Being Thoughtful Before Setting Your Goals For 2023

January has arrived with its usual flurry of people making goals for the year ahead. It’s a fresh new year and with that – endless possibilities. But I feel we get too caught up in a date that we don’t spend too much time really figuring out what we want – with most resolutions petering out by March! Being Thoughtful Before Setting Your Goals For 2023, there’s no rush – here’s why…

New Year History

The tradition of making resolutions at the start of a new year likely dates back to ancient civilizations. They would mark this with ceremonies and rituals to honor their gods and make vows for the coming year.

The first recorded New Year’s resolution was made by the ancient Babylonians, who made promises to their gods at the start of each year to pay off debts and return borrowed objects. The ancient Romans also made resolutions at the start of each year, pledging to be better people in the coming year.

The Run-Up To New Year

During Christmas and New Year, that special in-between time, there’s a slowness that I use to reflect on my year that was. Don’t get me wrong – it was still busy! But even just taking moments to reflect is an important process.

For Christmas I was lucky to spend time with family and friends. Which was lovely, but also meant that other things fell by the wayside – my writing. I did not dedicate as much time to writing as I would have liked. These days I’m writing a novel, editing another and writing these weekly blog posts. But the time at the end of December and even start of January is something I wouldn’t usually do for the whole year, and it is important to reconnect with others and reset – not necessarily being in your usual habit or routine.

If you have not been able to reflect on the past year and just be mindful of your day-by-day moments, then I would encourage you to get out of your routine and just sit with these reflections.

Resolutions…bah humbug!

I believe New Years resolutions get a bad wrap, and it’s almost fashionable to talk negatively about making resolutions. I see motivational speakers and the like say that instead of making resolutions, ‘creating goals’ is much more effective…

But wait.

That’s just rebranding!

It’s the same thing! Making a goal, new habit, new years resolution is the same thing!

Rushing In Too Quickly

Some people can rush into setting New Year’s resolutions without fully thinking through their goals and plans. It’s important to take the time to reflect on your values and priorities. Rushing into setting resolutions without careful consideration can increase the risk of setting unrealistic goals or goals that are not meaningful to you, which can make it more difficult to stay motivated and achieve success.

It can be helpful to set aside some time to reflect on the past year and think about what you want to achieve in the coming year before setting your New Year’s resolutions. This can help you clarify your goals and create a more realistic and effective plan for achieving them.

So as mentioned earlier, taking stock of the previous year can be a helpful step in the planning process for the next year. Here’s a few thoughts on how you can take stock of your year before planning for the next:

Reflect on your achievements:

Take some time to think about what you accomplished over the past year. What were your successes, big and small? What did you learn and how did you grow? Here’s some journal prompts to help you –

What did I do last year that made me proud of myself?

If I could do more of something from last year what would it be?

What am I grateful for?

Identify any challenges or setbacks:

Think about any challenges or setbacks you faced over the past year. What were the root causes of these challenges, and how did you overcome them (or not)?

Most people don’t want to think of the negative and go over these moments in our mind, but it’s important to shine a light on them and process them, it will help you learn and grow.

Consider your priorities:

Take stock of what’s important to you and what you want to focus on in the coming year. What are your values and priorities? How do they align with your goals and plans?

If you want to prioritse your family and friends more, but you also want to accelerate your business plans, then make sure these goals can work together. How much realistic time can you dedicate to your work, and your family without stretching yourself too thin?

What Will Be Your “Word”?

From these journal entries and potential goals you have listed. Can you pick out three words you want to sum up 2023? See these as themes or words you’d like to guide you like a compass.

I did this last year, and really loved the process of disregarding a-lot of the plans/goals/reflections and just simply writing down three words of how I want to live my life for the coming year.

My three words:

Energy. Love. Creativity

Energy – My fitness has taken a big hit over the last two years. I want to feel more energised with my days, rather than exhausted. So I’m going to incorpoarate more exercise/movement into my days and I’m really excited about it.

Love – I want to keep loving the world and people around me. I think love is one of the most important things and it can slip if you stop listening to others, or prioritising self care to keep your own cup filled. It means to love outside me, but to love me too.

Creativity – I’m always shouting about creativity, but I know it’s something that can slip if I don’t prioritize it. And if I don’t prioritize it, I see the negative effects it has on me. Seeking curiosity and creativity is important to me, it’s who I am and I want to keep that part of me nourished.

Enjoy The Process

This is a fun way to think about what you would like to achieve this year. But don’t get caught up in goal setting without first looking at what you gained and learned from the previous year. Take your time, you don’t need to get everything locked in by the first few days of January, take a week (or a few!) to process, reflect and plan.

Your Turn

I’d love to hear your three words? Are you making time to think about what you want?

If you enjoyed this, have a look at my previous posts such as – My morning routine – how it’s important for my positive mindset