Although we welcomed in the New Year not too long ago, right about
now is when most people start experiencing a die-down of some of the
mojo with which they embraced the New Year and find themselves slowly
reverting back to their old ways and no longer as dedicated to their New
Year’s resolutions.
With each New Year, we get caught up
in trying to create perfection and delude ourselves into believing that
we require the clean slate that a New Year presents to finally start
making the most of ourselves and our lives while failing to realize that
each new day we witness presents us with the opportunity to fully
embrace life and do things differently.
Here are a few things we can do and habits we can embrace to make this and every year our best year ever:
1. Say “I do” to yourself
The words “I Do” symbolize commitment, convey promise and the willingness to do whatever it takes to uphold a vow.
Most of us have an easier time keeping promises and commitments we
make to others while struggling to uphold those we make to ourselves. I
guess the underlying reason behind this is because we don’t see
ourselves as worthy of our goals and dreams.
Make a commitment today to honor yourself
moving forward by making yourself and your aspirations a priority and
allowing yourself to embrace everything you need to fulfill them and
create the life you desire for yourself.
“Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.” – Mario Andretti
2. Be fearless for once
Fear keeps us paralyzed in life and
will rob us of many wonderful opportunities if we aren’t careful. We
should be bold enough to acknowledge that we are afraid when faced by
situations that intimidate us, courageously stare fear in its face and
do whatever we have to do anyway.
Allow yourself to get out of your comfort zone today by doing at
least one thing you have been putting off or avoiding because of your
fears and limiting beliefs. You will never know what you are capable of
and what life has in store for you as long as you keep giving fear
power.
The more you allow yourself to confront fear, the more it will lose
its hold in your life and the more you will find yourself willing to
embrace things that once intimidated you with ease.
3. Do one thing for 21 days straight
It is believed that it takes 21 days
to form a habit; the reasoning behind this being that the brain is
extremely adaptive to repetitive behavior. Our habits define our
character and say a lot about who we are more than our words ever could.
Challenge yourself to embrace a self-supporting habit you have been
meaning to by committing to doing it for 21 days straight without fail
or compromise. This could include working out, giving up junk food or
social media, spending more time with your family, getting to work on
time and so on.
The more self-disciplined and consistent you become in practicing
this habit, the sooner you will realize just how easy forming
self-supporting habits really is and will feel inspired to continue on
down a path of self-improvement and empowerment and take on more healthy
habits.
4. Learn how to say no
We are all guilty in one way or
another of taking on and embracing commitments and engagements that use
up our time, energy and resources and interfere with our personal
obligations thereby making our wellbeing and aspirations less of a
priority and leaving us with very little to dedicate to them.
Make a commitment to start setting up
healthy boundaries, to stop taking on more than you can handle and to
say no to things that distract you from your aspirations, zap your
energy and leave you feeling depleted and aren’t self-supporting as far
as your overall well being is concerned.
5. Stop making excuses
We all make them and unfortunately
allow them to sabotage our efforts as far as pursuing our goals and
aspirations are concerned. They can range anywhere from not having
enough time, to conditions not being favorable enough to not having what
it takes to make things happen. Whatever the case, they keep us stuck in life where action is required and leave us feeling defeated in the end.
Today, commit to starting where you
are and with what you have. Time will never be perfect; the nature of
life requires that we be able to flow with it regardless of
circumstances and situations. As you allow yourself to embrace your
pursuits, you will discover that life will support and accommodate you
by bringing the right people and opportunities your way thereby making
conditions favorable for you.
“Most people don’t have that willingness to break bad habits. They have a lot of excuses and they talk like victims.” – Carlos Santana
6. Commit to following through
Following through on the promises we
make to ourselves can sometimes be challenging because at times they
require more from us than we are willing or prepared to give and force
us to leave the safety of our comfort zones or embrace our fears.
Doing everything we set out to do
builds both character and self-discipline, and allows others to view us
as dependable and reliable. Following through includes not leaving any
jobs half done, finishing everything we start and hanging in when
obstacles and challenges tempt us to quit.
7. Say goodbye to the toxic people in your life
You’ve heard it before, “If they aren’t for you, they are against you.”
Take an inventory of every single person in your life and determine
if they add value to your life, support and celebrate you, lift you up
or do the exact opposite. It is said that we become like the people we
associate with and are influenced by them in one way or another.
Let go of people who bring you down, cause you to doubt yourself and
those who don’t support who you are or your dreams. Naysayers, haters
and dream killers shouldn’t have a place in your life and will keep you
from your destiny and dreams if you allow them to have any influence in
it.
