Setting up to Succeed in the New Year

As we start the New Year, I suspect that many of you may feel like you were just on one giant, never-ending roller coaster, complete with loops, hairpin turns, and sudden drops. And now the ride is slowing down. Slowly, you ease your grip on the bar in front of you. You turn to your side to see your fellow passengers who all share a similar wide-eyed expression of shock. The ride comes to a halt, the doors open, and you’re ready to take those first wobbly steps. 

We’ve reached the end of this crazy ride and we’re stepping into 2021. But, now what?

Normally, I have an entire list of goals and resolutions, and sometimes one or two of them stick, but this year it’s been a struggle even to come up with one. What’s going on?

I suspect many of us have gone through a shift in our perspective this past year. I realized that to set up goals for this year, I may have to step back and take a look at what I’ve learned from the prior year (which I will henceforth refer to as “the year that must not be named”!). 

To help me do this, I turned to a post I had read a while back written by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits. The article, “Sacred Bow: An Intentional Way to Close Out the Year & Start the New Year” (https://zenhabits.net/sacred-bow/) was exactly what I needed.

What Leo Babauta includes in the “goal” setting process (he prefers the word “intention”), is a review back to the prior year. 

Start the process by taking a look at what went well and what you learned from this past year. I know for 2020...sorry, the year that must not be named, it may be tempting to say, “Nothing!”, but I promise you something did go well or at the very least, you learned something from it. 

Next, take a look at what you struggled with and see if you can find areas where you can grow. Write these down.

Now we need to take an honest look at what’s holding us back. We need to let go of what isn’t serving us anymore. It could be old habits, ways of thinking, or even activities that prevent us from moving forward. It’s time to leave that baggage behind. Write down what you need to let go of.

Once you’ve completed those steps, you’re ready to set your sights on the future and set your intentions for the New Year. What would bring you joy in the New Year? For a moment, step outside of the standard resolutions to lose weight and be healthy. Think about what you could create, the person you’d like to be, and what would make your heart sing. You can set a few intentions. Think of these intentions as your guidelines for the year, not as rigid goals.

Finally, you’re going to create a roadmap. Create a plan using monthly, weekly, and daily timelines that will move you closer to your intentions. The timeline is not set in stone; rather it serves to guide you and help you to keep your focus on those intentions throughout the year.

I went through this process this past week and found it helpful to gain some clarity and understanding of the direction I need to head in and why. You may even find a pattern emerging in your answers. For example, when I was writing down my opportunities for further growth, they consistently centered around the need to slow down. When I wrote down the things that would make my heart sing, they centered around learning and exploration. I found this helpful to create my new guidelines.

Now here’s the part that proved challenging: setting a timeline. At this point, I pushed the project aside. Then I came back to it and stared at it again. And...proceeded to push it aside again. This is the part of the process that forces a commitment (ekk, that word alone sends chills down my spine!). Yes, this is the time where we actually have to take some action. And this is where I was procrastinating.

To get myself to follow through and create a timeline, I promised myself just to start small. There’s still a lot of uncertainty that we’re all going through, so I’m going to cut myself some slack and just set small goals and approximate times I’d like to meet them. That’s it. And for this year, that’s good enough.

Hopefully, this process will help you to get going on your goals for 2021. Enjoy the process!