How to Rock Your New Year

How to rock your new year. I share 3 proven strategies to help you rock your new year! Starting with an effective evaluation tool, you will be able to create the habits you need to reach your goals. In order to change your life, you must change something about your everyday choices. Learn how to set yourself up for success this year and crush your goals!

How to rock your new year.

I find it so fascinating, the excitement that comes with a new year and this renewed hope to do incredible things. And I think that’s a wonderful thing that we should totally hold on to that. And it’s also interesting to watch the progression because by the end of a given year, it seems like.

Tons of people who are just like, oh, good riddance. I can’t wait to finish out this year and start fresh again. And well, anytime is actually a good time to start a new routine, a new habit or set goals. I think that a new year is always a time where there’s just more people who are setting new year’s resolutions and wanting a fresh start.

So we’re going to talk about that today and how to help you be more successful at the things that you want to do at this fresh start. And we are, at this time, we are coming out of the year 2020, which has. And incredibly hard and wonderful year all tied up together for most of us. Um, and I dare say that it has been a year that all of us universally connect.

That we are probably more happy than not to see it end and are looking forward with renewed hope and renewed energy to a new year. So that’s what we’re going to talk about today. How you can rock your new year, especially this year of 2021. How cool is that good for it? It’s 2020. According to research, only 46{845c495dc00ac885fceaf0923b974883c8d3cc4438e1ad89d6a5e8fd6cb5e1f8} of new year’s resolutions, six months in our success.

We’re looking at just less than half, so how can you really set a new year’s resolution and stick to it? How can you be part of the half that really can, so there’s a few strategies that you can employ that will help you be more successful and feel more fulfilled and help you in your progress along the way.

So the first thing that I want to talk about are just some typical new year’s resolutions. So most people either want to lose some weight or get healthier. They want to save more or spend. Spend more time with family or perhaps get organized. And those are some typical new year’s resolutions that we see.

So there’s an exercise that I like to start with. I think it’s really crucial to evaluate where you currently are, because you can’t get to where you want to go, unless you know where you’re at, right. As soon as you enter something into your GPS, a destination, it will always ask you where you’re starting. It can’t give you directions to where you’re going, because the directions where you’re going are solely dependent on your starting point.

Start, Stop and Continue

So a good way to have a starting point for any kind of goal or resolution would be an exercise that I like to call, start, stop and continue. So I’d like to just do a little bit of a reflection on what would I like to start doing?

What are some things that I really could work on that I could start doing? And then I make a list of what are some things that I’d like to stop. Maybe some of those things that aren’t as productive or are time-wasters or something that I don’t feel is enhancing my life in any way. And so then I try to list a few things that I could stop doing.

And then I think this is a crucial part of this exercise. Then I make a short list of things that I would like to continue. And this just helps me realize, okay, I am doing somethings really well and the things that are working for me and totally going to continue. And it just gives a really good idea of what I’d like to start, what I’d like to stop and what I’d like to continue.

That will help me to. No, where I’m going and really helped me fulfill my potential. That will help me see where I not, where I’m going and what are those things that will help me along the way. It’s just a great evaluation to do. And sometimes I even referenced my future self. You know, what about me in five years?

What will my, my future self be really glad that I started doing or stop doing or continue to do. And sometimes that reference point really helps me see where I can improve and helps me really solidify my goals and where I’m headed. My destiny. So the first exercise, the start stop and continue, I think is vital.

And you really need to start with that in order to know where you’re going and does any one will tell you a good goal will be to keep it simple. And we’ll talk a little bit more about that next week, about how really the small and simple things are the things that propel you, the furthest and with more consistency.

The Who – Start with Identity

So this next thing that we want to talk about today is something that I call the who. So anytime that you set a goal, we usually say. The outcome itself. I want to lose 10 pounds. That’s the outcome, right? That’s our goal. Then we usually create a process to help us achieve that goal. And then we arrive at the identity associated with that.

