What matters most?
Happy New Year to you from myself and the team at Raw Energy. I truly hope that this is your best year ever. I’ve had a couple of weeks off over the holiday period, which has given me the chance to try some different things; spend time with family and friends. I’ve also taken the time to stop, review 2015 and plan the big things for 2016.
For me, overall 2015 was a good year with lots of progress on many fronts. Of course not everything went to plan and there were several low points, but looking back at the year in its entirety, five key lessons which identified what matters most to me, have really stood out:
- Relationships matter. I’ve dealt with some very challenging situations, but the trust and support of close friends, colleagues and family made all of the difference. 2015 brought many new people in my life who have taught me and inspired me with their passions and their skills. I think of relationships now like a bank account, the more you put in, the more benefit you get, but you need to make time for people. Lesson 1: Don’t neglect your key relationships and make time for the people who matter.
- Look after your body – it’s only one you have. We all know this, but sometimes the attraction of the moment can lead to short-term decisions that affect our future selves. Whilst we now have an enviable life span thanks to the dramatic advances that have taken place in medicine and sanitation over the past 200 years, we have a rapidly decreasing ‘health span’ with millions suffering unnecessarily from diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. Lesson 2. integrate healthy lifestyle choices into your life so that your future self thank you.
- Don’t forget your mind – whilst physical fitness is very important, our minds and brains are not separate from our bodies, and we need to look after our minds. For me, 2015 was the year that I finally integrated meditation into my life in a big way. It’s the now the first thing I do in the morning, waking up early and spending 30 minutes meditating, and it’s helped me far more grounded. If you’re keen to start experimenting with meditation, a good place to start is using one of the guided meditation aps now available. Headspace is one of the more popular ones Also, just as an fyi, according to Tim Ferris, 80% of the successful people he interviewed on his popular podcast, The Tim Ferris Show, practice meditation daily. Lesson 3. Give your mind a break every day.
- Create scalable systems – I’ve been aware of the importance of systems for a long time, but last year I took things to a whole new level, building a deeper understanding and skill set to leverage free productivity technologies more effectively. I use Evernote to store notes, which integrates with my online task list, Remember the Milk and I started using Asana to manage projects, working with virtual teams. The whole system has had a very positive impact on my productivity and mental wellbeing, getting things out of my mind and inbox and into a ‘virtual container’. Lesson 4. use free technologies to organise your life. You’ll sleep better.
- What you’re searching for is closer than you think – I think this key lesson is fast becoming the mantra for my whole life, certainly for 2016. The passing of author and speaker, Wayne Dyer last year led to me watching The Shift again (you can watch it on You Tube ). It’s a fantastic film which brings the Law of Attraction to life, and highlights how important showing and expressing gratitude is to wellbeing’. Lesson 5. be grateful for what you have today.
How can you make the most of 2016, keeping in mind what matters most to you?
As we enter 2016, I encourage you to ask yourself four simple questions:
- What and who are you grateful for?
- What’s most important to you?
- What can you simplify in your life?
- What will you learn and teach in 2016?
A new year offers the opportunity to start again, wipe the slate clean and focus on creating positive changes in our lives. Whilst 2015 is now gone, the experiences and learning will stay with you, helping you be more resilient. In truth, you’re a different person now to who you were at the start of 2015.
So how can you make the best of this new start? Here are a couple of thoughts to share:
Accept that new year’s resolutions don’t work
The trouble with new year’s resolutions is that they have a very low chance of working, with 25% of people abandoning their resolutions within the first week. Whilst we may start with good intentions, it’s easy to get distracted along the way.
Set some inspiring goals
Setting some inspiring goals to guide you through the year, and help you evolve and transition is a much better option. Not only that, but there’s plenty of research data to support the hypothesis that people who set goals are more successful in all aspects of life. I encourage you to think of yourself as the author of your future life story, which means that you get to decide what happens to the main character, ie you, next.
However, whilst the evidence for the benefits of goals setting is strong, having coached and worked with 100s of people over the years, many people have never been taught to set effective goals.
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The Better Life Workbook will help you:
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– Break it down and set meaningful goals that inspire and motivate you to take action
– Create concrete action plans that you can execute to help you move towards your Better Life
– Track and record your journey, building in key milestones so that you can see how far you’ve come
– Get support by putting in place the people and mechanisms you need to help you be accountable, keep going and of course celebrate your success
