5 Steps to Success in 2011
Posted on January 4, 2011 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare
Many of us approach the New Year with Resolutions that are aimed at having us live our best life. We resolve to do things differently and embark on setting up Resolutions to put us back on the road to a healthier way of being.
Unfortunately the statistics show that 90% of us are not good at keeping our resolutions. Why is this? What can we do about it?
How do you feel when you break an agreement with yourself? I know when I break my commitments to myself, I lose trust in me.
Over the past couple of weeks I made some observations about new years’ resolutions PAST to determine what got in the way of accomplishing them and what I could have done differently.
I have identified 5 key steps for being successful in 2011.
Each of these steps has an exercise for you to do. Give it a try and see if you can get closer to achieving your goals for 2011
1. Stop and Breathe –
When I get into a hyper reactive state about all of the things I want to change in my life I tend to identify numerous things I “need to change”. This frenetic activity gets me planning and resolving around everything in my life. When I STOP and BREATHE I calm my body down and I develop a little perspective and compassion for my foibles. The whole New Year’s Resolution thing becomes less intense and more centered in what I want.
Exercise: Take out a journal (or piece of paper if you do not journal) with the intention of doing these 5 exercises. Before writing anything down STOP what you are doing, what you are thinking and breathe deeply and intentionally.
Listen to this 1.5 minute breathing meditation to help you calm down to develop perspective on these next few steps
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2. Compassion for myself
Where am I at compared to one year ago – It is so easy to keep going on trying to do more, be more and have more. However, if I do not spend time recognizing how far I have come in relation to my goals I feel like a failure. How about you? Do you beat yourself up for all that you have not done? Have you spent time recognizing how much you HAVE done?
Exercise: Write out 30 things you have accomplished this past year. Look at your personal life, your body, your work life, your family, your home. You have accomplished a lot this past year, and sometimes it can be hard to see.
By focusing on what you have done well helps you feel positive about who you are what you have done.
The other (negative) stuff is there but if you are like most people you have already spent time dwelling on it, why not try a different approach and notice how hard you work and how far you have come.
3. What were my biggest lessons from 2010?
I love this question and it is great way to take the obstacles I face and turn them into opportunities for learning and growth. When I take the time to look back over the past year and how much I have learned it is quite amazing.
It is no secret to my readers that I have had my fair share of struggles as a mom, and business owner. Many of these struggles have blindsided me and caused me to rethink who I am and what I am doing. However, through learning to navigate through these struggles I have discovered so much about myself.
Exercise – What were your biggest lessons in 2010? What are you proud of? What difference did you make? What did you struggle through? How do you feel about these accomplishments? What was the theme for 2010? How do you want to be, and what difference do you want to make in the world?
4. What is the theme I want to embrace in 2011?
New Year’s resolutions often focus on losing weight, eating healthy, exercising more, listening better, not losing your temper, saving more money, keeping in touch with family etc. (I know because I have had all of these as resolutions in the past).
For me, last year the theme for my life seemed to focus on business development. I put a lot of time, energy and resources into building my business, learning all I could to help me be successful at this new venture that I have taken on. This was money and time well spent and my year was filled with great connections, relationships and fun.
However, as the year drew to a close, I recognized how I was ready to shift from a business development focus in my life to a balanced, grounded, aligned focus. The theme I am embracing for 2011 is whole life balance.
Exercise – When you are setting the theme for 2011 ask yourself where you want to be at the end of 2011. Is there a word or two that describes the essence of what you want? I have just subscribed to
“one little word” which is finding a word that helps you identify your theme for 2011. Check it out, it is most amazing to see the words people have come up with.
5. What is my intention for how I want to be in 2011?
When I set the intention of how I want to be, it is amazing how often I do just that. The reason I am successful at this is because I am focusing on what I want and the stars seem to align to make things happen.
For me, my intention is to be more connected with me this year. With this connection I will be clear on what is true for me, what is important, what I want and what is in alignment of me achieving my goals.
How I plan on achieving this is through daily intentions. Once I identify how I want to be, I set the intention for segments of time and it happens more easily.
Exercise: When we think about a year from now and how we want to be in the world, the task can seem daunting, however breaking this up in to daily intentions can be very powerful. Ask yourself – how do I want to be in 2011? Set up a daily intention for you to read. Post this in places you will see.
Keeping the agreements we make with ourselves can be challenging. However, when we break it up into small, action steps it is often easier to be successful.
I want to be transparent with you. Keeping my agreements is also challenging. I will blog over the next while about keeping my agreement about increasing my connection with me this year.
I will let you know how i am doing. Hopefully you will embark on the conversation and I can support you in being successful.
What is your intention for 2011? What support do you need in making this a reality in your life? comment below and let me know.
Much love,
Gerrianne
Comments
Posted by Mike on January 4, 2011 at 4:14:17pm
Wow , I think this will be a big help in keeping my resolutions that I have set. I will work on this tonight and maybe we could stay in touch weekly on my progress.
Thanks for being a great friend
Mike
Posted by Cogi on January 5, 2011 at 12:45:55pm
Thanks for these tips, Gerrianne. They are very good.
Cogi
Posted by Gerrianne on January 6, 2011 at 4:39:55pm
Hi Mike, I would be happy to stay in touch, we can do it through the blog so others can see the progress. Cheers
Gerrianne
Posted by Gerrianne on January 6, 2011 at 4:40:32pm
Thanks Cogi, great to see how they work for you.