It’s fair to say a new year brings excitement and uncertainty. The best way to ease the feelings of uncertainty is to find clarity. Here are 6 things you can do to kick start the new year.
1. Identify your needs and wants
2. What is your why? finding motivation
3. What are the small steps to get to the bigger picture
4. Put it in writing
5. Create visual motivation
6. Accountability check-ins
Identify your needs and wants
Knowing if you have all of your needs checked can be the first step to establishing clarity and narrow focus. The nature of needs is simple, these are the necessities in life. Such as food, a place to live, and clothing. This list can also be expanded by asking yourself more questions like what types of food am I eating? Are the foods that I’m eating nourishing or lacking? Asking yourself further questions can help discover do you have all your needs covered and if can I now indulge in the desires of my wants.
What is your WHY, finding motivation
Ask yourself why do I want to accomplish this. This is a hard question to answer, so take your time, I also recommend writing this down. Finding out your why is helpful during challenging moments when you want to give up.
What are the small steps to get to the bigger picture?
I have been guilty of always looking at the bigger picture of what I want to accomplish without figuring out how to get there. Figuring out all the small steps is like creating a map and having a clear path. The first reason to write down your path forward is to have a point of reference. Second, it gauges progress, and thirdly it gives you an appropriate timeline for each step.
Put it into writing
How often do you say our goals or plans out loud and don’t follow through? When it’s written it’s the first step to bringing what we want to reality. The second reason to write it down is to help create actionable steps to make your idea your reality. This is your physical map and a helpful way to brainstorm.
Create visual motivation.
This will look different for everyone. Visual cues can be a helpful tool and another form of motivation. It can help with visualizing what you want to manifest. This can be a combination of images and text. You can create a collage or vision board online and save it to your phone or as your desktop screensaver.
Accountability Check-ins
Setting a goal and staying consistent can be tough. Unexpected life events happen. That’s why it’s good to either have an accountability person or create a check-in date. Go back to what you wrote down and ask yourself is this where you want to be? Did you get distracted? Do you still want to achieve this? Go back and revisit your vision board. You may need to reassess the idea or goal you had. Don’t get discouraged or fill your head with negative thoughts.
Final thoughts
Setting the tone of a new year can be scary and a bit overwhelming. Going through every day is a process and it’s important to not be hard on yourself and to give yourself positive reinforcement. It’s also imperative to focus on Your path which is specific and special to you. First, understand if you have your needs covered and move on to desires or wants. What is your motivation behind wanting to change? What are the steps you will have to take? Put your ideas on paper and create some form of visual motivation. Finally, check in with yourself and have accountability.
