Complete the following sentence:
This is the year ________________________.
What?
What will you declare about:
- Yourself?
- Your work?
- Your relationships?
- Your money?
What will this year be about?
So often, our declarations can be boiled down to simple math problems.
This is the year I will exercise more.
This is the year I will eat less.
Make more money.
Spend less money.
Create more art.
Watch less TV.
The crazy thing about this approach is, if words like more and less were written as mathematical formulas, they’d look something like this:
1+1-4=7
This is not new math. The numbers don’t add up.
Try this instead:
This is the year that will be about becoming even better at _________________________ (insert what you are already really good at).
For example:
- Parenting
- Designing
- Leading my team
- Saying “I love you”
- Playing the piano
- Eating dark green leafy vegetables once a day
Taking this approach releases you from the grip of cultural shoulds and allows you to focus on what matters most. This alone is an enormous relief and makes room for what you need to get the work done.
Just don’t start thinking what you’re becoming better at will suddenly be easy. There will be plenty of battles to fight. Temptations and distractions don’t automatically disappear. But by taking this approach, you’ll be crystal clear about what you’re fighting for.
And that can make all the difference.
