If you only do one thing today
In the spirit of bringing in the new and setting intentions I thought I would end the year by creating a process around designing your perfect day. How often do you make time for reflection? When was the last time you blocked off on your calendar quiet, mindful time to reflect on your day, week or year? I know for me personally if it doesn’t get blocked it doesn’t get done.
Making time to consciously review every aspect of your life and consider how we could live it even better is the very foundation of living a well – designed life ~ Alchemiss Design.
If you only do one thing today – look at your calendar and find 30 minutes to block off – designate that time to reflect and send intentional energy into 2019.
Need a reason ….
Here are some of my favorite reasons to block some time, grab some wine and reflect on what is past and what is present.
1. Celebrate your accomplishments
2. Consider what you have learned
3. Capture your JOY
4. Design your next Year
5. Set your goals
five important reasons to reflect on your year as you prepare for the new year ahead.
1. To Celebrate Your Accomplishments
Too many New Year’s resolutions are based on perceived failures, what you’re doing wrong or what you want to fix. Why not start your yearly review by focusing on the positives of the year? You’ve probably experienced a lot more success over the past year than you even realize. And yes, every little thing counts: celebrate the compliment from a perfect stranger. Celebrate remembering holidays, concerts, and birthdays. Celebrate when your kid wrapped their arms around you and gave you a huge hug—for no particular reason. Allow yourself to reflect on everything you did right, everything that went well, and everything that was beautiful about this season of life.
2. To Consider What You’ve Learned
After a hefty dose of celebration (and yes, a cocktail is encouraged, if not required!), take a moment to consider the lessons you’ve learned over the past year, too. These don’t always have to come from big mistakes or tough situations (though they might); these are just the things you don’t want to forget as you move into your next year of life! We learn the most from these experiences. Perhaps you learned that you want to change careers. Or maybe you learned that you were actually good at weight lifting – well maybe not good but you didn’t hate it. Don’t write these things down to shame yourself; write them down with the gratitude that you know now. And feel comforted by the fact that you get to bring this knowledge with you into 2019!
3. Capture your Joy
Have you ever focused on what makes you truly happy? It may be something that’s always brought a smile to your face—like the sound of a baby’s giggle or or a box of milk duds. Or it may be something you discovered this past year, such as good red wine and blowouts. Whatever it may be, take some time to reflect on what brought you joy over the last 365 days—and perhaps start brainstorming for how to incorporate more of it into your life next year. Feeling happy affects every other area of your life: It makes you more loving, more kind, more productive, and it even combats stress and disease! And often, it is the very simplest of things that snap us into that joyful state. Identify the past year’s “happy triggers” for yourself and make a note to design them in your days.
4. To Design Your Next Year
This is where most people start the resolution process….It unfortunately comes from a shameful place however place: “What is wrong with me, and what can I do to fix it?” They want to lose weight, so they make a resolution to go to the gym every day. They want to get a promotion at work, so they make a resolution to work longer and harder. They want to spend more time with family, so they schedule weekly family activities. There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of these resolutions, but this process leaves out an important step. Instead of starting from a place of “what’s wrong with me/my job/my relationships/my life?,” start from the proactive perspective of “how do I want to feel?” Then, design your life from there! More to come next week on this. Do you want to feel more healthy? Or more connected, more peaceful or more smart? What are the experiences, people, and activities that will get you there more often? Design your life first, then build your goals or resolutions from there.
5. To Set Aligned Goals
And speaking of setting goals—that’s the last step in our yearly review process! Resolutions often get a bad rap. And that’s usually because far too many people aren’t able to sustain them. That’s because their resolutions—or their goals for the new year—are not aligned with who they are or how they want to feel. Remember our last point? One great reason to reflect on your year is to intentionally design the next one in a way that will make you feel great almost all of the time. And the last reason to put self-reflection into practice is because intentionally designing your life will help you set goals that are actually aligned with the life you want to live. Imagine that! If you want to live a life where you go to the gym every day, great! You should. But if that’s not what will truly make you feel the way you want to feel—head back to the drawing board and set a goal that will. Whatever goals you set for the next year, just make sure they’re aligned with the life you truly want to live. In this way your goals/resolutions will become sustainable and easy to implement because they come from a place of intentional design.
When you slow down enough to carefully consider the people you’re spending time with, the activities you’re engaging in, the amount of time you feel happy and content in your own life (and conversely, the amount of time you don’t), you have the unique and valuable opportunity to acknowledge what you’ve got right and change what is no longer working.
In other words, you can proactively and intentionally design not just your year, but your life. And there’s no better New Year’s resolution than that.
