New Beginnings: 5 Steps To Set You Up For An Amazing Year
The New Year always feels like a fresh start for me. When planning for the year ahead, I like to take the time to look back at the past 12 months, to see what worked and what did not. Most importantly what brought me joy and made me happy!
Whilst I am not a great fan of setting New Year Resolutions, I do like review my past year and plan for any areas in my journey that I would like to improve upon. In this post I am sharing some of the steps I take to prepare for this fresh start. Using these simple tools is a terrific way to set you off in the right direction. Are you ready for a new beginning?
Review
List at least three of your highlights and some of the major disappointments in the last 12 months. Were there any priorities that shifted? Was there anything you did not manage to go through with? It would help to go through your diary or camera roll to jog your memory and get as specific as possible. Accept what did not work out and be ready to move on.
Be Thankful
Show gratitude for the good that came out of last year. Be ready to let go of what did not serve, to make way for your new intentions. Research shows that practicing genuine gratitude has an array of benefits. It is proven to increase happiness, well-being and build stronger relationships.
“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”
William Shakespeare
Set Your Intentions
Look at different areas in your life that you would like to enhance. It could be improving your work – life balance, learning a new skill or putting together a minimalist wardrobe. It could be even something of a grander scale like experiencing a new culture for some months or going on that trip of a lifetime. Take note of what you like to achieve.
Vision Board
A vision board is an excellent tool for manifesting. It helps to further gain clarity on the intentions you set out in the previous step. With your list of intentions you can now set about creating your vision board. Gather images related to your intentions, these can be cutouts from magazine or digital images you find on the web. Pinterest is an excellent tool for this. Get creative by placing all the images into a document or on a board. Once this is done place the board somewhere prominent such on your desktop, phone or work area.
Action Plan
Now is the time to develop new habits. What will it take to accomplish your new goals? Here’s where you make an actionable plan and list all the minute steps it will take to get you there. Breaking everything down into small manageable tasks ensures a better chance at achieving the end result.