Looking Back: Do This in December

Gifts, parties, baking and work deadlines likely have your attention these days. You aren’t quite ready to set your New Years Resolutions or develop goals for next year quite yet. But, I want you to plant a few seeds now so that you will be ready when the time comes.
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Keep reading to learn what you need to do now, to have a better year next year.

The Typical Goals Fail
Closer to the end of December or the beginning of January you’ll start thinking more about goals and resolutions. The problem with waiting until then is that we often jump into goal setting with whatever is on our minds at the beginning of the new year. 

Think over eating and over spending….

The most popular New Years Resolutions are about weight loss and reducing debt. AND…most New Years Resolutions are dropped within a couple of weeks and goals are forgotten about by February.

Lay the Groundwork for Success Next Year
Start thinking about laying the foundation for goal setting now. This groundwork will help you not only identify the goals that are going to make the most impact for you but also how to achieve those goals. 

This week and next I am going to give you two things to do for December. These two tasks won’t take up a lot of your time. In fact, they simply need to be in the back of your mind and occasionally jotting a few notes down. They will help put you on the path to developing more successful goals for next year.

Start here:
This coming week, start to look back over the past year. Scan events, relationships and experiences for the lessons you've learned. What is it that you've done or not done that has taught you something, and perhaps taught you something that you can take forward into the New Year? 

Have Self-Compassion
This review is not a time to judge or beat yourself up. It is a nonjudgmental observation. Just be curious. Look back and notice. ​

Some examples of lessons:

• When you look back, you might see that the few times you had time to yourself was when you consciously created it. For example, you booked an afternoon off or got up earlier to journal.
  • The lesson you learn might be if you want solitude time or time to yourself or time alone then you have to create it. 
• When you review the past year, you may notice certain times that were calmer and more relaxed. By digging a little bit deeper, you may see that those times were times you were doing your yoga regularly.
  • The lesson you learned perhaps is that you need to up your game with doing yoga regularly.
• Looking back may have you notice times of better productivity and focus. When you get curious about what was going on then, you may see you were sleeping better.
  • The lesson learned is sleep is critical for you and a fundamental thing you need to ensure happens.

Keep Curiously Looking Back
Let this idea of ‘lesson’s learned” simmer in the background for the coming weeks. Write down the lessons you notice as you go back over the past year.  They are going to help you when you start to define your goals next year. 

Next week, instead of looking back, we will start to look forward.