The day draws near, the one some people love and others hate. How are you feeling about January 1, 2024? Did you make resolutions at the start of 2023 and don’t want to think about how those panned out?
You are in good company.
Thinking about one’s resolutions often comes with guilt and disappointment (see a pattern here?… we sure are hard on ourselves), and no one likes to feel either of those things. So consider reframing your reflection.
Instead of focusing on the things you didn’t do, which is what most of us pay attention to, look at what you did accomplish and ask yourself why. If you sre struggling to come up with a list of wins, ask others to send you what they have seen. You will be surprised!
What is on your list of wins? Maybe the reason you accomplished these things is because you had a friend doing them with you? Maybe the reason you completed those goals is because they were the easiest and quickest ones? Or maybe those things were your biggest, most important priorities and the other issues simply weren’t as critical to you so you didn’t put as much effort into them.
Use the goals you did accomplish in 2023 to help guide your goal-setting for 2024. Say you have a gardening goal but it will take more work than what you as one person can do. Consider asking a friend to help, finding a middle or high school student who needs service hours for National Honor Society or Beta Club, or consider paying a company to do part of the work and you can finish the remainder. No one said you have to do everything all by yourself in order for the job to get done.
Did you have a reading goal that you didn’t complete? Consider focusing on a genre instead because you mystery books (as an example) really, really quickly and enjoy them. Rather than resetting a goal to read 10 different genres, including classics which you really don’t like, set a “mystery genre” goal of some kind, which will get you reading more of the books you already enjoy and can get read in a more timely fashion.
Modify your goal to make it work with your strengths—the things you do well or fast or enjoy. Make your dreams work for you and you will be far more successful in checking your goals off your list.
Happy 2024! We at the Make A Way family wish you a happy and healthy new year. We want you to soar and we believe you can. How do we know you can do it? Because every single one of us has it in us. That means you do too. If you need help defining your dreams or achieving them, contact us. We will be happy to help.