What are your dreams for this year?
We’re halfway through February already. I say, already, but I know I’m not alone in feeling like January lasted three and a half months! Anyway, as I said, half way through February. Did you choose an intention for the year or set New Year resolutions? How’s it going?
I chose fun as my intention/word for the year and I have to admit that January was more trying than fun but I did my best to make sure I made some time for the experiences, people and things that I find fun.
If like me you feel you could do with a bit of a reset and refocus on your intention or goals for this year here are a few pointers to get you moving forward.
Have you actually asked yourself what you want from this year? Have a think about what you want to experience, achieve and enjoy during 2023.
Try setting some realistic goals. Your goals should be clear and measurable so you’ll know when you’ve achieved them. Such as I want to be able to run 10k by the end of the year.
Break the goal down. If we're thinking more than 12 weeks ahead it’s far too easy to say “I’ll do it tomorrow” and tomorrow never comes. So if you want to be able to run 10k by the end of this year what do you need to achieve in the next 12 weeks? Perhaps it’s complete a couch to 5k programme. Set a series of steppingstone goals to get you where you want to go. As I always say to my clients it’s much more manageable and achievable to cross a river one stepping stone at a time rather than try to take a giant flying leap and end up soaking wet in the middle of the river!
Remember that small steps still get you where you want to go if you just keep on taking them. Small steps are also much easier to motivate yourself to tackle as they are less daunting. And when those small steps become habits you do without even thinking anymore you’re really winning!
If you know that you are bad at holding yourself accountable, then find yourself a buddy. This could be someone who wants to achieve the same thing as you or they could be working on something completely different but you can hold each other accountable. I share what I intend working on with my accountability buddy every Monday morning. Depending on what we share we sometimes check in midweek and we always check in with each other on a Friday. I also help hold my clients accountable if that is what they need from me. It really helps.
Make sure that you’re making the journey to get to your goal enjoyable. If it isn’t you’re going to give up at the first bump in the road never mind any major hurdles.
Remind yourself why you want to achieve this goal on a regular basis to keep yourself motivated to take action.
Make sure that you’re getting enough rest, sleep and good nourishment no matter what your goal is. A well-rested and fuelled body and mind is one that will support your hopes and dreams rather than derail them.
Make if-then plans. If the weather is too icy to go for a run then I’ll….instead. If my exercise buddy is unwell then I’ll….instead.
Keep track of your progress and celebrate all your wins every week. If you planned three exercise sessions and did two of them – you did two more than none! Celebrating rather than beating yourself up is so much better for your motivation and self-esteem and reminds yourself how far you’ve come.
Remember taking imperfect action is always better than doing nothing at all. Perfection doesn’t exist and just results in procrastination and stalling all progress and your hopes and dreams for this year deserve so much more than that!
If you’d like some personal help moving forward with your dreams this year, my calendar is open for Confidence Jump-starts.
It’s time to stop people pleasing, saying yes when you need to say no and prioritise you!
In the hour we have together I’ll help you to start living life on your terms, not everyone else’s. Helping you to be clear about what you really want, be more assertive, saying no to the things you don’t want to do and yes to taking action towards the life you want to lead!
You’ll finish with an action plan of steps to start taking and in the week after our call you get my support via email to help you as you begin to make changes.
This is what Katy, a lawyer had to say about her Confidence Jump-start,
"I wanted to develop the confidence to feel that I was capable of doing the job. I wanted to learn to manage my self doubt and feel confident in the job that I was doing, as well as feeling confident in my own skin! We worked through ideas together with a view to improving my working and home life, which boosted my confidence. Who knew that I would enjoy talking about me for an hour! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Clare and I hope that our paths will cross again in the future."
My experience with cancer over the last 18 months brought it home to me even more clearly that we can’t keep waiting around for things to change, for life to get better, to pursue our dreams. We have to take action and for many of us the thing stopping us doing that is our confidence levels. Just do it – you have nothing to lose and everything to gain and remember if you decide to go on to book one of my coaching programmes you get the cost of the Jump-start discounted – win-win! Click here to Jump-start your dreams for 2023.
