It’s a new year. A time where everyone focuses on their future. A clean slate, new found energy and faith that this year is the year. Things are going to be different. Things are going to be better. Life will be great in the New Year. But the thing is…
Are we setting ourselves up for failure with all this pressure!?
I had many goals for 2016, and it turned out to be a very different year than what I had planned. I ended 2016 absolutely exhausted, with a body and spirit that need some work, and a huge sense of WTF was that year!? Financially, emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually it was a tough year, one of my hardest to date.
But was it a bad year? Absolutely not. It was an amazing year and I learnt a lot.
I learnt that challenging times make two things clear; who supports you and who does not. I learnt how strong I am. I learnt that words and actions can help or harm people. I learnt to plan for the unexpected. I learnt that change is a good thing. And I learnt that goals are not everything.
Don’t get me wrong, goals are important but we often set high expectations for ourselves, and are disappointed when we don’t meet them. The ‘proven’ formula is writing down goals to give yourself a greater chance of achieving them. Which sounds nice, but honestly, writing down that I want to be fit and healthy, and reviewing that daily, will make me reach for the ice-cream sooner than you can say ‘Mr Whippy’. So, this year, I’ll have goals, and I’ll review them, when I remember, but the thing I’m going to do this year is set standards to live by.
Be the best person I can be and have the best people in my life. I’ll limit exposure to toxic people who drain energy and put others down.
Try my best every day. Whether folding washing and cleaning up vomit, or giving a motivational speech on stage, I’ll give 100 per cent!
Help someone every day. Stranger, acquaintance, loved-one; I’ll give knowledge, kindness or my time to help however I can.
Learn every day. Whether I learn that a person is, in fact, an A hole, or that eighty-five percent of all plant life is found in the ocean, I want to fill 2017 with knowledge!
Spend quality time with myself, friends, and family for at least 30 minutes a day. I have social interactions on a daily basis but I can’t always pinpoint the ‘quality’ moments; yelling at the kids to get dressed or mindlessly walking the supermarket aisles for ‘alone time’ isn’t exactly best practice for making memories!
Be mindful of the power of words; both internal words and audible words. Saying I’m fat to myself when I look in the mirror doesn’t help my self-esteem!
Focus on one thing. As much as most days I’m as focused as a hyperactive child, every day I will ensure that I complete at least one task that I set myself. Yes, I get the irony that there are seven things on my list for every day and I just said to focus on one thing, but hey, that’s me, classic overachiever!
The thing is, life is in our hands and the new year is a great time to set some goals, but I’d love you to set some standards too, so get some paper and think of some standards that you are going to live your life by, I’d love to hear them.
