Top 3 Ways To Identify What To Take Forward Into The New Year & What To Leave Behind
It's now a full year from when you set those big goals and intentions for last year. Remember? Common ones are: find more balance, finally stop working 24-7 and start focusing more on your health, discover your purpose, start a side business that you love, make more time for yourself, and on and on. Any of those sound familiar? How did last year go? Do you feel ready and inspired to jump into a new year?
Well if so, now is a great time to assess what worked and what didn't work and to set new intentions. It allows the energy of the new year to support you, recharge and re-energize you, and gives you momentum to propel you forward. But most people never assess what worked and what didn't work over the last year before stepping into the new one. They're not aware or connected to what actually helped them reach their goals or what may have contributed to the lack of progress they experienced. So, the common result is a super-powered start at the top of the year and then a slow dwindle to nothing (no progress, no action) by the end of 1st quarter.
This occurs because without awareness of what happened (what worked and what didn't), the natural tendency is to repeat behaviors whether they're beneficial or not. Without the awareness, the lessons get overlooked and left behind. As a result, setting intentions and goals at the start of a new year becomes this routine thing to do just because instead of a deliberate active way of co-creating what you deeply desire for your life as intended.
So, how do you shift?
Well, simply dedicate a little time to do a quick look-back and assess what worked and what didn't work for you as you moved toward your goals and intentions last year. If you already did this along the way throughout the year, then you already know and it's just a matter of remembering the key points. If not, then you need to spend a little bit more time on it.
Here are the top 3 ways to quickly raise your awareness in this area and determine what goes forward and what to leave behind:
1. Look at your previously set goals and intentions and how well they pulled you forward.
The goals and intentions you set must resonate from a deep place within you in order to really inspire you to take action. The more they excite you, inspire you and really set you on fire, the more apt you are to stay committed to them. As you look at your goals and intentions, consider the following:
Were they deeply meaningful to you? Did they excite you and pull you forward to achieving them or to making great strides toward achieving them?
Were they the things that you really wanted for yourself or were they goals you thought you SHOULD have?
Did someone else give you your goals and if so, did you really attach to it?
Did you make any progress toward those goals...knock it out of the box...grow leaps and bounds in pursuit of them? Or are you pretty much where you were a year ago? Why? (Whether you made progress or not, really look at why that happened.)
Are you planning to take these same goals and intentions into the new year? If so, why? Are they strong enough to keep you committed to actually achieving them?
2. Look at your actions or lack of actions toward your goals and what contributed.
Taking action is the key to achieving any goal. When there's no action or your actions go against what you're striving for, there are oftentimes underlying contributors influencing your behavior. These contributors can go unnoticed if you're not paying attention and get carried forward, producing the same result.
The same goes for the positive side. There are underlying contributors that lead and support you in taking the right actions that may go unnoticed and be left behind without you realizing it. So, as you look at your actions, consider the following:
Where were your actions in direct alignment with what you wanted to achieve? What contributed to this? Is this something you can replicate and apply to other goals?
Where were your actions out of alignment or completely opposite what you wanted to achieve? What contributed to this? Is this something you're willing to change going forward?
3. Look at your life thus far and what it's telling you.
This requires a bit of quieting of your mind. It requires stepping back, almost outside of yourself, and really seeing what your life is currently telling you. As you do this, consider the following:
Have you been living fully or on the sidelines of your life?
Are you honoring your deepest self and deepest desires or holding back waiting for the perfect time?
Are you fulfilled by more in your life than what you're putting up with or is it the other way around?
Are you taking full responsibility and ownership for your happiness, health, fulfillment, and wealth or are you waiting or relying on someone else to do it for you?
What's working incredibly well in your life and simply needs to continue forward and what's not working, feels inauthentic, or doesn't honor you that really needs to change?
Now, with your newfound or refreshed awareness, what are you planning to take forward into the new year and what will you leave behind?
Your Turn Now: I’d love to hear from you! What are you ready to leave behind? Leave your comments below.
© Pursue Your Passion, LLC
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Life Passion Coach, Pam Smith, guides and supports professionals and entrepreneurs in stepping out of their way and into the passions, goals, and life fulfillment they so deeply desire! Get her FREE CD, "What To Do When You're Stuck & Unfulfilled: Discover the Top 3 Ways to Finally Start Doing What You Love!" at www.pursueyourpassionnow.com.
