It's a new season! January brings about so many refreshing new habits, goals, and anticipation. We all strive to have the best year yet, but we keep missing something to have us achieve our goals all year round. Essentially, we have not made our goals more specific. This list, although very broad in nature, allows room for you to control how specific you may want to go! So, in no specific order of course, let's begin!
1. Loving Yourself
Loving yourself has, and will always be a choice. Loving yourself includes accepting your personality flaws, but it also means accepting the small mistakes you make each day. Maybe you waved to the wrong person or called someone by the wrong name. As difficult as it may be, take baby steps each day and trust me, you'll be fine.
2. Mental Stability
Your mind is the most important thing. You owe it to yourself to keep yourself sane, so look into some stress management tips and increasing your emotional IQ. Don't bombard your schedule, period. Instead, get your work done, prioritize and do what you love. Thank me later.
3. Gratitude
Gratitude is the opposite of worry. You don't have to make a list (I mean you can if that is your sort of thing), but be aware of all the great things that have affected your life. Some people like to write down compliments, inspiring quotes, happy events, and place them into a mason jar for reading on those "not-so-happy" days.
4. Being Gracious with others
In order for you to be gracious with others, you must be gracious with yourself. Forgive yourself for the mistakes made. Don't call yourself stupid if you think you've done a silly thing, just say "I made a mistake", "I'll learn from this", "I'm only human", and "I deserve to be less critical of myself". Once this happens, see how easy it is to forgive others. Everyone makes mistakes and are aware of them, be different!
5. Journal
Journaling is a journey. This can be in a blog, in a word document, in a journal written with beautiful calligraphy, or on Odyssey (hint hint). Don't think you have to do it every day either, just write when you need it most, don't worry about logistics. Sometimes, when we make things too legalistic or ritualistic, we miss the point of why we are doing it in the first place.
6. Finding your personal strengths
Okay, this one isn't as easy, but just start to recognize and be aware of your strengths. Working through process alone causes change. In my experience with American culture, we tend to focus on what went wrong and dedicate most of time and resources on fixing it. I mean, we were taught and raised this way. Imagine if we actually focused on our strengths and mastered it? we would probably have a lot of confident and self-loving individuals. If you are a practical person like me, I recommend grabbing the book "Strength Finders" by Tom Rath; It's a great starter point in finding what your strengths are.
7. Shifting your focus every day
This takes a whole lot of consistency. Daily practice makes a habit. Think of self-affirmations, wake up and decide today is going to be a good day. If something bad happens, you acknowledge that it happened, and move on. Shifting your focus does not mean you don't recognize the bad, you just don't give it power.
8. Making the decision to kick a** everyday
I mean c'mon, who wouldn't want to kick a** everyday?
9. Saying No!
We say yes to too many things, such as events, personal favors, parties, coffee dates, bbq's with your grandma, helping a friend move, and all that jazz. We fail to think about our own self-care, schedules, and even how our bodies responds when we are asked these yes/no questions. Well here's a tip, say "Can I get back to you?" It gives you time to look at your schedule and helps in curtailing an emotional "Yes".
10. Re-evaluate your Life
Finally, if something isn't working out, change it. Some things won't work all the time and you have to be okay with that. Make adjustments and try again. Remember, you are only human and life happens.
So, I hoped this helped! Get started. What are you waiting for? Oh, and always remember that you are awesome and to keep your head up! Happy change making!
