Harnessing the power of fresh starts all year
How often do you make an intention to change something in your daily life, (exercise more, eat healthier, read more, socialize more, socialize less, create art, say ‘no’ more, create more time for ease and rest, etc.) only to realize at the end of the day or week that you just got too busy or caught up in your daily life and, well… just kind of… forgot?
Changing your habits and daily routines can be really difficult. Definitely apply the tools and techniques for creating good habits (check out the popular Atomic Habits by James Clear, or How to Change by Katy Milkman), but often figuring out what works for you and your life is a process, and needs continual tending, tweaking, and adapting to your unique self.
Part of figuring out how to change your life is learning more about you.
What motivates you? (e.g. do you just need a good reason, or do you need external accountability?)
How good are you are at talking yourself out of doing something you thought you wanted? (Probably better than you realize.)
Do you need to schedule the activity rather than hoping you’ll do it? (Probably, yes.)
Maybe you realize your end goal has way more small steps you need to take before you can achieve it and you need to re-examine how reasonable your timeline is. (Also probably yes.)
How do you get in your own way? What subconscious beliefs are keeping you stuck? What patterns of behaving/thinking are holding you back? (Coaching can help with this!)
What lights you up and brings you joy? (Start tracking all the small moments that bring you joy)
So instead of relying on this one time of the year to reflect on how you are living your life and how you hope to move forward, plan to have more check ins more often and track your progress throughout your year.
Quarterly New Year’s Eves
My favorite approach is to do quarterly New Year’s Eves for myself every 3 months. (I like to keep the title NYE for a small silly, don’t @ me.) I set aside the evening of the last day of the month to have a mini re-set and check in with myself.
And I make it something to look forward to! Buy myself flowers, make a yummy meal while I sing along to a favorite playlist, maybe tidy up, but at least create a cozy, quiet time for an hour or two to really sit down and review the past 3 months and look ahead to the next 3.
Be specific, don’t just talk or think this through, take the time to (hand) write it down. This can really increase your ability to see where you may be getting in your own way, or recognize what is working.
What were you wanting more of/less of in your life the last 3 months?
What worked, what didn’t work? How can you use this information for the next 3 months toward building the life you want for yourself?
What needs to be tweaked? What is helping you to be successful?
What specifically will you do over the next 3 months?
The quarterly NYE dates for 2025 are:
Sunday, March 31
Sunday, June 30
Thursday, October 31
(And then obvi everyone will make a ruckus about the final quarterly NYE!)
—> Put the dates in your calendar so you don’t forget!
Weekly/daily journaling and check-ins
Some people just need the quarterly NYEs, but if you really want to intensify your habits and intentions, keeping a daily journal, or a weekly to-do list can be an additional quick check-in that can really do wonders.
- The Bullet Journal method uses a weekly check-in/to-do list system, plus many artistic opportunities for daily habit tracking that I wish I were intense enough to be able to stick to, but it just isn’t for me (maybe Future Me will eventually adopt it).
- I personally find writing most mornings in the free form/brain-dump style of Morning Pages from the Artist’s way to be most useful. (Explanations for both can easily be found online with a quick search, or create your own!)
The point is, the more intentional and aware you are about what you actually want your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly life to be, the more likely you will be to follow through and begin to live a life that is true to you and doesn’t leave you feeling depressed and sad about another year “wasted” in 365 days. Harness these feelings of optimism and fresh starts throughout your year and see what a difference it makes.
Oh, and duh, working with a coach is like putting these systems in overdrive! I would be remiss not to remind you that I am here and I love helping people make the changes they desperately want in their lives!