New Year, New Goals, New You

This is one of my favorite topics, because I’m all about self-transformation and goal setting. Especially, SMART goal setting, which means it should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely.

Interestingly, I received an email stating that this method, creates tension and fear, thereby attracting more tension and fear.

One should, instead, …find your focus and let your vision pull you forward—without being attached to any timeline or specific outcome—then you’re operating from a place of abundance.

I’m not sure what to make of this, as SMART goal setting has been around for a long time, has worked for me and many others. I put it down to perspective and is a discussion for another blog.

Back to improving our lives. I believe that if we don’t take charge of our own lives, our desires won’t materialize. That has always been my biggest motivation and I’ll share some of the most important tips that I’ve learnt when it comes to goal-setting and creating your dream life.

Really, I don’t view the new year any different from previous ones. I see it as an opportunity to start fresh and to use the momentum of the new year to create change.

Still, one of the first things that’s important to think about when you want to improve your life is to admit that perhaps it’s not how you want it to be at this moment.

Many of us are prone to complaining about what is bad, what is wrong, this is not where I want to be… and yes, it can be difficult to admit that we’ve made mistakes but, scrutinizing our mistakes and accepting that we’ve messed up is crucial to creating change.

We then need to eliminate excuses. We can easily come up with multiple reasons to tell ourselves that, ‘One day, I’ll do this; right now, I can’t, because of X Y Z.’

These excuses are actually a defense mechanism. We humans are constructed with loads of defense mechanism that we use on a psychological level every day, even subconsciously. It’s our way of releasing ourselves from any form of pain. No one wants to dwell in heavy negative emotions. It’s just another way of delaying the problem, pretending that we can’t do anything about it when in reality there’s always something we can do to achieve what we desire.

To get our desires, we have to take ownership, along with stopping the excuses and admitting our mistakes. That’s the hard truth. Taking ownership is actually the breakthrough moment that leads to change, because nobody’s going to take it for us. No one cares about our goals, plans and dreams. Only we care about them, only we can do something about them. So, we have to take ownership, take full responsibility for where we are now and for where we want to go in our life.

Now that we’ve gone through the whole self-improvement, motivational spiel, we actually need to set a goal and take action. The easiest way is to break it down into bite-size steps. Don’t focus on the big goal. It’ll be daunting and overwhelming to the point where it’ll lead to procrastination, because when we have big dreams and we’ve never touched that area before, they can come across pretty scary. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

Working for myself was a goal and a dream. I did my research, took the plunge and learnt through trials and tribulations (I’m still learning) and you know what, it led me to where I am now, having my own business and living life on my own terms.

Even though it was scary, I faced my fears. It was a big change, I felt as if I was actually shedding old skin and growing a new one, as I let go of things that no longer served me, including beliefs and misconceptions.

Often times, we tend to think that whatever we think is always right but, not everything is, including doubts and negative thoughts. Let them go and only work with the best material in your head.

For transformation to happen and to manifest change, you have to actively work towards your goal every day. To help fuel your motivation, think about how the outcome of this goal is going to make you feel, how are the results going to create happiness in your life. Visualize if you’re a visual person, use pictures, a screensaver of something that you want in your life.

If you like to write, start a journal. Here are some quick, but effective steps:

• Write down your desired dream life in present tense. This is a Law of Attraction technique.
• Ask yourself, ‘What is required from me to make this happen?’ And ‘What do I need to change to achieve this?’ Write them down.
• On a new page, write down all the changes you need to make.
• Select one of the changes and write it down on a new page. Break that change down into action steps.
• Repeat for every change on your list.

Once you’ve done all of that, you now have bite-sized pieces that you can start implementing in your daily life that will take you closer towards your dream life.

© Cherry-Ann Carew

Cherry-Ann Carew is an Online Business Coach, who supports emerging business owners simplify their start-up journey and helps existing businesses scale, so that they can earn uncapped income and live life on their terms.

PS. I’d love to hear what steps you’re taking this New Year for a New You. Do share below.