Wow what a year 2020 was and thank God we are in a new year! Let’s believe that 2021 will be a much better year. Actually, as a matter of fact how about we just MAKE IT a much better year.
No matter what is going on around us, I’m a true believer that we can still create our own world in a few very important ways, and create a life that we love by being intentional.
Use these simple, yet powerful steps to reset your life, refocus on your goals and achieve greatness in the midst of chaos.
1. Reflection
Looking back on last year I can say that I learned a lot and a lot of people around me have said the same. Being forced to slow down and spend time with yourself during a pandemic can really put things into perspective about what matters most in your life.
By reflecting on your past (not sulking about it), you can learn from past mistakes and successes and move forward with intention.
Reflecting helps you to move forward with a more focused perspective and not in a way that is just moving forward to say you are moving forward, but with real purpose.
It also helps you to begin the process of releasing the old to make room for the new! And let’s be honest, we can all use a good release!
Some questions you can ask yourself during this time of reflection:
- What have I been holding on to that is no longer serving me and moving me in the direction I want to go
- What has this time taught me to be grateful for and how can I focus more on that moving forward
- What has been distracting me and not adding value to my life
- Where do I need to refocus my energy and time
- What are my highest priorities in life
- Where do I see myself in the next 5-10 years
- How has my view of life and what matters most to me changed
- What are old dreams that have died and new dreams that have been birthed
2. Declutter to Reset Your life
Now that we have reflected and answered all of those juicy life-changing questions, it’s time to take what we have learned and say out with the old and in with the new new!
Decluttering your space
You can begin by decluttering your space. Man what a difference it makes when you can live, work, and move in a space that is free of clutter on many or all levels.
Decluttering your space should include getting rid of old clothes that no longer make you feel amazing in them and that you haven’t worn in the last year. That means you have gone through all of the seasons, and didn’t pull it out to put it on one time…might be time to let it go girl!
I guess the only exception to this would be if you pretty much haven’t gone anywhere since Covid, which is a very strong possibility for many of us this year. In that case, go through your outfits and be brutally honest. “What can I let go of?” and then LET IT GO! I know as women it is a tenny tiny bit difficult to part with those pieces that “used to” make us feel like gold, but you can do it, I believe in you.
You will feel so much better when you look into a clean and spacious closet filled only with the things that you love. And other people can now have a new favorite piece, when you give your old beautiful clothes to a worthy cause.
Other things in your space should include drawers, medicine cabinets, kids’ closets, office space, and pretty much every place we store things that eventually can turn into a junk drawer. Believe me after the declutter-ation (hmm might not be a word, but I like it) has happened, you will begin to feel well on your way to a life reset!
Decluttering your mind
Yes decluttering not only your space, but your mind is so powerful. When you have a clear mind, you have a lot more clarity in your life to be guided by your intuition and move with intention towards your goals.
So getting rid of old thought patterns that no longer serve you, and putting in the new beliefs that will serve you as you move forward with your vision in life is imperative to have a life reset that will move you in the direction of your goals and who you desire to be 1, 5, or 10 years down the road.
A powerful way to do this is by using affirmations to outshine the limiting beliefs that you may have developed overtime and speaking these affirmations out loud until they have become a solid belief in your mind.
Another thing to get rid of when decluttering is old goals and distractions. Goals can be a distraction when they are no longer for you, but you want to force them anyway because you feel like you “should”. What old goals did you have that you no longer desire, that others may have had for you, but you no longer have for yourself, or that you can let go of because a new vision has been birthed in you?
This doesn’t mean skipping from goal to goal to goal when one goal loses it’s excitement because that is also a distraction. But know what goals will ultimately move you in the direction of where you want to be long term.
Which moves us to our next step…
3. Create a long term vision
Where do you want to be in 5 years, 10 years, or ultimately? Creating this vision for your life is an huge part of having a life reset and accomplishing your goals this year and in years to come.
What I discovered is that most people don’t change much about their lives in 5 years. This could be changes within themselves, a job, location, accomplishments, etc. Even if they have a desire to be, do, or have something different.
One reason for this is because we haven’t created, written, and focused on a true long term vision for our lives.
What a long term vision does is
- Gives us hope for the future and something amazing to look forward to.
- Helps us to believe in greater life possibilities.
- Gives us a focus to work towards overtime
- Helps us to align our life goals to point in the direction of this long term vision
So take time at the beginning of this year to sit down and really contemplate where you ultimately want your life to end up? Ask yourself these questions:
- Who do you want to be for yourself, for your family, friends, and community?
- What do you ultimately want to achieve?
- What do you want to have in life?
- How do you want to feel internally?
Also think about different areas of your life and decide what you want for your life in each area.
