For the coming twelve months, reminding yourself of your values will guide you well and help you stick to any goals you want to reach in 2024. Why not give it a try?
What are the strengths and values that make you 'you'?
How could those values and strengths inform your goals?
This can work better than just committing to concrete things, such as "take a lunch break every day", "network more", or "spend more consciously". Even "rest more" won't work on its own. It's vague, and it will add another thing for you to do, making it easier to beat yourself up if you fall short.
I'm using this with another technique to help me stick to what I want to do this year. Next is a solutions-focused method* of visualising myself in December 2024, evoking and exploring the feelings, emotions and situation I'd like to be in. It strengthens the resolve to get to that point (I've already been there in my mind) and I can then work back over the preceding eleven months and figure out what might help me get to that place. So:
Imagine your dream December 2024: how will you feel, where will you be (physically, metaphorically) what other details are there in the space you're inhabiting?
That process of working back will help to determine and then affirm the sort of person you want to be, and you will gradually assume the mantle of those characteristics, becoming that version of yourself.
"I am mindful of my need for rest", "I love to to meet and get to know new people", "I am a relaxed person" make it easier to make choices, bringing you closer to embodying that version of yourself who does the things that you might have set out in the past but not quite reached.
This might move "take your lunch break" (finger wagging, pressurising) to "I know I need to balance work and rest" (there's not even a question about taking a break later when meetings overrun). When life throws curveballs along the way, holding onto these statements will offer you new perspectives on dealing with them.
What might that December 2024 version of you believe about themselves?
Personally, it's important to remind myself that I'm in the middle of growing self-compassion and so I aim to use these methods to do what I want to do in a way that is gentler than before. I'll try it this year and reflect at the end of each month to see how I like it. It's all a work in progress after all.
I wish you well for 2024, and thank you for reading this post <3
If you're interested in end-of-year reflection prompts, we've shared some on Instagram. You could use these at any milestone, not just new year.
If you know what you need to do but you want support to make it a reality, you can book a free, no obligation Getting to Know You call on the website.
We're also running our 35x35 promotion until 21 January so get a kickstart to 2024 now! It's the first and last time 1:1 coaching will be available at this rate.
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Reference
*Strong, T., & Pyle, N. R. (2009). Constructing a conversational “miracle”: Examining the “miracle question” as it is used in therapeutic dialogue. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 22(4), 328–353. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720530903114001
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