Ideal Year. Masterpiece Days. Happier You!

Happy New Year I hope you had a great break! With the break behind us, and as we transition into the New Year, we are universally drawn to think about the year ahead. While the idea of “resolutions” has lost its relevance for many of us, since they are notoriously difficult to maintain, it is still a time of the year where thinking about goals feels natural.

Several people have asked if I have any tools or tips that might help with the goal setting process. So, let’s see if we can bring some practical thoughts to this.

We Are Goal-Oriented By Nature

The Greeks proposed that humans are teleological, or goal-oriented, by nature, in that we are wired to pursue goals. You can see this in our constant desire to learn, grow and explore, and how we continuously look to new horizons. 

In their book The Progress Principle, Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer report that having a sense of progress in our lives is one of the strongest predictors of motivation and happiness.  We need to feel progress. If you felt sluggish at times over the break (like me), it may have been related to losing that sense of progress.

And what’s the first step in creating a sense of progress? Having a clear goal or objective to move towards. So, goals are good.

Try Planning Your “Ideal Year”

Resolutions can often be a knee-jerk reaction to the excess of the holidays. They are typically focused on micro-goals like losing a few pounds, stopping drinking for January, spending less, etc. But the New Year is also a great time to look at macro-level goals for the year; what do you want more of, or less of, in your year? Or, what character traits to you want to have more of? Overall, what would make it a great year for you? 

This shift in perspective moves your focus from one small aspect of your life to a broader look at what you want your life to look like. The key is pausing and planning, since we can all too easily get lost in the busyness of the day to day and lose sight of the arc of the overall year.

How do you do this? Carve out some quiet time to reflect on what would make this an “Ideal Year” for you? Talk it over with a friend or family member. You can look at it from the angles of family gatherings and trips, connecting with friends, improving your health or mental wellbeing, how you show up in your roles, planning memorable experiences, key expenditures, career goals, hobbies, etc. This isn’t about Instagram-worthy experiences or "doing it all”, this is about mindfully creating meaning and joy for you.

Create Masterpiece Days 

Rather than “resolutions”, another way to approach the micro-goals our mind is drawn to is to instead focus on creating “Masterpiece Days.” And what is a “Masterpiece Day” you ask? We all have these days from time to time. You feel as if you have more control over the day. You accomplish things of importance and don’t get lost in distractions, disruptions, and drama. There is a sense of flow, where things tend to unfold with greater ease. At the end of the day there is a sense of accomplishment, peace and feeling good about the day. 

If you look closely, these awesome days are strongly linked to the choices you made. Smart choices related to sleep, your mindset, what you ate, how you moved, and making time for the things that matter. And they are closely related to what you didn’t do that day – there is often an absence of distractions, disruptions, and drama. So they aren't an accident and we can create more of them.

How do you create more of these days? List the things that contribute to your masterpiece days (or erode them), and then consider which ones make the biggest difference and/or need the most work for you. Start with just one or two and then focus on ingraining these habits/choices. 

The difference between “Masterpiece Days” and resolutions is subtle but important. Resolutions are often approached from a win/lose context, where we eventually break the resolution and end up feeling guilt, shame or failure. With “Masterpiece Days”, it is all about the intention and the process. Every day is Day 1, with a clean slate where we can start fresh again!

How About You?

What would make it an “Ideal Year” for you? 

And how would it feel if you had more of those “Masterpiece Days” in your year? I bet it would feel pretty good!  

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And if you are curious how having a mindfulness and resiliency coach in your corner could accelerate progress on your goals for the year, message me here on LinkedIn. I'd love to learn what would make this an "Ideal Year" for you.