New Year, New Strategy

You’re about to do that thing again.

It’s November – which means you might be thinking about the holidays. And you go from excitment to panic in two minutes about your holiday to do list. Before you know it, it’s New Year’s Eve and you’re trying to think of a new year’s resolution that is a little different than last year because you don’t want everyone to know that you didn’t come close to flossing every day or going to the gym.

Stop it. 

Take a step back. Give yourself a moment. Goal setting can often feel daunting and I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want to bring into the new year with me is daunting energy.

No more boxing yourself in and creating lists and plans that make you procrastinate and avoid.

If goal setting lights you up, no judgment. This is for the people who are sick of setting goals that feel like “fixing something that’s broken” and want a different strategy that comes from a place of self-love instead. The actual goal of new year’s resolutions should be showing up for yourself in a way that allows you to change and pivot throughout the year and by the time you get to this point next year, you say “Hell yeah I accomplished my goal from last year because it was easy and something I actually wanted to do.”

*Note – this can be used for business or personal life! While business goal setting might still be an important practice, adding something like this can help you get inspired and uplevel your side hustle/full hustle.*

What to do instead of goal setting for the new year:

1. Set intentions

Chuck the details out the window and consider creating intentions. Intention still has a goal in mind, but is more open to the how you get there. It’s much more about concious choices and less about following a plan and hanging out in auto-pilot to force yourself to get through something.

Intention: have more fun. Notice how it doesn’t say: “Have more fun by watching the movie Super Bad everyday.” Maybe at the beginning of the year Super Bad has you rolling on the floor laughing and by the end of January, you’re like “enough already.”

Intention gets you to tune into how you’re actually feeling and making a decision from that present place vs. planning in advance and doing something even if it doesn’t create that fun feeling anymore.

A business example is: make impactful connections.

I know, your business brain is trying to get you to sign up for 18 new networking groups and get to the specifics. If your goal setting brain won’t give it a rest, feel free to sign up for one networking group, but stay open to other opportunities that feel more aligned in certain moments. Shifting is key with intention setting.

2. Focus on how you want to feel

Take a look at that goal you’re eager to set because you feel like this is too woowoo to get behind. I get it – it’s not how we’re use to doing things. If the goal is “lose weight” pay attention to how you think you’ll feel afterwards. Powerful, sexy, confident, healthy.

That feeling is the key here. Can you find a way to feel powerful, sexy, confident, healthy without weight loss? Yep. 

You can still try to lose weight if that speaks to you, but remember that the actual goal is these feelings. If you can find another way to get to these feelings easily, try to focus more on adding those things in to your life. Reverse engineering is our friend here.

3. Find your inner knowing

Sometimes we go so fast that we don’t even know what we’re looking to accomplish. We often look outside of ourselves for validation which causes us to set goals that don’t even align with where we actually see ourselves in our ideal future.

I challenge you to find that inner knowing by closing your eyes and meditating for a hot minute. If you have a brain that is really into thinking and planning at all times, consider a guided meditation to start off with. If you’re really looking to get some answers from within, find a time where you’re more relaxed and then try this timer video that just counts down to allow you to silently meditate.

Let your mind wander – don’t get discouraged when thoughts come up. Allow them and notice them. And then get back to your breath.

Pause, breathe, be in your body.

You’ve got this. Challenge yourself to break the cycle of goals that set you up for failure. Find the balance between goal setting and intention setting this year and be amazed by your results.