Recently I found a journal I started at the beginning of the year, all the hope and dreams I wished to achieve this year. Want to know how much of the 40 I did. 5.
Is it just me or was this year worse than 2020? Just me great. This year has also mostly been shit because we have seen people’s true colors, nothing like stress to let you see if people care about themselves or others.
And now it’s Christmas! My best friend has been calling me the Grinch, but I honestly don’t feel Christmassy at all. The holiday season can often trigger mixed emotions.
There’s relief and happiness to be with our friends and fam and to get a break from the day-to-day grind of work. There are plenty of opportunities to overeat, over party, and generally overindulge. And if you’re on a great roll, there’s the joy of celebrating the awesome wins you’ve just had in the year gone by.
But some years, it just doesn’t feel like that at all. Everyone around you is enjoying the high of the season, and you’re just stuck wondering what the hell happened to all those New Year’s resolutions that you set for yourself – and why your professional or personal life is nowhere near where you thought it would be.
I’m in the middle of that experience right now. Speaking with some friends it seems we are all there, like everybody's life is moving past yours and we are in the audience clapping but silently wishing it was us.
So my plan is as follows three resolutions for myself for the next twelve months. Not 40 like before. But three personal ones, the rest is a bonus and a gift. Goals I really want!
1. START TAKING STEPS – EVEN IF YOU DON’T YET KNOW YOUR DESTINATION
It’s a very normal human reaction when faced with a personal loss or professional defeat to immediately reach for a good bottle of wine, the remote control, and a quiet couch with the perfect viewing spot for your portal into Netflix. And, as I’ve learned from every loss in my life – there is a time and a place for this and it SHOULD be honored!
However, the single best way to move out of the pain of failure is to start taking steps forward. Steps of momentum in any direction have an amazing ability to breathe confidence and belief right back into you.
Even if you’re not sure where you are heading, make a commitment right now to accomplish some important steps in January. Maybe it’s appointments to network for a new job, the commitment to take a course, or the willingness to step out and take that trip you have always dreamed of. It doesn’t matter what it is – just start moving!
2. SET A PERSONAL HEALTH AND FITNESS GOAL AND GET AFTER IT
A strong and healthy body leads to a confident and courageous human.
When you’re trying to get back to chasing your big dreams, the most important foundation is always your health and fitness. Obviously, every one of us is in a different place on the spectrum of fitness – but setting a goal that stretches you out of your comfort zone is the fastest way to feel like you are moving in a positive direction with your life.
3. NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS? TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OPPORTUNITY
One of the greatest silver linings of an epic fail in your life, whether it’s a romantic relationship that ends, or a startup that fails is that it forces you to take a step back and assess the path you’re on. From my own painful experiences of being fired earlier in my career, I’ve learned that those losses ultimately led to doors opening in different directions that turned out to be so much better for me than I ever would have imagined.
Sometimes we get “locked-in” on a certain path that we have been working so hard on for such a long time. Because of that stubbornness, we are simply not aware of the other things out there that we might enjoy even more.
Checking yourself out is the art of trying on new and different things to see how they fit – and you are never too old to keep exploring! Have you always dreamed of living in a different country but you’ve never considered it because your job was based in your current city? Or did you have a passion for music in your youth that has gone by the wayside since you became so consumed with your career? Your current forced change in direction gives you a chance to try other things that you otherwise might not have.
So given that it’s the New Year – be bold and use your New Year’s resolutions list to push your buttons a wee bit