Hello 2021!
Hello 2021!
It’s so good to see you. Not that 2020 was all bad, but it most certainly tested us, some of us more than others.
I’ve touched on it via our social media, but for me, 2020 brought growth for our business and for me personally. It challenged me, and sometimes got the better of me, but overall I came out of it a better version of myself.
2020, I needed you. In fact, I thank you.
So, 30 December 2020. It’s 3pm, I’m still in my PJs, sitting in my living room at home in the Northern Beaches amid the Avalon lockdown, and I decide to list my intentions for 2021.
This wasn’t the plan. I was meant to be spending three weeks gallivanting up and down the coast on my first Christmas break in four years. I was so damn ready for it. Instead, I’m locked in my house. Again. But, 2020 has taught me to expect the unexpected, see the good in the not so good, and if plans change, don’t dwell on it, rewrite the plan.
Reviewing my 2020 goals, I had great, specific and tangible expectations. I was meant to write a blog post every month. Did I write one blog? Absolutely not. I was meant to record a video a month. I didn’t do one. Read 20 books? I finished two. Run a half marathon? Nope. I had even put a figure on how much I should have saved in my Dream House fund by the end of the year. Safe to say I did not hit that target.
Now, the me who hadn’t gone through 2020 would have completely beat myself up about not achieving these goals. But post-2020 me, 30 December PJs at 3pm me, well she honestly doesn't care. I achieved so much more in the last 12 months than the goals I'd set.
Writing my 2021 intentions, there are absolutely no numerical values. It's filled with “do more”, not “reach this”. Each item is about self growth: ridding myself of old beliefs and replacing them with new ones, and having an epic time while doing it. Yes, one of my 2021 intentions is to have an epic time!
Why the shift? By simply changing the way I view the year ahead and my goal setting strategy, I'll feel like I’m achieving more. Each effort warrants a tick, rather than needing to work towards a looming number.
18 January 2021, it’s my first day back in the office and I’m pumped about it (a previously unheard of phenomenon, usually I’d be dragging my feet). Already I've read four books (more than I've read in any one year before), four blogs are already written, two videos done (although, they need some work), and I’ve spent every morning of 2021 at the beach, my most favourite place on earth.
The change in focus has really worked for me. By not attributing numbers to my goals, I’ve managed to really put some on the board. But even if I hadn’t, it wouldn’t matter. As long as I do more of what I want and less of what I don’t. So, I’m here to encourage you to do the same. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t write your intentions on Jan 1, or even think about them until mid Feb, just that when you do, they are guidelines for the 2021 you want to have, not an intimidating to-do list. You got this.
S x