If you are planning big changes in the coming year, give yourself the best start by checking out these 10 essential components to ensure you have a successful year ahead.
1. Commitment
Go all in! Decide and commit! There is power in committing to a course of action. Create space and spend some time writing down all the reasons why it's important to you to create the change. Also write down what it will cost you if you don't. The more commitment you create the more likely you will be to succeed
2. Accountability
You are accountable for your decisions, your actions, your results, your life is your responsibility. Take ownership of your story, your excuses, ways that you get in your own way. Make your mistakes your friends, learn from them and see them as part of the journey. Taking accountability doesn't mean that you can't ask for help, this makes things a lot easier. Ask, be open and ready to receive it too
3. Consistency
How much time, energy and resources are you going to commit, how often? Stretch yourself a little. You can always do more than you think. Little efforts consistently turn into big results. Chunk tasks into smaller ones so rather than taking action once a week for 3 hours chunk it into 20-30 minutes every day. Be consistent
4. Motivation
What motivates you? How can you create more motivation? Focus on the end result and not the work involved. Create daily practices that will keep you motivated. Notice your self talk and become your own cheerleader. Spend time around positive people who want you to succeed. Grow your motivation daily. Read, learn new things, become obsessive about feeling good
5. Focus
Focus on what you want to achieve. Visualise yourself achieving it but let go of the outcome and enjoy the journey. By focussing on what you want you will notice more of that happening, you will notice more opportunities in this area. If you focus on the work or challenges you will see more of those and will be more likely to give up. Let your vision pull you rather than just being pushed by the pain of where you are now
6. Energy
Be you, stay present in the moment and create positive energy. Create practices that will increase your energy, listen to music, move, dance, walk. Moving around increases energy. Create space too. 5 minutes of silence and doing nothing can spark inspiration that can boost energy. Create space often especially when your mojo is low
7. Execution
Having an idea is great, having a process or a plan is fantastic but execution is key. If you are a creative type, the planning can seem like the exciting part and the process of execution can be perceived as not quite as exciting however this is where things really start to happen, in the action. How many times have you created, made a plan but then fallen down on the execution. Execution in short but focussed time slots with creative breaks in between works well. Mix it up and find what works best for you but make sure you spend equal amounts of time on both
8. Tracking
Track your efforts and results. This information is extremely valuable so that you can then focus on the activities that make the biggest difference you can also increase your results focussing on the areas that matter most. It's easy to go off track and be making effort and taking action feeling like you aren't getting anywhere. Tracking is essential so you can also look at what was working well in the past before you went off track
9. Adjustments
What's working and what's not working? Plan in reviews to make adjustments. This helps you to step back and see the bigger picture, to reconnect with your reasons for starting, to check progress and reassess priorities. With tracking and adjustments you can create mastery, ease and faster success with less effort
10. Rewards
Just as you can reward yourself with creative time between execution of processes. You can also reward yourself when you have positive feedback, great results or when you have just done something you really didn't want to do but you did it anyway. Pat yourself on the back, do a little dance, grab some me time or whatever would be the best reward for you. Have some fun with this and celebrate your progress and achievements. It's also useful to keep a journal of all of your successes and little wins along the way to look back over and to remind yourself how positively amazing you are!
So here's to wishing you a fantastic and successful year ahead
Make it happen, dreams don't create themselves
Need help?
Contact Natasha
Natashadavies@because-u-can.co.uk