At the end of each year I find myself amping up on the excitement and promise of what’s to come next. I start thinking of big plans, projects, and goals to accomplish. As a bit of an overachiever, overdoer, overthinker, and a gal just all too focused on productivity… I’ve enjoyed lots of ways to ring in the new year. That said, I’ve also in recent years found ways to simplify and scale back. This is a nice way to read: I’ve figured out how to set goals without the impending promise of stress ulcers.
If you’re looking for a way to ring in the new year with a focused mindset, please read on. But let me promise you that the biggest priority you should have when using any of these methods is to be good to yourself. Be kind and gentle and real.
- Don’t overhaul your whole life with impossible to achieve goals that will leave you feeling like a failure when you don’t meet them.
- Choose simple and attainable things that you can be proud of once accomplished.
- Don’t put 30 things on this list! Choose a few. And when you get good habits going…choose a few more.
- Whatever you choose for your mindset please include loving yourself and being present with your family.
Word Map
The word map is a less linear way to think of what you want your life to look like. I chose to do this in 2017 and started with one main bubble with the year in the center. You can put the year to start or a word you want to focus around.
From there draw a few spokes and bubbles with things you want to prioritize for that time period. And from there smaller spokes on those bubbles with what you will do to fulfill achieve of those things. At the start of 2017, I gave birth to my son and wanted to focus on getting back to feeling like me as a new mom of two. I feel most like myself when I’m focused on my family, creative, passions, health, and fun. Each of those makes me feel whole.
What makes you feel whole? Start in the center and work your way out to map out how you’ll achieve that feeling.
Word of the year
A simplified approach to your new year, choosing a word of the year allows you to pick one theme that will be your overarching focus for the year. The word takes place of any New Year’s resolutions and throughout the year everything should lead back to this word. It becomes a mantra for your daily choices. Hmm, doesn’t quite sound simplified? How about a few steps to get you to your word of the year?
- Reflect on 2019: What lit you up? What do you want to let go of? What do you crave more of? Don’t focus on where you should be or what you should do…what do you want you life to look like each day?
- Make a list: Jot down as many words you can think of that fit into the feelings of your reflection.
- Make some cuts: Get your list down to 3-5 words. Cross off the rest. You’ll find that many words can mean the same thing or roll up into another.
- Get committed: Of your last few words which sound pretty good and which sound amazing? Choose the word you can commit to embracing for the next year.
- Make it memorable: Create opportunities to find your word throughout the day. Write it in your calendar, on a post it note to your computer, or make a cute sign for your bathroom mirror! You could even make (or buy) a small piece of jewelry to wear as a reminder.
- Let the word consume and guide you throughout the year. This should feel joyful and inspiring. If not – pick a new word. It’s your year!
Vision Board
Vision boards are a visual representation of what you want your life to look like. You’ll need magazines, poster board or canvas, glue, and scissors.
But before all that, take a moment to think about what you want your life to look like. Grab a pen and sheet of paper if you’d like to jot down things that come to mind.
There are so many things you can focus on: family, relationships, financial, career, health/wellness, and creative… it’s a lot! We can’t do it all! Do not feel like you need things for each of these. What is important to you? What do you want to focus on this year?
Need another way to look at it? What do you want? What do you need? What do you value?
How do you want to feel when those things are your reality?
Alright now, grab your magazines and find images and words that resonate with your intention, without actually attaching them to anything. Find the images and words that appeal to you by flipping through the magazines and cutting them out.
As a reminder, you want to choose things that resonate with your intention and are going to make you feel good. If your goal is to be healthy and happy in your body but looking at pictures of super fit models will actually make you feel bad – then that’s not the imagery to choose to get you on your way.
If you don’t find exactly what you are looking for you can take paper and markers to write them down to be placed on the board.
Once you’ve cut everything out. You’re ready to glue! Make sure everything important to you finds space on the board. Our eyes are generally first drawn to the top left, so perhaps you want to put the most important thing there. Not everything you pulled from the magazines will fit. That’s okay! Choose what speaks to you most.
Once complete, keep it in a visible place for you to see and be inspired throughout the year.
One of my favorite parts about the vision board process is it’s a fun opportunity to get together in a group. Invite your gals over for a fun vision board party!
Goals List
It’s a standard for the productive mama in me to think of the goals I need to achieve. See I still want to learn to knit, do all my push ups in proper form, and write a novel. Believe me, the list doesn’t stop there. I get excited about things I want to achieve. I also, can get completely overwhelmed. And that feeling overwhelm often turns to inaction. I try to make all of my goals ‘SMART’ so that they are achievable. SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time Bound More about how to write SMART goals, here!
Let’s use my push up goal as an example for SMART Goals.
- Specific: First and foremost… having had some goal setting failures under my belt I know that this is a better goal than ‘get in shape’ or ‘lose 10 lbs’. For me I like to focus on being strong and healthy. Great…but what does that mean? In this scenario, being able to do my push ups in proper form is a specific way to see that I am strong and healthy.
- Measurable: I am giving myself a full year to complete this goal. However, I can set milestones along the way to ensure I am making progress. I do most of my push ups at The Bar Method and we on average do 50-60 per class. I will track my progress in 10s.
- Achievable: This is an opportunity to figure out the HOW in the goal. I go to the gym a few times a week but that has not helped me to perfect my push up form. So I will need to add push ups at home on the off days in order to increase my strength.
- Relevant: Time to check in on if this is relevant to my life’s overall goals. Yes indeed – being healthy and strong is a priority to me. I feel good when I workout and challenges like this keep me on a path in my workout routine. All good things!
- Time bound: Here’s where we put the measurability to the test. As I mentioned, I plan track by 10’s which means every other month I should see an increase in the amount I add in ‘proper’ form.
Do you have a way you’re planning for the New Year? We want to know!
