Things that I learned this week:   I have been thinking a lot about the new year and needing to go through the year a little differently.  To think about becoming someone - not just checking certain things on my list.   If I think about becoming rather than just things I want to do then I need to give myself a little more time to learn and grow and then become.  Similar to a teacher, doctor or lawyer, or any other professional that takes a lot of schooling and time to train to become.  I also need to remember that it will take time even though I really want to be done in a month.  Learning and becoming takes time and patience. 

So then I went back to the idea from James Clear about habits and changing your systems rather than changing your results.   I loved this quote from the article  “Achieving a goal only changes your life for the moment. That’s the counterintuitive thing about improvement. We think we need to change our results, but the results are not the problem. What we really need to change are the systems that cause those results. When you solve problems at the results level, you only solve them temporarily. In order to improve for good, you need to solve problems at the systems level. Fix the inputs and the outputs will fix themselves.”

The best part about the system is that you don't need to decide when you will be happy.  With a system put in place you can enjoy the process of becoming along the way.  Which then makes sense that you would then start to become a person who, for instance, declutters, because you have made a system into your life that will last way longer than just the closet or storage room that I want to declutter.  I really like this quote from James Clear as well about systems, “The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game. True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It’s not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement. Ultimately, it is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress.”

Then I also really like learning about the idea of setting a direction or intention for you year rather than specific goals.   “Unlike a goal, which states a place you want to arrive at, intention states what you want to be open to, how you want to behave, what you want to pay attention to, or the kind of person you want to be whilst underway to that. Your work then becomes practicing being open to that, behaving like that, paying attention to that or being that kind of person, trusting that this will eventually take you to where you need to be – or to your goal, if you’ve set one.”  That quote is from Monica Castinetto.    This approach also seems more forgiving and open if things in your life change and you need to switch gears.  You may be able to keep the same direction but your goals may adjust a bit.  

The last article I really like was from Ashley Jansen who had a lot of great tips.  The first one I liked was to take some time to reflect.  And she had a great list of questions to think about.  

What are some common threads or themes?

What you want to keep doing?

What you want to change or stop doing?

What you want to start doing?

Who you want to spend more time with?

Who you want to spend less time with?

In addition, think about:

Who do you want to be a year from now?

What kind of person do you want to be?

What words do you want to be able to confidently use to describe yourself?

What projects do you want to be finished?

As we become we also need to think about the people we want to make sure to spend more time with and I like that one of her questions is spending time with people in your life.  I love that she come up with an example of what she came up with and then the simple system she would put in place to make sure it would happen.  A example was that she wanted to do some sort of fitness every day.  So in her calendar she set aside 45 minutes each day to make sure it could happen.  

Lastly her great tip about making your goals keeping hardship in mind.  Meaning, that when you make your system or put some time aside to exercise, when that time come up you may not be as motivated as you were when you set aside the time and when you decided on that direction and system.  So make it easier for you to do.   She says it perfectly this way in her article, “It’s easy to set goals and make a plan when you are energized and feeling good. But what happens when things are hard? Don’t plan your systems based on the idea that you will be eager and motivated. Plan your systems as though you will have to implement them when you are tired or things are hard.” 

Then the last thing I wanted to remind you is that it is good to keep the commitments we make to ourselves.  That is how we build our relationship with ourselves.  We keep our promises and follow through, even when we don't want to.  I mentioned this episode 39 in the self-love series.  So good and important.  

SO have fun thinking about directions and where you want 2025 to go!