If you spend 30 minutes (max) doing those two things I’ll tell you about, I guarantee you that 2017 will exceed all your expectations! For me, New Year is the time for thorough cleaning and setting intentions! And I’m not talking about a quick wipe over or a vague goal; I’m talking about taking out the vacuum cleaner and go haywire! And I’m talking about recycle everything that still has a value, burning the shit that doesn’t, storage things that might come in handy some day and set the intentions so we can enjoy this newly cleaned us for the next coming year. Knowing that we’ll easily find anything we need and not risking bumping into some old shit looking for it! And all of this in 30 minutes!
Ten years ago I was one of those who made New Year’s resolution and set goals for the next coming year, only to realize in late January or early February that I already had failed… Why? Because when New Year’s come we’re wired to make resolutions and set goals, that’s just what we do. But if you haven’t cleaned out the old shit, reflected on what you want to bring with you in your backpack heading for 2017 that backpack might just be filled with shit, heavier than ever to carry and there’s no way you’ll be able to fulfill your resolutions or reach your goals. (By the way, I don’t believe in setting goals at all and if you’re curious about why and what I do instead you can read more about it here).
So if you want 2017 to be the year you make shit happen and explore your full potential my suggestion is that you:
1.”Scan and clean” yourself – reflect on your previous year and answer the following:
- When you’ve felt happiness – what activity, people and situations created that feeling?
- When you’ve felt stress – what activity, people and situations created that feeling?
- When you’ve felt hope, curiosity and excitement over life – what activity, people and situations created those feelings?
- When you’ve felt despair, hopeless and fear – what activity, people and situations created those feelings?
- When you’ve felt high and positive energy – what activity, people and situations created those feelings?
- When you’ve felt low and negative energy – what activity, people and situations created those feelings?
Quite quickly you’ll get a great overview of what has given you energy (+) and what has drained you (-). Now you can chose more wisely on what activities, people and situations you should (and shouldn’t…) give your time to in the next coming year! And trust me, choosing wisely will have a tremendous impact on how the next year will unfold!
2. Set your intentions with regards to activities, people and situations!
Maybe my intentions can serve as inspiration:
- My intentions with regards to situations: I have challenges that I embrace but a lot of challenges stresses me out and make my head spin in all kinds of negative spirals. My intention for the next coming year is to exchange all kind of negative thoughts with a sentence that most likely will be used over and over again… “Just do it, who knows what might happen!”.
- My intentions with regards to people: I can easily get annoyed with people so my next intention is to replace the annoyance with compassion and a decision not to take anything personal… “Everyone has their reasons and it has nothing to do with me!”
- My intentions with activities: I have this almost manic personality. The flip side of that is a side that can be completely pacified, that let’s the slacker takes command. My intention is to acknowledge the slacker but not giving it the power to take command… “Slacker, get out of the way!”
Now you have three sentences that you commit to tell yourself! And the same as making conscious choices in step one, this commitment will make a great difference in your life!
And the thing is that when we’re willing to truly change the way we deal with life we will achieve goals we didn’t even know was possible!!! Therefor, just setting goals is demeaning to ourselves!!!
