It’s still just the beginning of 2019 and an appropriate time if you haven’t already, to ask yourself ‘what do I want to achieve this year?’
For the longest time I assumed it was normal practise for most people at the end or beginning of a year, to take stock and re-evaluate what is most important to them.
But it turns out, most people don’t and many instead set resolutions based on wishful thinking. According to Dr Jordan B. Peterson, professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, most of us do not contemplate what we hope to achieve in life nor what kind of person we want to be. We just don’t take the time to immerse ourselves in all that deep self-reflection stuff, preferring hacks and short cuts.
From this awareness, he designed The Future Authoring program which asked the students to sit down and write about their perceived ideal future and to specifically describe the type of person they wanted to be, the skills they wanted to attain, and the relationships they wanted to have, amongst other things.
Through the Future Authoring process and guided contemplation, Dr Peterson’s students found themselves feeling like they had more direction in life. They were less anxious about the uncertainty of the future, and knew what they could do today to start down the path of becoming the person they wanted to be.
Why is this so important? Well, it’s a noisy world and everyone’s got an opinion. It’s also all streaming by 24/7 vying for your attention. By keeping this in mind and adopting a regular check in with how you are showing up, your being and doing remain aligned in the forefront of your awareness, which means you benefit by more consciously managing your time, energy and attention on what really matters to you.
So why not begin your day with some kind of practice like Future Authoring, Morning Pages, prayer, meditation, yoga – to support yourself. If you require more evidence as to why and how this will help you in achieving your dreams, goals and targets, HBR has this article which includes game-changing research from Ohio State, on how your morning mood affects the rest of your day. Let me add, that just one simple practise can dramatically impact your year and your life. Colin’s January vlogs: Part 1 New Years Resolutions and Part 2 Setting Intentions, also have great insights on all of this.
One last thing – at this time of year there is a lot being discussed on what intention is and how this can help you achieve your ideal life. A good morning practice includes the power of Intention as a statement of how you want to show up in the world. When linked to your values, an intention becomes meaningful and deeply personal. They are guideposts for who you want to “be” and how you want to show up, instead of what you want to “do” or accomplish. Our Beyond Thinking program may be something to look into as it will take you on that journey from what’s important to you ito values to intention and a well crafted personal mission.
In Mary Oliver’s award winning The Summer Day, she asks us ‘Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?’
What will you do today that speaks to that brief and breathless gift? How we behold the hours, how we embrace the possibility of that time, is up to us. Each day, when we pull back the curtains to greet the world, the invitation to remember to choose who we are being is made possible.
What I do know is that each hour that passes by is gone forever, and how I choose to live that hour – with excitement, energy and grace – will either add value to my life and legacy or it won’t. Precious life.
What might you try today that scares you just a bit? What habit might you step away from in order to have a richer, fuller life? Who do you need to reach out to today? What risk are you avoiding out of fear of failure? What shall we do with (today)? What new experiences will we allow, invite, create for ourselves?
As always, it starts with You, so how about taking the time in
2019 to find out what makes your life so wild, precious and worth living?
Warm regards
Diane
Useful tools for you:
Self Authoring Dr Jordan B. Peterson
Available online $14.95 https://www.selfauthoring.com/future-authoring
The Future Authoring program has been designed, refined, and deployed to thousands of people. It has been found to be profoundly effective at aligning goals with actions, and helping people define what they want their future to look like and achieve it.
A World of Choice, A World of Freedom by Gary M Douglas
Available online $20 www.worldofchoicebook.com
This book is about recognizing that only by our choice do we create anything, and that every choice we make creates our reality. So the question becomes: What do you wish to create?