You got caught up in the excitement of seeing the new year as a way to start over or change direction and made a set of audacious resolutions to get you there. But as your exhilaration wanes, the resolutions and goals you made are more difficult to keep than you thought. Don’t beat yourself up, and let the anxiety you feel diminish your self-worth.
The truth is that you’re not really bad at setting reasonable goals; you’ve just made it ridiculously complicated for yourself by biting off more than you can chew.
Every January, I like to remind everyone that your resolutions aren’t ironclad promises. The best thing about having free will is that, at any point in time, you can take a mulligan and start over again.
If you’re ready to do that, here are my suggestions for creating what you wanted most in your life in 2018.
I encourage you to give one or all of them a try.
Switch Off the Tech
Noticing and asking questions are essential skills for success in life. It’s time you stop looking down at a screen and challenge yourself to spend more time looking up at the people and the world around you. You never know what you’ll see that will spark your curiosity and help you discover what makes you a better person.
Get Risky
Stop the groupthink that goes on around you by asking tough questions even if you don’t know the answers. Be the person who steps forward and says, “This is risky, but….” Watch the relief on everyone’s faces as the weight lifts from their shoulders, and they admit they don’t know and are willing to figure it out too.
Welcome Not Having All the Answers
You don’t have all the answers, and it isn’t required. What is? Spending time asking straightforward questions of others – ones that show your commitment to getting to the heart of what truly matters to them. But asking questions isn’t enough – you’ve got to listen intently to the answers and use those answers to inform your judgment and shape your decisions.
Soul-Searching is Required
Asking straightforward questions of others only gets you so far. Ask yourself the same questions you ask others – what is it you need, and what is it that truly matters to you? Then listen as intently to your answers as you do theirs and act upon what you hear.
When you do any of these things regularly and fearlessly, you’ll get to the heart of what you will lead and live best within 2018.