme I mean I note areas of my life I wish to improve, research, learn about. Every year, every day in every action I have a goal to be the best I can be and sometimes you have to see the area you need to work on to do this. So I guess if we look at the definition of resolution as being to set an intention then yes I am setting a resolution.
The biggest difference for me with setting my theme for the year versus setting a New Year’s Resolution is that my theme is a little more fluid. It isn’t a fix decision to do one thing. My theme tends to be based on a holistic approach to self-development without getting stuck into a must do 'xyz'.
In the past when I have set New Year’s resolutions I have generally failed to achieve it. I travel okay for a few months, well okay sometimes a few days but mostly I end up breaking my new year’s resolution then I fall into the slump of being a failure, this is followed by guilt and then eventually I find myself grumpy at myself for not achieving what I set out to do. Then I tried not setting New Year’s Resolutions. This was okay and it certainly took away all the challenges I had with self-flagellation and the emotional pitfalls of not achieving.
I am however naturally pre-disposed to achieving. I like to learn, I crave knowledge and I am a woman of action. It’s just with that action I had gotten into the pattern of self-sabotage and then beating myself up if I didn’t reach the end goal. I had to find a way to find a way of healthy self-development and being able to achieve an end goal.
Enter a New Year’s Theme. Being able to theme each new year has helped me work towards something for myself, focus my learning and achieve an outcome. It has flexibility, the outcome isn’t exactly predetermined as a rigid tangible item and I get to decide how much growth I have achieved at the end of each year.
My “New Year’s Resolutions” are often based on challenges I might have faced in the previous year and areas I have identified as my ‘weaknesses’. I tend to form an affirmation which I write down and place in an obvious area. I might even plan workshops I will attend during the year or books to read. The idea is that I achieve being the best I can be through personal growth in a particular area I identified as needing strengthening.
Sometimes the outcome is not as I initially perceived it to be and sometimes, like this New Year I feel I am not done with an area or I can expand more on the area of personal development. But that is what is so wonderful about my themed years as opposed to a New Year’s Resolution, its ongoing, its flexible and I make of it what I can.
I have not set myself up for failure, I have set myself up to be the best I can be in all areas of my life by setting a measurement on who I am at that particular point in time. Not who I could be, should be or would be. My way of setting a resolution is about living in the moment. It’s about embracing the mindfulness I teach.
Goals are great to set and I do not have anything against setting a New Year’s Resolution but I ask you to consider are you being mindful when you set your resolution.
I wish you all the success in your journey through 2018 and perhaps you will join me in the New Year as you achieve the best new you.
The biggest difference for me with setting my theme for the year versus setting a New Year’s Resolution is that my theme is a little more fluid. It isn’t a fix decision to do one thing. My theme tends to be based on a holistic approach to self-development without getting stuck into a must do 'xyz'.
In the past when I have set New Year’s resolutions I have generally failed to achieve it. I travel okay for a few months, well okay sometimes a few days but mostly I end up breaking my new year’s resolution then I fall into the slump of being a failure, this is followed by guilt and then eventually I find myself grumpy at myself for not achieving what I set out to do. Then I tried not setting New Year’s Resolutions. This was okay and it certainly took away all the challenges I had with self-flagellation and the emotional pitfalls of not achieving.
I am however naturally pre-disposed to achieving. I like to learn, I crave knowledge and I am a woman of action. It’s just with that action I had gotten into the pattern of self-sabotage and then beating myself up if I didn’t reach the end goal. I had to find a way to find a way of healthy self-development and being able to achieve an end goal.
Enter a New Year’s Theme. Being able to theme each new year has helped me work towards something for myself, focus my learning and achieve an outcome. It has flexibility, the outcome isn’t exactly predetermined as a rigid tangible item and I get to decide how much growth I have achieved at the end of each year.
My “New Year’s Resolutions” are often based on challenges I might have faced in the previous year and areas I have identified as my ‘weaknesses’. I tend to form an affirmation which I write down and place in an obvious area. I might even plan workshops I will attend during the year or books to read. The idea is that I achieve being the best I can be through personal growth in a particular area I identified as needing strengthening.
Sometimes the outcome is not as I initially perceived it to be and sometimes, like this New Year I feel I am not done with an area or I can expand more on the area of personal development. But that is what is so wonderful about my themed years as opposed to a New Year’s Resolution, its ongoing, its flexible and I make of it what I can.
I have not set myself up for failure, I have set myself up to be the best I can be in all areas of my life by setting a measurement on who I am at that particular point in time. Not who I could be, should be or would be. My way of setting a resolution is about living in the moment. It’s about embracing the mindfulness I teach.
Goals are great to set and I do not have anything against setting a New Year’s Resolution but I ask you to consider are you being mindful when you set your resolution.
I wish you all the success in your journey through 2018 and perhaps you will join me in the New Year as you achieve the best new you.
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