It’s a windy, chilly and rainy day in my corner of the world today. I woke up abnormally early –for being on vacation– to find the house silent and a stormy gray sky outside. Days like today inspire me to reflect on life and count my blessings while I stay indoors enjoying a wonderfully aromatic cup of tea. What do I want 2014 to be like? What do I expect to achieve? What things I lacked last year that I want in my life during this year? – Those are the questions circling around my head these days, and I am sure I am not alone on that! The start of a new year feels like a golden opportunity to start fresh and turn our lives around. But where to start? Here are some ideas… First: Evaluate.
Before launching yourself into the exciting task of brainstorming for ideas and plans for 2014, it is important to know where you stand at this point. There are several versions of a 30-question meme floating around the internet that I found to be particularly useful for this. Some of the questions are very useful to prompt reflection on the past year: What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before?What was your biggest achievement of the year?
What was your biggest failure?
What places did you visit?
Did you make any new friends?
Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?
ii. thinner or fatter?
iii. richer or poorer? What do you wish you’d done more of?
What do you wish you’d done less of?
And some other fun ones just to help you keep track and refresh the flavor of the year in your memory anytime you want to:
What song will always remind you of 2013?
What was your favorite TV program?
What was the best book you read?
What was your greatest musical discovery?
What was your favorite film of this year? It is a rather simple, but very illuminating exercise, and it’s fun! Also, if you are not into the habit of journaling, this would be a simple and easy way to keep track of your life on a yearly basis. You can make it a tradition starting today!
Paint your ideal scene.
A lovely note along a skeleton key necklace given to me by the one and only Veronica Varlow during a Emilie Autumn concert in 2009. Her wishes for me have become a reality!
Even though every passing moment is an opportunity to change things around, the beginning of the year feels like a chance for a fresh start: the perfect moment to shed everything we don’t like about ourselves and start morphing into our ideal selves.
Robin Fisher Roffer, CEO of Big Fish Marketing, says that every New Year’s day she takes a couple of hours to sit in her room in private, without any disturbances, to think about what she wants her year to be like. She suggests writing down your ideal scene, your dreamed life for the year that unfolds; imagine yourself right in the middle of your ideal situation, surrounded by all the things that would make you feel fulfilled and successful, happy and at peace, and write it down as if it were happening at the present moment. This could be a very powerful tool to help you realize and clarify what your priorities and wishes for your future are. By creating a vivid visualization of your wishes, you construct a great guideline to help you focus on the things you want to achieve, making them more likely to happen – since it is now a concrete and defined idea, rather than some vague and unsubstantial “I want to be a better, happier person” resolution.
Take some time to ask yourself what you want your 2014 life project to look like!
Make an action plan.
Actual crossroad serving as a metaphorical crossroad.
Dreaming big is fun, but the interesting part is to plan the steps that will help you make those amazing achievements come to fruition and become part of your reality.
There are different tools that can help constructing the path. One I found to be particularly effective is the jealousy map exercise suggested by Julia Cameron in her book The Artist’s Way; the magic of that exercise is that it not only illuminates you about the things that you crave for yourself, but also helps turning a toxic emotion like jealousy into a source of inspiration and self-development. You can read more about it by clicking here.
Also, take a look at the resources available to you: do you know people who could help you or point you in the right direction to achieve your goals? You can make a coffee appointment or get in touch with them via a nice, enthusiastic message. Are there any courses, classes or seminars that might help you gain the skills that you want to acquire? It could be a good opportunity to meet some new, interesting people as well. Be proactive!
We are fortunate enough to live in an era of exuberant information, so take advantage of it! Do your research: get the books, online tutorials, videos, and even films that you need to get inspired and learn whatever you want. The choice is yours! - - - One key difference from last year is that I am no longer relying on chance and fate for this to be a big, memorable year. This time, I am determined to make of 2014 a great year for me, making things happen; to build my own future and keep pushing foward despite any difficulties that might arise. Make New Year’s Resolutions that get you excited to achieve, instead of the usual drill (“lose weight”, “save more money”, “drink less”). That way you will be more likely to set things into motion and actually stick to them.
Need some inspiration or ideas to start making your own list? Stay tuned! A new blog post is coming up...
Let’s make 2014 the best year yet! (Or die trying, ha ha!).Cheers,
