Another year has come and gone. Another year with its challenges, disappointments, heartaches, losses, missed opportunities, and unfulfilled outcomes.

When we start to think of it though, it was also a year of growth, learning, wins, clarity and a better understanding of who “YOU” are, wasn’t it?

What’s your inner life like? What beliefs do you hold true when it comes to yourself and the world around you? What are the thoughts that run through your mind each day? Do you live in a world of uncertainty, fear and negativity – or is your mind filled with gratitude, potential and positivity? If your internal reality doesn’t excite you, motivate you and convey where you’d like to be, then it’s not just time for new resolutions, but rather a new mindset shift.

“But HOW, Tony!? How do I create a new mindset when I feel like the year ahead is a giant that is waiting for me to battle it with my bare hands?”

Here is a 3-step approach that I often use with my clients that you can utilize to not only get you into a better, more productive and positive mindset, but keep you moving forward throughout the year, towards where you WANT to go… A better version of YOU.

Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. – St. Francis of Assisi

STEP 1 - RECONCILE

Reconcile last year’s successes and failures. Whether last year went as you hoped and planned for or if you miscalculated and didn’t get the desired results, take what you can from those experiences (good and bad), ask yourself what helpful knowledge you gained from the experiences, and then move on.

The purpose of life is to live, love and learn. None of these are possible if you choose to stay stuck in a mere moment in time and continue to mull it over ad nauseam.

Take what you can from the experiences of last year, add them to your “experience index” and continue on; better, smarter and stronger.

STEP 2 - RECONSIDER

Reconsider your goals. Your plans and goals change as you gain new experiences. Think about what you have learned about yourself and your environment, choices, actions and mindset, and how that changes your larger purpose in life.

Remember that you are one-of-a-kind, so no one else experienced the same things in the same ways you did, even if they were in the same environment and had the same outcomes as you did.

YOUR experiences are unique to you, so take them as gifts from God and use them to strengthen your mindset.

Have a long, hard look at your goals and ask yourself if any of those goals are still relevant and important to your purpose and which of them you have either outgrown or shifted away from.

STEP 3 - RECONNECT

Reconnect with yourself and you identify. Who is the you that has gotten lost in the busy-ness of life? Who is the you that has forgotten WHY you even started to pursue those goals and endeavours in the first place? Who do YOU want to be and why?

We often get so lost in the hustle and bustle of life, the everyday happenings that often feel like we are in a maelstrom in an open sea. Then we tend to lose focus of who we are and begin to believe the lies that the world throws at us:

“I can’t do this…”
“What if I just give up…”
“I’m not strong enough…”
“Maybe it’s meant for someone else…”

STOP IT!

You ARE worthy. You ARE strong enough. You ARE meant for greatness.

Find your identity. Find your voice. Find your foundation and build on the rock that you know is within you. Then, and only then, will you weather the storms of life and keep coming back no matter what gets thrown at you.

A new year can be daunting, especially when you feel like you didn’t get everything done the way you wanted in the last year (I know I didn’t!), but the break and the new start afford us the time to think about what we DID accomplish and what more there is to do. It gives us the momentum to keep working toward our larger goals, and to adapt those goals to who we are as evolving people.

It is exciting to think about sharing that momentum with each other to not only remind ourselves of how far we’ve come, but also to motivate and inspire others to do the same.

If you feel like sharing your growth, or you have questions that you feel you need answers; then please leave your comments below, and let’s see how we can make this year one to be reckoned with, for the better, together.

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. – Martin Luther King Jr.