I am someone who lost 10 pounds or I’m someone who is healthier or I’m someone who moves my body every day. And if you look at this like a bullseye and I’ll include a diagram in the show notes, if you think of it as a bull’s-eye the outer ring being that. And then the next ring being the process, and then the bulls-eye being who, who you become or your identity that’s associated with the goal of resolution that you’re working on.

We usually want to work from the outside in, and sometimes that works. And I would like to just offer to you today that I, I believe. And so does James clear in his book, atomic habits that we go about this process? Moving from the outside, in, from outcome to process to who we are, or our identity is actually backwards.

And it’s something that really can stand in our way as we’re progressing to who we want to be, or these goals that we want to achieve. So if we start from the inside out, we will have much greater success. So I’d like to offer to you today to start with your identity. Of who you are and the kind of person that even right now is if you desire to be that right, really let that desire work within you and identify yourself as someone who is healthy.

I am a healthy person. If we take that initial example of losing 10 pounds. So instead of starting with, I want to lose 10 pounds, start with your identity and be certain that you’re someone who values your help, that you are a healthy person. So then from that place, then you can identify your process.

Well, what does a healthy person do? What kind of a process would help me be healthy? Well, we probably know the answer to that, right? It would be someone who eats good food, moves their body, drinks, water, and gets enough sleep. Right. So that would be the process. So I am someone who is healthy and who takes care of my body.

I am someone who moves my body each day and it’s in a way that fuels. And that is what gets us to our outcome. And our outcome is that I want to lose 10 pounds. So do you see how working from the inside out? It just is more productive. And let me explain why, because so many times when we start with the outcome and we know the process, and then we withhold the identity or how we view ourselves, we withhold that from ourselves until the outcome is reached.

And that is the most de-motivating point that you can. So why not choose to believe that you are that person, that that is your identity and then work for the outcome rather than working for the outcome and withholding the identity to the end. I promise you, you have experience with this in your life and you can totally relate to what I’m saying.

And this year I want you to do it differently. I want you to embrace who you are and who you want to be, and don’t withhold that until you achieve it. Make sure that you believe that that’s who you are and that will set you up for success. Let’s take a couple of these, for example. We use the loose handheld because that’s just the stereotypical new year’s resolution that a lot of people have, but what if it was saving more and spending less?

If your goal is around money and you want to save more and spend less. And of course you’d want to be more specific than that. So instead of saying, I’m going to save more money and spend less, and then working on the process and then deciding that you’re a person who’s good. This year, I want you to decide, well, who am I?

I am a person who saves this percent of my income. And I am a person who spends this percent of my income. And I am a person who is good with my money. I’m a good steward of my money and then create your process and your outcome, but approach it from your identity of who I really am. And if you can’t quite get to who I really am or who I desire.

I desire to be a good steward of my money, or I desire to be someone who values saving this percentage every single month. Do you see how that is a better and a deeper and a more motivating factor in your life rather than setting the parameter of the outcome, going through the process and withholding the idea that you are good with money until you are that’s de-motivation right.

Going from the other direction is empowering. It’s much more motivating, and it will help you reach your goals at a much faster. So we’ve talked about the start stop and continue, and the who by making sure that you have a clear identity of who you are and where you want to go. And that, that is your motivating factor.

Start with the ABC’s

So this is the next tip that I have for you, for you to rock your new year.

And that is something that comes from a researcher out of Stanford, named BJ Fogg. And his research is basically what everyone else references when it comes to habits and, and behavior change as humans, because that’s, his expertise is in that field of study. So everyone else kind of references. I love this concept that he shares in his book called tiny habits and he shares it that it’s an ABC.

Any time we’re trying to do something new, so we’re in that process phase. We’ve identified that we’re a person who does, and then we, we need to attach a behavior to something that we already do, so he called it an anchor. So ABC is: Anchor Behavior and Celebrate. He talks a lot about how we need to anchor the behavior to something else.

What is something that you consistently do every day, is it showering, is that brushing your teeth, is it going to the bathroom? What are the things that you consistently do on a daily basis? And if you’re trying to implement a new behavior to get you towards your goal, then you need to anchor this new behavior with something that’s already happening.

