Reset for the New Year
It’s exactly how it sounds. We are starting to reset!
The New Year can be stressful and exciting all at once. We can feel all the pressure of setting a “resolution”, new goals, becoming a new person. I like to focus on the things that exist and are within our control that we can action out on a regular basis. Let me tell you what it looks like.
Step One: Declutter your space
This sounds pretty straight forward but let me tell you how i do it.
It doesn’t have to be your entire space. It can be that one pesky area around your house that you know is chaos. For me I have a few areas I want to go through and I broke it down by each room / area, estimated the time it would take me to clean it, and then scheduled it in my calendar. Ensuring its not scheduled too far apart (or else I lose momentum and excitement out of the project). Note: When you are doing this process you might stumble on things you haven’t seen in a long time that might bring up emotional experiences, you’ll also have to decided what your keeping and donating or selling and it does take time. So do plan accordingly!
Step Two: Feelings and Values
Time to evaluate! How have you felt this past year? Were you happy, sad, lost, uninspired? Did you feel like you had a year of fulfillment? What would you like to feel more of moving forward? What would be your ideal day of emotions? What gets you excited? What brought you joy?
Google a list of feelings, or if you know the feelings you would like to experience more of in your upcoming year, then write those down. For myself those words are: strong, energized, confident, adventurous and unworried/content.
Now let’s talk about the things you Value. — What is important in your life that is a non negotiable.
You can google ‘values lists’ of words to start the process. These usually involve family, time, money, friends, travel etc. For me my words are : Time, Connection, Boundaries and Fitness (movement).
While the list can be as big or small as you would like. I highly recommend sticking to 3-5 to focus on for the the coming months. This doesn’t mean you can’t value more than what is on the list, its more so, that these things will also be tied to how your spend your time and create the life you want moving forward. And we want to focus on the core.
Lastly, start on a vision board. This can be on Pinterest or wherever you feel like creating such a thing. Include images of experiences you want to have and images that reflect your core values and feelings you want to feel!
Step Three: Vision Board and Goals (Building Habits)
In our last step, we created a vision board with the experiences we would like to have along with images of what we would like to feel and what we value. With this visual we can now dream, fantasize and romanticize the life we want in this upcoming year. While I wish it was this simple, everything that we saved as an image would just magically happen. We now have to create some sort of action plan as to how we will achieve these things.
If my words are : Time, Connection, Boundaries and Fitness (movement), strong, energized, confident, adventurous and unworried/content.
How do I create habits around these words?
It really depends what each of these words mean to you. Let me break it down.
Time: My time is spent on things that bring me energy, joy, and value. (This means knowing what drains you. For me that is generally spending time with people who no longer add to my life, activities iI say yes to when I don’t enjoy it, commuting, etc.)
Connection: My connection with my friends, family and partner are present and intentional. Away from devices and growing deeper.
Boundaries: I set clear boundaries for myself. Saying no to doing things that don’t bring me value, joy or that drain me.
Fitness: I am active. I spend 30 minutes to 1 hour on myself everyday. This could be physically or mentally but I am ‘Fit’
Strong: I am capable of doing things for me and others. Physically, emotionally and mentally.
Energized: I am well rested, and nourishing my body to able to accomplish what I set out for myself in a day.
Confident: I feel secure in my appearance and knowledge. I continue to do things for myself that make me feel good about myself and also challenge me.
Adventurous: I am curious about the world and my surroundings. I continue to explore my province and country and also explore other areas of the world doing activities I love.
Unworried/ Content: I am financially stable, I take issues on with a grain of salt. 'If it won't matter 5 years from now, then don't spend more than 5 minutes on it”
Now that we know what these words mean to us. How do we ensure that we are living these words? Well, if my value is to spend more intentional time with my friends and family, I want to be reaching out X amount of times in a year to those who are important to me. If my value is Time, and I want to spend doing more of the things I love with my time then I will slot it in my calendar (learning a language, reading, cooking, etc.) Get the idea?
Your vision board is a really good start for you to take a big picture look at the life you would like and then take measurable steps to get there.
What you want to do is schedule this into your life. Whether you have a digital planner, use your ical, google calendar, a physical planner, whatever works for you. Make a time table of your ideal week repeated. While every day, week and month don’t look exactly the same, you can also write a post- it note of all the things you need to schedule into your week, every week.
I like to try things for about three months before switching things up, unless something really isn't working for me. I know when I was a student I would take every Sunday to reset and plan in my week. And I currently have a stable 730-330 Desk job that is the same every week and I can plan reoccurring events. Wherever you are in your life you can customize this process to you.
Step Four: Systems
A System is a set of principles of procedures according to which something is done; an organized framework or method.
I have a variety of systems set up in my life that give me the headspace to only have to focus on them x amount of times a week, month and year.
I have a Weekly Reset that I do on Sundays. Typically includes grocery shopping, meal prepping, cleaning the house, laundry, picking out my clothes for the work week and then a self care routine. It looks like the same thing ever week on that same day. (sometimes i add in more if its needed)
I do a Monthly reset once a month. I make a dumping list of things that have come up throughout the month and try to get as much of it done throughout the 2-3 days I have set aside for myself. It also includes a premade list of clearing my google keep, updating scheduled posts for my personal accounts, checking in on my routine (what worked and what didn't), filling out a financial spreadsheet, booking all appointments for the upcoming month, etc.
I set specific days aside to do things that matter to me such as: A day that I am able to binge on youtube or Netflix. Sheh days, which is for me to do with what I please. Dylan and Sheh days which are for me and my partner to spend time together unplugged. Having systems automized the thinking so you can spend more time doing the things that matter.
I have systems for my skin care routine, cleaning, how I get my errands done, you can have so many, but you have to figure out what makes the most sense to you.
Step Five: Reflect
Well, that was a lot of work. And reflecting back on how much you did and what you accomplished is vital. You are capable of doing so much. And working on yourself for you is huge.
Matt D'Avella had these 5 core beliefs in one of his emails and It Is so well said.
1. Strive for action over motivation. Movement precedes momentum — not the other way around.
2. Practice the 5x5 rule. Most of us spend way too much time sweating the small stuff. If it won’t matter in 5 years, don’t spend more than 5 minutes worrying about it.
3. Take radical responsibility for your life. There’s nothing more empowering than taking 100% ownership of everything in your life — the good stuff, and the bad stuff, too.
4. Embrace what makes you weird. It worked for Loop Daddy, and it will work for you, too.
5. Make your bed. Yep, your mom was right about one rule. This one simple action is a breeze to master. And that sense of accomplishment will help give you momentum to stick to all the other rules.
