If the new year is always a good time to set new goals, then a new decade must be better right!
If you’ve been reading my blogs for a while you’ll know that I’m not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions. Research says they’re rubbish and we don’t really stick to them. But…there are other things you can do that can keep you on track and make your year the best one yet. Here are 3 of my favourites.
- Word of the year
This is a word that encompasses the main thing you would like to achieve for the year. So you might choose something like ‘generosity’. If you did, when you get an email reminder that you have credit in your Kiva loans (check them out here if you haven’t heard of them https://www.kiva.org/) you might re-lend and maybe add another microloan to your account. If a friend asked you to do something and you would normally say no, you might generously help them out with their request. You might generously volunteer your time to help others less fortunate than you.
You can see that there are multiple small things that you could do that would bring your Word of the Year to life. It’s not something you have to do every day but if you choose a good word for you, it’s something that can make you feel great.
You may remember a blog on the intention jar (which is another take on this) that you can read here https://www.healgrowtransform.com.au/uncategorized/move-over-new-years-resolutions-heres-something-that-works/
- Core Desired Feelings
I cannot take any credit for this. This is from Danielle LaPorte’s The Desire Map. The basic idea is that you go through quite a thorough process of deciding how you want to feel rather than setting practical goals. Danielle states that she previously set goals that felt empty once achieved and developed this program to rectify that problem. Even if you don’t follow through with living by your Core Desired Feelings, identifying them is useful and fun and can make you feel a bit happier generally.
There are multiple ways to access this – books, an online course, I think people even facilitate it if you want to do it in person. Just Google The Desire Map to find it.
- 5 Foundations for a Happy Life
Martin Seligman, one of the founders of the positive psychology movement came up with a model of happiness. It goes a bit like this:
PERMA – which stands for: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and achievement. You don’t need to have it good in all these areas to be happy but they give you a guideline to where you could put your energy if you’re not feeling crash hot.
If you were using this model to set some goals or intentions for the year you might do things like this. You might start a gratitude diary (build positive emotion); you might get involved in a cause, or volunteer, or join a group (to feel engaged); you might choose a type of relationship to be better with – your romantic one or your friendships or family relationships (relationships); you might think about your values and decide how you can live by them more (meaning); and you might set yourself a task to master like learning to sew (achievement).
If you’re greedy like me 😉 you can do all 3 of these personal growth strategies but even setting yourself one will help you grow and improve as a person. Now which one will it be?