So anchor, and then you add the new behavior and every time you do, he says, here comes the secret. That you need to celebrate it. And when I first heard this concept, I did, I kind of chuckled to myself. I thought, oh, that is interesting that we need to celebrate that. Right. Um, it just reminded me of, uh, my potty training days with all my kids and, and celebrating that behavior.

But it is real. And I don’t think we ever outgrow that celebration high that we get your brain is actually more willing to do the behavior when you celebrate. Because you get this little hit of dopamine in your brain. So your brain is totally more willing to engage in that behavior. If it has been celebrated and celebration might look different for different people, it might be just like a really deep cleansing mind clearing breath.

It might be a smile or it might be a thought like, yeah, I totally rocked that. Or look at me doing what I said I would do. That’s just. Right. And, and you can even just think this in your brain, our thoughts are that powerful. You can say it out loud, or you can just think it, but in some way, celebrate that behavior.

So take, for example, our losing weight scenario. What if every time we went to the bathroom, we got down and did five pushups, right? So we have our anchor, which is, I use the restroom or behavior, which is pushups.Then I do five pushups, make it simple, make it quick, make it easy. put a smile on your face and say, “yeah, I totally did that”.

By the end of the day, how many pushups have you done? And does that get you closer to your goal? Yes, it totally does. Right. Did you move your body? Are you a person that’s healthy and takes the time to take care of your body? Do you see how this can all be really, really easy? Let’s take another example.

Some people say I want to get more organized well, and then we try to just over. We think that we just need to take like a solid month or a solid 10 days and just reorganize everything in our house. I really, over the course of the year, we have 365 days. That’s a lot of days. And what if we just organize one small thing a day?

Then we have our anchor behavior. So every morning after I drink my glass of water, I will organize one drawer. Hey, and I set a timer and I just organize what I can for five minutes. So every morning and drink my water. I have my anchor, I have my behavior organizing just for five minutes. And then I celebrate and say, yeah, my house is totally going to get organized this year because I’m doing it clear throughout the year in small chunks, I’ve got this. or this is going to be awesome. That kind of process is going to help you be successful as you are setting goals for the year.

Putting it all together

So just to recap today, as you think about the person that you want to be and how you want to rock this new year, Start small. And like I said, we’re going to cover all of that next week, but start small and then do this exercise of what do you want to start?

What you want to stop, and what do you want to continue? Then maybe just choose your top one in each of those areas. And some, yeah, times they compliment each other. Right? What if I wanted to start doing strength training as part of my exercising? That’s my start. My stop might be that I’m going to stop drinking my calories and my sugar.

So I’m going to stop drinking soda and I’m going to continue. To drink a hundred ounces of water every day, because that’s something that I already do. They can all start with the same identity that you’re a person who is healthy and takes care of yourself. And all of those things play into that. So I do want you to really focus on who you are and who you want to be.

If you can’t quite get to, I am a healthy person, get to the place where you can really believe that I am a person who wants to be. And really let that desire work within you until it is a belief and that you really are a person who values your health and wants to take care of you in lots of different ways, and then employ the strategy of ABC, your anchor behavior and celebrate.

I think the key to this I’ve heard the anchoring. I’ve heard the changing behavior make it small, but this idea of celebrating was new to me. And I did. I mean, I don’t admit it. It seems a little bit comical, but as I’ve tried. It’s pretty amazing because it keeps you positively working and progressing towards your goals.

And we don’t need to wait for anyone else to celebrate for us, or to notice that we’re being more healthy. We can totally celebrate for ourselves and give our mind all that. More power and incentive to continue doing those things that will help us. So I hope that those are helpful things for you, as you think about your new year.

What an exciting time I do love a new year and the hope and just the excitement that comes along with that. I don’t want you to be one of those people that gets discouraged and three weeks in just throw sear, resolutions or goals out the window. I want you to be successful and just think. And incorporate some of these ideas into your goal setting and you will totally be able to rock your new year.

You are going to rock this new year!