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Charting The New Year’s Path

I’m a lists person. I love making lists. I’m not great, however, at following through on the lists I make (I really do try, though!). So for New Year’s, it’s natural that I would try to make a list of my goals. Though my errands and chores lists go uncompleted, surprisingly, I have a pretty high success rate when it comes to my New Year’s goals.

I credit my New Year’s goal success rate by simply thinking about New Years as a way to create an adventure for myself. Another tip is to make your goal as meaningful as it can be. If it’s just a goal for the sake of making a goal, there is a low chance of you actually following through.

So when you are off making your amazing list this year, these are some questions to help inspire you to dive deeper:

  • What was the one strength that I learned last year that I’m proud of?
  • Do I want to work on that strength more?
  • Is there a habit that I am really not proud of that I want to change?
  • You could think about the wonderful qualities of your partner and identify what you love most about them. Then ask yourself, what are some way you are going to encourage them to develop and showcase those qualities?
  •  Pick someone in your life that is fairly new that you want to get to know more. How are you going to facilitate that new relationship’s growth?
  • Choose a realistic path to having a healthier lifestyle (the key here is to be realistic)
  • Forgiveness is something I struggle with. I have a bad habit of not forgiving myself when I mess up. Messing up and making mistakes is part of life and it’s how we grow, so who would you forgive? And if it’s very difficult to do, how can you at least start down that path?
  • What’s your current personal brand? How do you see yourself? What do you want people to say about you? What do you want to be remembered for? How can you work toward these goals?
  • Work should be meaningful to you and hopefully should give you some resemblance of a purpose. Think about what you really want to be doing and how you want to spend that time. Who can help you achieve those dreams? Who needs to buy into those dreams? What are your supporters and friends in that journey?
  • And, finally, you could focus on that one goal that is wildly crazy but beautiful at the same time, the one that would inspire you to wake up every morning to actually feel as though your life is lived to its fullest potential. What is it and how do you accomplish it?

As you work through the ideas I’ve set out above, the most important thing to realize is that if the goals that you make the beginning of the year don’t make sense as the year goes on, that’s ok – change is inevitable and it’s important to be flexible. Though you are charting a path through the year, it’s still important to be open to change and go with the flow so you don’t miss out on other opportunities.

So, what adventure do you want to have this year?

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Joe Antoshak

Hey great article! I agree that lists are super helpful with organizing. Now you’ve got me thinking about what adventures I want to take in 2018.

Avatar photo Nicole Blake Johnson

What a way to start 2018! I love the last bullet, and I’m currently working on a practical implementation plan. Thanks for sharing.