3 Ways to Get Ready for 2016 (Resolutions Not Included)

It’s pretty hard to believe that not only are the holidays over, but you’re about to ring in a brand new year. It’s kind of crazy isn’t it? Time passes so quickly. Twelve whole months are behind you. And you have a blank slate to do whatever you want with it. 

New Year’s resolutions are always talked about this time of year, but who actually keeps them? I’m the queen of goals and self improvement, but I can’t think of a single New Year’s Resolution that I’ve set and keep. It wasn’t because I couldn’t follow through. It’s because they were never set with any real meaning. 

You might relate. And if you do, there’s so many more ways to get ready for this exciting new year rather than setting some resolutions that you’ll just feel bad you didn’t keep in a few weeks. Preparing for the new year is just as important as preparing for a big final, an important game, or an upcoming interview… it’s just way more fun. Hello, perfect excuse to get a fabulous new journal!

If you want to have the best year yet – make progress on your goals, find more success from the inside, or become the very best version of yourself – try one of these instead of setting resolutions:

Pick a Word

Deciding on one word to define the year ahead is something I’ve done for a couple years now. One year it was Go! and I ended up leaving a job I’d been terrified to separate with. One year it was Trust it, and I had as many leaps of faith in a single year than I ever had before. For 2016 mine is Devotion, because I’m ready to commit myself to all the things I’ve been figuring out about what I want. I say all of this to show you that a word really can guide your year ahead. Even when you’re not consciously thinking of it, it sets a tone of who you are and how you show up. If you’re wondering how to find your word here’s a couple of ways:

– Get into a quiet place, close your eyes, and visualize your year ahead. What are you doing? Where are you going? Who are you with? And allow a word to pop up the encapsulates that. Sometimes your word will bubble right to the top when you begin thinking about the future. 

– If getting quiet doesn’t bring your word to the surface, get out your pen and journal and start writing down words. Almost like a stream of consciousness. Write down words you like, values you appreciate, qualities that are significant to you. You’ll know when you get to your word. It’ll feel “louder” on your page than all the others.

Create an Intention

Wondering what an intention is? That’s ok. It’s simple; it’s something you intend to do. Something you’re aiming for. Intentions are incredibly powerful in creating the outcomes you want for the year ahead. I got the idea for setting intentions for 2016 instead of goals after spending a night with Oprah a few weeks ago. She attributes so much of her success to always setting intentions with anything that she does. So why not do it for next year? To set an intention, you basically just write a series of positive sentences for how you want to be in 2016. Here’s some examples:

– My intention is to always share my desires and opinions when given the opportunity. 

– I intend to experience more culture and adventure.

– I intend to be giving of myself and my resources.

– My intention is to create abundance and good health.

You see that they’re pretty big picture, which gives many opportunities for the details to be filled in over the next 12 months.

Decide How You Want to Feel

What if you stopped focusing on the things you wanted in life and started thinking about how you wanted to feel? Afterall, isn’t that what all those goals are created to do anyways. Well, how do you want to feel? Writer Danielle Laporte is probably best known for creating a framework for figuring this out and it can be powerful when you finally decide. So take some time to think about it. How do you want to feel? Then create a few ways you’d do to create more of that feeling in your life.

Ex: I want to feel brave

How I’d create more bravery in my life: 

– I’ll do something that scares me once a week

– I’ll identify the thing I want badly but that I’m most scared of doing in my life and create a plan for tackling it this year.

There are so many valuable ways to get ready for your year ahead. You could do one of these or all of these. What’s important is that you’ve given some time to think about what you want. It’s the first step in getting there. 

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