January 8, 2023

“We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past.  But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your day and your future.” – Steve Maraboli

Happy New Year and WELCOME to 2023! We all start each new year at the same place, with infinite possibilities stretching in front of us. It’s up to us what we do with this amazing opportunity.

Certainly, the world’s problems haven’t magically disappeared with the calendar change. But a new year offers us new hope and a fresh perspective – a chance to reboot our personal goals and ask what we can do to help others reach theirs.

With constant change and political division still swirling around us, it is important to give yourself time to sit quietly and reflect on your own personal outcomes from 2022 before you attempt to move into a fresh new year. Like mine, I am sure your year was a mixture of joy, heartbreak, challenges and triumphs. By objectively taking stock of what happened, you can discover important insights and lessons that you can carry into this new year to help you create it to be all that you wish for.

In my 18+ years as a Personal Success Coach, I have been blessed to help over 2,000 clients reach their Big Goals, so I know what it will take to make your next year a success. Creating your personal goals and manifesting them requires a two-step process and now is the ideal time to begin:

Step One: Complete the Old Year.  You can’t create something new in a space that is cluttered with old stuff. You must first be 100% complete with the past. So, if you want this next year to be more than just a replay of whatever you experienced last year, you first must complete your old year to make space for your NEW intentions.

The Reflections Exercise

A great completion process is simply to sit quietly and answer a series of questions that make you think deeply about the outcomes of your past year – the good, the bad and the ugly. Answering them honestly will clarify your underlying beliefs, expectations, attitudes and actions that influenced the results you got.

This exercise is designed to help you look objectively at what you did (and didn’t) do that influenced what happened for you last year. Determining accurately what caused your past outcomes helps you to identify NEW ways of thinking and being that will cause you to take NEW actions.

Taking new actions will bring you new results, while continuing to operate on “auto-pilot” inside of the same thought and behavior patterns pretty much guarantees that this year is going to bring you more of the same.

REFLECTIONS EXERCISE 

Here are 14 KEY questions to complete your 2022 and set you up for a more fulfilling and prosperous 2023. They will only help you IF you will take the time to actually answer them!  If you are thoughtful and truthful, it should take just 30 minutes or so to journal your answers. And, if this introspection sets you up for a new level of success and happiness in the coming year, isn’t it worth making such a small effort?

Part 1 – Questions to Complete the Old Year

  • What was your biggest accomplishment in 2022?
  • What was your greatest failure or disappointment?
  • What was the greatest lesson you learned?
  • Who did you make a difference for and how?
  • What do you wish you hadn’t wasted your time and energy on?
  • What do you wish you had spent MORE time and effort on?
  • What are you most grateful for regarding last year?

Part 2 – Questions for Creating Your New Year

  • What ONE (or two) WORDS would you like to have as your theme in 2023?
  • What would you feel most happy and fulfilled about accomplishing?
  • What new skill would you most like to learn or master and why?
  • What are you most committed to changing/improving in your work?
  • What are you most committed to changing/improving about yourself?
  • What is ONE positive habit you are committed to instilling this year?
  • What brings you the most joy and how will you make room for more of that in 2023?

NEXT WEEK

We will do STEP TWO: Create Your Year Your Way. I will share with you my all-time favorite method for co-creating your new year with God/the Universe to be all that you would like it to be.  It’s a great companion piece to the Reflections Exercise. I have loved doing it for myself every January for the past 18 years and I know you will too!

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To schedule a F*R*E*E* HOUR of phone coaching that will help clarify your Big Goals and get you into ACTION to make this the BEST year yet, please email me at caroll@practicalprosperitycoach.com.