AMY HANSEN

Preparing for the new year means taking a moment to look back in time and reflect on the past year.  It also means looking forward into the future and allowing yourself to dream about what you want to achieve in the new year.  Make the new year your best yet!  Here are six steps to prepare for the new year.

1. Celebrate

Start by taking inventory of the things that have worked well for you over the past year.  List your biggest successes, your achievements, and what you’re most proud of.  Think about what things you did in order to create success this past year.  You may want to continue these things in the new year.  Take time now to celebrate your wins!

2. Lessons Learned

Review the past year of what didn’t work so well.  Be open and honest with yourself.  Dig deep as to why things didn’t go as you had hoped.  Honestly, hardly anything goes exactly as planned.  Make these lessons that you’re going to take into the new year.  You’ve learned some valuable lessons which means y...

A mantra is a statement or phrase that is repeated frequently to aid in concentration.  A mantra gives you focus and clarity on a certain belief you want to have.  This is especially helpful in the new year when you’re trying to make things happen and achieve your goals.

Creating a mantra for the new year is a statement that you will live by.  You are setting an intention for the new year as to who you want to be and what you want to accomplish.

Here are the four steps on how to create a mantra for the new year.

1. List Your Struggles

Think about what you may be struggling with that’s currently holding you back from going after your dreams.

Procrastination

You may be simply procrastinating on doing things that will move you closer to your goals.  Often you find yourself working on all the easy things like laundry, errands, and binging on Netflix.  Instead you should be tackling the more difficult tasks that will help you make progress toward reaching your goals.  Crea...

The end of the year is approaching and it’s a good time to stop and pause to reflect on the year that is coming to a close.  You may be thinking you’re not where you want to be or perhaps you’ve blown your expectations out of the water and far exceeded what you expected to achieve this year.  Either way, it’s important to review what’s worked and what didn’t work in order to set you up for success in the new year.

Here are five things to review before the new year.

1. Achievements

Think about the past year and what has gone well for you.  Write down your achievements and successes.  It doesn’t matter how big or small they are.  Think about the things that you’re most proud of and that bring a smile to your face.  Now that you have your achievements, you may be considering setting higher benchmarks to achieve in the new year.  Take some time right now and set goals for the new year.

2. Lessons Learned

You may have had some short comings over the past year.  These are the t...

Your comfort zone is the place where you feel safest.  Your brain knows what to expect when you’re in your comfort zone.  When you step outside your comfort zone unpredictable things can happen.  Fear takes over from the unknown and self doubt kicks in.  You think you should run and hide back in your comfort zone where you feel safe. 

The size of your comfort zone may be smaller or larger than someone else.  Each person has their own defined comfort zone.  Your experiences define the lines you’ve created for your personal comfort zone.  Visually you’ve put yourself in a box that’s called your comfort zone.  Your box expands when you try something new and step outside your comfort zone.  You’ve learned this is safe and acceptable to include in your box so the lines grow longer.

Imagine what would happen if you didn’t have a comfort zone.  If there were no boundary lines the world would be limitless.  You would do things that you were once afraid of doing.  You would dream big an...

Going after you dreams can be hard in and of itself.  Add on top of that the negative criticism from others only increases the pressure you’re already feeling.  When you decide to take a stand and go after your dreams, you’re putting yourself out there to where you become very vulnerable.  During this time you may come across people who don’t quite understand what it is you’re going after.  These are the people who find it easy to criticize you and be negative about what you’re trying to achieve.

You may be fed negative thoughts that you’re crazy, it’s a stupid idea, or who are you to be doing this.  In reality, the people who are telling you these negative thoughts are simply voicing their own fears and beliefs about themselves.

When you dare to go after your dreams you may be surprised to find that the people you thought would support you actually say negative comments.  All because they feel threatened by your dream and want to bring you back to their level.  When you start ...

In science class you may have learned about how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.  Growing up you may have even seen the cocoons caterpillars make to transform their body, eventually emerging a beautiful butterfly.

Life is about becoming the butterfly.

You start out as the caterpillar.  Your cocoon is your comfort zone.  You have a choice to make.  You can remain a caterpillar or become the butterfly.

Often, it’s easier to remain in your comfort zone.  It’s warm, cozy, and safe.  Nothing can hurt you there.  On the other hand, becoming the butterfly is scary.  Spreading your wings and flying into the unknown is no easy feat.  Who knows what you will experience out there.

Many people remain stuck in their cocoons because of fear.  It’s easier to stay within the comfort zone where there are no surprises and everything is predictable.  But this is a boring life.  You are not meant to live a boring life.  You are made for more.

It’s time to face the fear of the unknown...

Take responsibility for the three areas in life you have control over.  Stop concerning yourself with the thoughts, feelings, and actions of other people.

Often times you try to control the thoughts, feelings, and actions of other people.  It could be to get other people to like you or just to be polite.  In any case, you are not responsible for other people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions.  You are only responsible for your OWN.

Let’s take a deeper dive into these three areas.

Actions

You are often led to take responsibility for other people’s actions.  For example, someone got upset and yelled at you for doing a job incorrectly.  You immediately take responsibility by thinking that you’re incompetent and incapable of doing a good job.  You believe that because you didn’t do a good job, the other person took their anger out on you.

In this example you are taking ownership of the person’s actions.  Just because you did this, that made them take this undesirable actio...

What holds you back from going after your goals?

The most common answer is fear.  The fear of judgement of what other people will think of you if you fail.  Often times you decide it’s easier to be in inaction waiting for everything to be perfectly aligned before you start.  That way you’ll be less likely to make a mistake and fail.  Or perhaps you let self doubt keep you from going after your dreams. 

The question becomes how to get over your fear.  Here are five tips to help you get over your fears and confidently start taking action on achieving your goals.

1. Failure Happens

The truth is, failure is inevitable.  You didn’t learn to walk on your first try.  Yet, you think achieving your goal should be so simple.  Through failure comes success.  The more times you fail the closer you are to getting it right.  Failures are lessons learned.  It’s going to happen so just accept it.

2. Stop Waiting For Perfect

A lot of times you’re waiting for all the answers before you...

You may struggle with making decisions.  This could be because you wonder if there is something better out there for you or perhaps you’re just not sure which direction to go.  The opportunity in front of you may feel heavy and the decision is weighing on you.

Making a decision can be quite the commitment.  Everything may look good on paper but something is causing you to hesitate on your decision.  Here is a quick five step process to help you make the right decision.

1. Get Present

First, you have to be in the right frame of mind.  Stop what you’re doing and take a minute to settle into stillness.  Sit in the quiet silence and get present in the moment.  Then tune into yourself and listen for your inner voice.

2. Ask This Question

Ask yourself, will this opportunity cause my life to grow?

Be present to what comes up for you.  Think about your immediate response.  Notice if you feel a sense of excitement and happiness.  If you feel a sense of sickness and a pull inwa...

You have two sides to your inner voice.  There is one side that is confident and tells you to go after your dreams.  Then there is the other side that is fearful and scared that keeps you stuck in your comfort zone.

It seems as if one voice is always louder than the other.  You have to learn to tune into your inner voice and differentiate between the two voices.

Let’s take a deeper look into the two sides to your inner voice.

Confident Inner Voice

You could consider one side to be the more positive inner voice.  It is optimistic about the future.

This is the inner voice of your deepest desires.  It knows you are meant for more.  This is the voice that allows you to dream big.  It is curious and encourages you to try new things.  It tells you to go out, explore, and experience life.

This inner voice is fearless and confident.  It believes in you without a doubt and constantly tries to empower you to believe the same.  It knows you are capable of doing anything you s...