Happy New Year! I actually sent out an email to my list on December 31st about creating a 2020 vision, and I intended to post it here as well but something held me back. Of course, we all want to start off the New Year strong and with momentum, going after our goals and our visions.
But I think there is a danger with diving in – the vast majority of us tend to lose steam by the end of the month, if not by the end of the first week!
Take the classic diet and fitness goals – how many people sign up for gym memberships and then hardly use them? How many people start the diet and stop? Or maybe the lose the weight and then fall right back into the same old patterns and gain it all right back…? You catch my drift.
We want this to be the roaring 20s – not just a roaring few weeks – right!?
Why the old way of Setting Resolutions and Goals doesn’t Work
The problem is, when we go after goals without creating a strong foundation, it’s nearly inevitable that we will lose steam and fall off track. Human behavior is built on stories and patterns, and if we don’t take time to tune in with not just the what but the why, it’s going to be pretty difficult to follow through and maintain the momentum.
Life is moving faster and faster – 2019 certainly felt like it whizzed by at warp speed! With the holidays so close together, December in particular seemed to fly by and at times it felt a bit overwhelming… and for a moment I myself got a little worried that I wasn’t ready for one of the coolest years ever – 2020! My 2020 vision was not clear!
That’s just it – there is so much going on in our world that can at times life can definitely feel like that – overwhelming.
We can so easily get caught up in the busyness, the routine, the obligations, and we lose sight of who we are and what we really want and what truly fills us up. Life can start to whiz by without us hardly noticing.
So we set goals and create vision boards and so on and so forth based on ideas of what we think we want or what we think we are supposed to want.
On top of that, we set large goals and high expectations for ourselves, unwittingly setting ourselves up for failure. We get discouraged, feel guilty, even shameful, and then feel worse about ourselves than we did before. No good!
So for most of us, it’s a good idea to go back to the drawing board and set ourselves up for success.
How to Set Goals and Create 2020 Visions that make you Feel Strong and Empowered
It’s totally fine if you’ve already gone ahead and set the goals and created the vision board – great! Use that momentum!
If you haven’t done any goal setting, intention creating, or vision-board making, that’s also GREAT!
Personally, I’ve been kind of middle ground here. I hit the ground running in certain aspects, but have been easing in to the grander vision part.
Either way, it’s a good idea to pause, take a step back, and tune back in – does that goal or that vision feel truly aligned with who you are and what you want?
Maybe it still does. Maybe you need to recalibrate… Maybe you actually hate going to the gym. Maybe there is a different way you would prefer to move your body and feel strong. It’s all totally great!
Recalibrating is actually incredibly important. Goals and desires shift once we reach our desired end point, or even on the path to that point. We realize there is something even deeper or more desirable, so we expand or pivot.
To pull out a couple of the old tried yet true clichés – The only constant in life is change and if we are not growing, we are dying.
So without any guilt or shame, allow yourself to shift, change, or altogether throw out those old goals, now, or at some point going forward, if they no longer feel aligned. Getting fully in tune and aligned is a process!
My Top Three Strategies for Building a Strong Foundation to start the New Year off Strong
Before I go any further, here are my top three suggestions for starting 2020 – the new year and a new decade – strong, clear, and ready to go:
- Get organized. Clearing out the physical clutter is a powerful way to clear our mind and help ourselves feel both more grounded and more expansive. I personally prioritized reorganizing my closet and drawers, cleaning and clearing out the old ‘clutter.’ Energetically, clutter and excess can actually block abundance as well. So clear the space so you can be ready to receive all the good things in the new year.
- Get clear. Sit down with a journal – or open up a new note or document on your computer or phone – and get really intimate with your dreams, your desires, your wishes, and your wants. What do you want? Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? Who do you want to do it with? How do you want to feel? That last one is key. Feel into it now, and from that space, write your vision of your life as if it is already done. This morning I did my breathing exercises and meditation, then I journaled for pages – more than I normally do. It feels so expansive to do this.
- Prioritize self-care. Or ‘me-time.’ Whatever you want to call it. I almost said ‘indulge’ in self-care, but truly I do not see self-care as an indulgence – I see it as a necessity. Especially coming off the holidays and for many of us a lot of travel. This is how we de-stress so we can heal. For us to be at our best, perform to our potential, and show up as our best selves to the people we care about, we must be filling up our own cups first. For me, self-care is a priority this week – I’m going to soak in a bath with essential oils and perhaps treat my hands and feet to a little pampering.
So I encourage and invite you to take some time for yourself today – even if it’s just 5-10 minutes were you can get quiet, centered, and grounded – and get really clear about your vision for 2020 – not just for the next year, but for the whole next decade.
Then in order to take it to the next level – set aside some time daily, weekly, and/or monthly to tune back in. Perhaps each day you journal for 5-10 minutes. Maybe each week you carve out some self-care time – whatever that looks like for you. Possibly every month you de-clutter and organize another room, desk, or closet.
I personally spent the first week of the year doing a whole lot of de-cluttering and organizing and engaging in self-care. It felt really good to go through those random drawers and just throw the old papers and random junk out.
Getting Clear on Your Vision and Giving Yourself Permission to Be Where You Are so you can Plant the Seeds and Grow
To be clear, this also isn’t something you can get wrong, and this is bigger than ‘goals’ like losing weight or achieving that next promotion. This does not mean that those goals you may have are trivial – by all means prioritize and highlight anything that lights you up and energizes you.
But that’s just it – what I encourage you to sit down and really get curious about is how do you want to feel in the new year? How do you want to feel going forward into the next decade?
And now you can get curious – what is it that makes you feel that way?
What lights you up? What energizes and inspires you?
Maybe it’s traveling, dancing, volunteering, spending more time with your loved ones, starting that business, or taking more time off. Maybe it’s little shifts, maybe it’s major changes.
In order to bring this 2020 vision into our physical reality, you can journal, make a vision board, or start making changes in your physical space. Or all of the above! Do at least something today, and carve out some time over the rest of the week to do more.
Start small and build. This is about planting the seeds in properly fertilized soil. Creating little shifts now builds the foundation and creates the momentum you need to keep building and growing.
How to Keep the Momentum Going so You can Keep Building and Growing
Going forward, here are some more little tips, inspirations, or even nuggets to inspire a little journaling to start 2020 and the coming decade feeling strong, confident, and expansive:
- Prioritize Your Personal Time
- Set Parameters for Your Attention
- Lean In to What Makes You Happy
- Ease Away From What Doesn’t Serve You
- Connect with Likeminded People
- Invest in Yourself – Time & Income (start with 5%)
I would love to hear from you – how do you want to feel going forward? What’s your top priority or biggest intention? I am here to connect, listen, and support you, so please do reach out!
Onward and upward in love and light… sending you massive amounts of love <3
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