5 Ways You Can Use The New Year to Your Advantage and Reinvent Yourself
All of us have the opportunity to reinvent and start fresh every-single-day; it doesn’t have to be once a year. However,
if you’re looking for a great starting point, then the New Year might just be the perfect one.
Millions use the New Year as a chance to start anew but something always happens along the way; they run out of steam, and fizzle out, dropping their goals and dreams in the process and feeling miserable as a result. What gives? Let’s get into it and take a closer look, shall we?
You can use the New Year to reinvent yourself by dropping the old baggage and allowing yourself to start over. Our past hurts, disappointments, and failures often hold us back, preventing us from starting over. Recognizing that and working on leaving it all behind will allow you to become a new person and grow as a result. Setting goals, and taking real action is also imperative.
In this article I will go over the 5 ways that you can take advantage of the New Year and reinvent yourself in the process. From remembering to give yourself credit when it’s due, to reflecting back and writing down the good that happened, to going after a single major goal, instead of chasing twenty rabbits and not catching any.
Ready to become a new you? Let’s do it!
Allow Yourself to Start Over
There is a fine line between honoring the past, and losing yourself in it.
Forgive yourself, learn from your mistakes, and move on.
A lot of us have trouble looking and seeming weak, so we never let go of the idealized version of our past selves. We then continue blaming others instead of admitting that maybe, just maybe, we also played a role. After all, it takes two to tango. Recognizing that we made a mistake, were weak, were imperfect and failed, isn’t easy, but it will empower us in the long run. It will also help us accept what happened and hopefully allow us to learn from our mistakes. To move on, you have to reframe your relationship with the past.
Another thing that’s extremely helpful in getting a fresh start is letting go of attachments.
Instead of getting attached to how things should be and feeling like a failure, learn to accept them as they are.
This will give you a clearer and more honest perspective which you can change right now instead of continuously living in an illusion.
And finally, another great tip to start over this year is to stop letting other people define who you are. The only thing that we can control is our reaction to other people and not their reaction to us. If we let everyone get to us, then we will be like a leaf, blowing from place to place, never finding peace. So stop blaming others if you lose control because you disempower yourself by doing that. Regain control of what you can manage and live life on your own terms.
2. Relentlessly Reassess
Take stock of your reinvention progress when the New Year comes.
Remember, you’re not a tree; you’re a fluid, moving, human being.
What you pursued and were interested in last year, might not be the case this year. For example, at one point in my life I was chasing a goal that I promised myself that I wouldn’t give up on until I succeeded. Years went by and I continued to chase that same goal. But as time went on I realized that my priorities had changed, my preferences; my attitudes, my ideals and morals had changed. So I had to stop, and reevaluate if what I was going after was just going to be time, money, and resources being spent unproductively. Eventually, leading to a trophy that I did not want in the first place.
Humans have a natural tendency to persist. People don’t like to quit, and if we’re extrinsically motivated, then we don’t want to be viewed by others as “losers”. That’s why a lot of us stay in bad relationships and soul-sucking work fields. But understanding what’s holding you back and that tendency in yourself is exactly what will allow you to let go, reassess, and let other opportunities in.
Also, sometimes we need time and experience to determine if someone or a certain situation is right for us and to change course accordingly. That’s why reassessing is so imperative. Make it a yearly or even a monthly habit. Depending on what you’re reassessing. For instance, it could be your job that you’re reassessing. Maybe you’ve learned everything there is to know there and you’re feeling unchallenged. So what can you now do about it? Maybe you can ask your boss for more responsibilities and a raise. Or maybe you can start a side project that might turn into another source of income. The possibilities are endless.
3. Reflect Back and Write Down the Good that Happened in the Past Year
If we really take the time to think about it, most of us have a lot of good things to be grateful for. Make it a yearly, a monthly, or even a daily habit to write down the things that make you happy and things or people that you are exceptionally grateful for in your life.
Training your brain to focus and recognize the positive is an excellent habit to get into and will prime your brain for success.
Gratitude and writing out the good that happened in the previous year will shine light on how fortunate you are and will empower you.
Writing down the good is an excellent practice to get into because whenever you have a negative day and are beginning to spiral down, you can always go back to something tangible, re-read it, and be reminded that you’ve got a lot to be happy about. Looking back to the previous year and jotting down the good will also serve as a friendly reminder that this coming year can also bring a lot of positivity.
4. Go After One Major Goal, Instead of Many
I learned this one in high school. As a person who loved sports, I couldn’t just pick one. I got into cheerleading, volleyball, and track. Running from practice to practice like a bouncy ball. Each practice was incredibly taxing so eventually, I began to feel burnt-out. It was then that it hit me. I had to decide what I was the best at and what I enjoyed doing. So I decided to pick running. This was a very important lesson for me as
I discovered that focusing on just one thing and putting all of your energy and time into it is a lot more likely to make you successful than spreading yourself out between too many things and being mediocre at all of them.
It takes a lot of mental energy, and planning, and playing around with your schedule to ultimately achieve a goal. That’s why it’s not sustainable to pick too many at the same time. You will lose strength, will-power, and motivation and get burnt out. It’s better to focus and achieve one goal at a time and later, go after another one. So start this New Year with one goal and I guarantee you will be a lot more likely to succeed.
5. Plan and Set Measurable Goals, Then Take Real Action
Neuropsychologists have identified the “generation effect” which basically says that
individuals show better memory for materials that they generated themselves than from materials that they’ve merely read.
When you write down your goal, you get to access that generation effect twice: first when you envision your goal as a picture in your mind, and second, when you write down that goal and essentially make your brain reprocess that information. Writing something down makes it a lot more likely that we will remember it utilizes a process called “encoding”.
Creating a plan of what you want to achieve is also important. Make sure that your goal isn’t overly ambitious and is more realistic. For example, instead of saying that you want to win Iron Man if you've never even competed before, start out by signing-up and finishing a 5k run. And from then, and as you get better and better at running, you can reassess and pivot your goals. Learning and process goals are more realistic and achievable in comparison to performance, or outcome goals.
Take baby steps in the right direction. It’s much more sustainable to do a little bit of something every single day than to do a lot in a short period of time and then quit because you’ve spent all of your energy and emotional energy too fast. Easy and steady wins the race. Remember that and plan accordingly. Break down your reinvention plan into small, manageable actions that you can take daily. This will help you integrate long term goals into your present. Schedule accordingly and be extremely honest about how long each step will take. This will lower the chances of frustration and disappointment.
To Conclude
In conclusion,
this New Year can be a great opportunity to positively transform your life and become the best new version of your current self.
From allowing yourself a fresh start in life and learning to take ownership and responsibility for your actions and reactions, to relentlessly reassessing your goals and learning to let go of the ones that are no longer in alignment with who you are. After all, human beings are extremely fluid and dynamic, and what worked before might not be a good fit at present. And finally, learn to reflect back on the previous year and recognize how much you have to be grateful for. To start this New Year right, go tackle one major goal at the time and have an action plan and then take the necessary action to get to your destination. As without action, everything is just a fantasy.