New Year, New You?
How to get ahead for an easier year
As we head into another year, it can be a time of relief as the last year closes if it’s been a shocker, sadness if it’s been great. And there’s also the optimism that a new year brings, or slight trepidation for some as a brand new year stretches out ahead… whatever you feel it’s useful to take this time to evaluate and plan how you want things to go.
This doesn’t mean putting together spreadsheets and 5-year plans, just spend a moment to reflect on where you are now, where you want to be and how you’re going to get there. This is a solution focused attitude, acknowledging the past but not getting mired down in it – after all what has happened, has happened and you can’t change it, you can only change how you think about it.
So whether it’s for business or personal life, block out a couple of hours to define what you want. It’s useful to break the year down into quarters and individual months, chunking it down makes it a less daunting task, and remember that the aim is not to set a concrete plan in place, it should be made with the knowledge that it’s flexible and needs to evolve as the year progresses and as you yourself change in that time. We are not static creatures stuck in the same existence day after day, we have thoughts, feelings, desires and the ability to change ourselves, if not our environment.
And it can be useful seeking help from outside, using a business or life coach or talking therapy to gain clarity in your thoughts. Therapists are often used as sounding boards and ‘borrowing’ another brain can give you perspective on your situation and realism in your future wants. They also provide a degree of accountability which can make the difference between wishing something would happen and making it a reality.
Lists are useful, if nothing else they give you somewhere to start, a focus to hang that rest of your plans on. Try dividing your intentions into 3 or 4 key areas such as relationships, work, well being, etc and jot down a few bullet points. You will find that your plans start to flow out of that rather than staring at a blank page.
And using a diary, note down key dates, holidays, birthdays, work projects, anything that you have already booked in as these start to add structure in your year. Anyone with children at school or university will know the difference between a blank year and one filled with term start and end dates, exams, etc.
It’s a good idea to keep referring back to your plans and ideas along the way, not to castigate yourself for actions not done but just to refer back to your original ideas, using them as a start point to see how far along you are and where you still need to go. With today’s busy lifestyles, set aside a couple of hours every month (make an appointment with yourself in your diary to do this, it gives it importance and makes it more probable that you will do it rather than just leaving it to a spare moment).
If you’re a blogger, use twitter or need to send newsletters this formalisation of your year can be invaluable, enabling you to pre-plan blogs and feeds around relevant dates, help you identify when product launches would be best, and prevent those last minute stresses. This might seem like a lot of work but it really will reap rewards and make better use of your time in a more organised way.
And remember, this is a working document which should change as the year progresses.
If you would like help bringing clarity to your plans for 2018, get in touch for a chat about how hypnotherapy can help
01798 344879
www.questhypnotherapy.co.uk geraldine@questhypnotherapy.co.uk
www.mind-yourbusiness.co.uk info@mind-yourbusiness.co.uk