A New Year for a New You: 7-Day Series Finale

Welcome back for the grand finale of the 7-Day New Year for a New You series. We’re wrapping up with some tips for goal follow-through. If you’re just joining me, it’s easy to catch up! Simply gather the prompts from days …

:: 1    :: 2    :: 3    :: 4    :: 5    ::6 … and go at your own pace.

Last day! Thanks so much for joining me on this journey; I’m using this moment to shower us with virtual confetti!

On Goal-Setting + Follow-Through

If you’re anything like me, you’re starting the first week of the year with (1.) a list of intentions, (2.) a list of goals you’d like to accomplish, and (3.) an energetic inner-restlessness so powerful, it’s practically palpable to the people around you. (I did not put all those P’s there on purpose :D.)

So, I want to close this series with suggestions for softer goal-setting. Your vision for the New Year should make you feel good rather than anxiety-ridden. In the book, Psycho-Cybernetics, A New Way to Get More Living Out of Life, Maxwell Maltz offers this advice:

“You should use the same technique in all your affairs that Jackie Burke recommends in putting. That is, not to feel that you have to pinpoint the ball right to the cup itself on a long putt, but to aim at an area the size of a washtub. This takes off the strain, relaxes you, enables you to perform better. If it’s good enough for the professionals, it should be good enough for you.”

Furthermore, in the book,The Success Principles(TM): How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, Jack Canfield told about the year he wanted to earn $100,000 (up from his current salary of $18,000). He did what positive thinkers do: he made signs affirming his new and abundant salary, he worked all year-through consciously and subconsciously creating more income for himself, and by the end of the year he had earned more than $90,000. Others told him that he hadn’t actually achieved his goal, but he says, “I wasn’t disappointed!”

The point is not to cross every single goal off the list. What matters is that you’re setting the bar higher, and stretching yourself daily. That’s the only way to grow and work toward your dreams.

Create a project map

Last year I developed the “project map.” A project map is a systematic brain dump created to help you make progress on your big goals. To make one, you’ll need a project map book, aka a large children’s drawing pad. I prefer one that’s sized at least 20 x 16 – you can find them on the bottom shelf of most painting and marker sections at the store (they cost about $5), or you can grab this Giant Floor Pad from Amazon.

I love the giant drawing pads for the project maps because in order to work with it, you’ll have to spread out on a clean table or the floor, and that’s as it should be. I love to do my planning and reviews in wide open and uncluttered spaces.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll have several budding projects at any given time. That’s good – each new idea gets it’s own page. Title the project and write that in the center of a clean sheet of drawing paper. Everything that goes on this page must be relevant to the project at hand – don’t jot down any side notes or get off-topic!

Use this large piece of paper to create a map: record the steps between where you are and where you want to be. Jot down any notes, copywriting or potential expansions this project may have as they come to you. If you have notes recorded anywhere else for the new project, transfer them to the project map.

Tackle the mud

Anytime you start a project that you’ve never done before, you’ll run into a whole lot of obstacles that will threaten to seriously slow your progress. In other words, you’ll run into a whole lot of mud that is sure to make you struggle.

The most dangerous thing about these obstacles, aka the mud, is that it can feel overwhelming and impossible when you chase it in your head. You can’t avoid it, so the only way to get past the mud is to start trudging through it one step at a time.

Before the project map, I typically stopped project development as soon as I encountered the mud. Because it’s true: You don’t know how to do things you’ve never done before, and that makes this creative business tough! Until this year, mud has caused me to quit on some of my greatest ideas. Not anymore!

After I have a project drawn out, I list the things I’ll need to do, learn or tackle on the map, and then prioritize them. For example, when I started to plan the Movers and Makers Retreat for 2015, I encountered a lot of mud. Who did I want to present with and how do I get them on board? What will it cost to host? What will I need to charge to attend? What’s a travel-friendly location at that time of year? Where will we gather and how many people can attend?

That’s a lot of questions, and it was all so new to me! The project map I created for the retreat helped me systematically trudge through every muddy pit in my way.

Additional resources + prompts

• Are you ready to make it happen already?  Grab a copy of my best-selling workbook + planner, Your Best Year 2015.
• I thought this free printable resolution sheet from The Secret Owl was adorable! It has eighteen simple, yet important prompts for the new year.
• I keep a board full of New Year review prompts + inspiration on Pinterest

Finally, I want to leave you with a brief list I’ve enjoyed filling out in past years. This Year I Want to …

:: Finish –  that thing that nags at you when you think of “unfinished business”

:: Add – helpful people, mentors, positive friends, time off, more luxury

:: Learn – a new business skill, a new marketing strategy, a new technique for my craft

:: Improve – my health, my wealth, my relationships with the people I care most about

:: Enhance – those things that worked last year, my savings account, my personal wellbeing

In Conclusion

There’s a lot of work to be done. Period. As always, it’s time to put my money where my mouth is! I love you so much, and I’m so excited to embark on 2015 with such an amazing group of creative souls. Let’s do this! Until next time and all the best,