Dream big! Don’t limit yourself based on what you think you can achieve, because you never know what is possible. Really, many things outside of your own mind are very possible, we just have to believe it to be so.
4. Choose a focus
Now that we have our long term vision written and ultimately know where we want to be, choose a focus for the now.
One thing that can slow your roll quicker than anything is trying to take on too much at one time. It can be discouraging when you fail trying to do a ton of things at one time, but it doesn’t mean that you are not capable of achieving those things, it just means you should slow down and focus on fewer things at a time.
Remember when I said that most people don’t change much about their lives over the course of 5 years? This can show you that your goals don’t have to be rushed. You will look up and 5 years have passed just like that.
Just imagine if you focused on one to three goals over the course of 5 years. How amazing would your accomplishments be in each of those areas by you choosing to hone in and focus on only those things? Your life would be drastically different depending on what you choose to make your focus.
Create your focus by looking at your long term vision. What will move you closer towards that vision? What area of your life do you feel needs the most change right now?
Choose one to three focus areas and let’s move on to step 5.
5. Use present tense to create the future
As I mentioned before, I am a huge believer in affirmations, but not only for changing your negative beliefs into positive ones, but also for speaking your vision to life.
The power of our words is, well…powerful. We can use our words to speak life to the things that we want to achieve. Speaking it will also help us to believe more and more that it is on it’s way to us.
God is always moving in a divine way to bring what we desire into our reality, but we have to believe that it is possible. By using our words, we can create this belief within ourselves and watch the rest unfold!
Make an affirmation for each of the goals that you have chosen to be your focus for now. Write the affirmations in present tense as though it has already happened for you.
For example, if you desire to have a 4 bedroom house this year, then say “I am so thankful for my beautiful 4 bedroom house in [insert city]!!” You can keep it short and sweet because you want to be able to repeat it frequently throughout the day with little effort.
While you are saying this affirmation, close your eyes and see yourself living in this beautiful house. Continue this practice for a few mins everyday, allowing yourself to sit and feel what it is like to be in the place you are asking for.
It’s so amazing when you look up and see the thing that you spoke or wrote down is now right before your eyes, and often times it comes in ways that we least expected. So don’t trip if it’s not unfolding exactly the way you planned.
This happened for me when I danced with Beyonce. I wrote down that as one of my goals for the near future, and in the following year, I danced with Beyonce. I got there in a totally different way than I’d mapped out in my mind, but nonetheless it happened! And it happened with so much less effort than I had planned. It doesn’t always happen that way, but stay open to the possibility!
Create a plan with the 90 Day Method
Alright now that you have chosen your goals and written your affirmations, it’s now time to put some action behind the ask. Action behind the ask…I like that. The most effective way I have found to achieve goals is with the 90 day/12 week method.
I can’t take credit for this amazing discovery. I learned it from a book called “The 12 Week Year“. It teaches the concept of setting 12 week goals start to finish instead of year long goals, which makes A TON of sense.
That way you see the light at the end of the tunnel and your accomplishments well before the end of the year, and you are not trying to focus on everything all at once, all year.
It has changed the way I set and achieve goals and I love it. I would strongly advise considering getting this book.
But the jist goes a little something like this…
- Choose 1-3 goals (preferably no more than 2) for your first 12 weeks – the idea is to keep it very small so that you can devote all of your energy to these few primary goals. Be very clear about what you want to achieve
- Set your “tactics” or habits for each of the goals – what will you do everyday towards each goal?
- Choose times that you will work on these goals – preferably 90 minute work sessions daily
- Choose an accountability partner to check in with weekly
- Document your results
- This is my own addition –> Read your affirmation for that goal everyday before you sit down to work on your project
- Celebrate your win/accomplishments at the end of the 12 weeks!
- Rinse and repeat for the next 12 weeks with 1-3 new goals
Create a vision journal to manifest your goals on another level
As you can probably tell, I’m a strong believer in creating a vision for your life. It takes goal achieving to a totally different level because you are not just relying on yourself to make it happen. I believe in Ask, Believe, and Receive.
When you put your desires out to God, then the Universe works in your favor to bring what you have asked for into your reality.
One of my favorite ways to do this is with a manifestation/vision journal.
Vision manifestation journals help you to dream big about your goals and have your big dreams right in front of you for you to see everyday. It puts your desires out into the Universe and in addition helps you to build your belief that it is possible.
I can’t tell you how many things have happened for me just because I have written them down.
I have created this manifestation journal because I know the importance of asking for exactly what you desire and how being intentional about each of these steps in hugely important to be able to reset your life. In this journal there are areas for every step mentioned above and so much more.
It is designed to guide you to manifest your goals intentionally with less effort. Take a look and let it help you on the journey to resetting and creating an amazing life for yourself!
