New year…new you. If only it were that easy for you to have Jan 1st roll around and be able to press the reset button! But what if you were able to refresh your mindset for a new year?
Most of us are absolutely addicted to new beginnings so we can reset and start fresh all the time.
After all, one of my all-time favorite quotes is “Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it.” (That’s Anne of Green Gables – my favorite redheaded Canadian literary hero.)
That’s why the power of a new year is irresistible. So how do we start out with this blank slate and make the most of it?
It starts with mindset. I’m no expert, but here are three things I’m personally doing right now to refresh my mindset so I’m ready to make the most of 2017:
Take Time to Reflect
Listen, I know you. Hell, I am you. So I know you’re probably one of two types of people when it comes to reflecting.
Behind door A we have those of us that move sooooo darn fast that we don’t take a lot of time to reflect. When you are like this, you do what you need to do and you move on…and you do it quickly. You pride yourself on smashing to-do lists and being super productive.
The downside of this is that you can miss the lessons or the opportunity to improve, which are critical to the feedback loop. It’s hard to completely move ahead when you never take a second to pause and learn from anything. Improvement and taking things to a new level relies 100% on you being able to integrate what you’re learning over time.
Then, behind door B is the over-reflector who thinks so hard about everything that happens that you literally think yourself in circles. You’re so stuck in analysis mode that you miss the lesson or turn it into something it’s not.
No matter which way you are (or if you’re a bit of both, depending on the situation), the key is that you carve out time to reflect on what worked, what didn’t, what your wins were and what you can improve on. Being open to this – but not turning it into a week-long exercise of beating yourself up over every single little thing – is key to being able to go into a new day, week, month or year ready for what’s to come.
Renew By Focusing on What’s Working
The new of a new year is truly dazzling. So much so that it’s really tempting to want to take on all the new ideas and start completely fresh.
The truth? There are very few situations where throwing everything out the window and starting over makes sense.
This is where the idea of renewal comes in. Sure, you can look for a fresh start, but figure out what’s really working and double your efforts down in that area.
For example, if a certain type of package is really working for you and your clients, why create something new? You’ll be so much further ahead to build on what’s already working with that package and getting creative with ways to make it better. How can you book more clients? How can you improve the service?
That type of renewal takes patience, but it’s also the fastest way for you to shortcut the path to success. So many times we abandon the right things in favor of shiny objects just because we can, and end up actually put our business at a disadvantage.
Just like you don’t return a half read library book and you renew it for another three weeks, commit to thinking about what’s working with fresh eyes so you can make the most of it.
Release the Rest
What happens then to the things that aren’t working? Or the things that you’re doing a stellar job of completely beating yourself up over?
It’s time to let them go. Starting a new year means it’s time for you to clear out all that past stuff and let it go for good.
This is definitely a bit harder than it seems, but the willingness to examine these things and decide that we’re going to release them for good, can be incredibly powerful.
I had a number of things I was holding on to from 2016 that I knew I needed to let go of if I was going to get my head in right place for 2017. So I took out a big old piece of lined paper and wrote every single one out, and then I consciously decided to release them.
You don’t necessarily need to write them out. It just matters that you do it in your own way and release them so the tape in your head isn’t playing them over and over and over as you move into a fresh new year.
So much of what you do running a business is about what’s going on between your ears, so actively engaging on working on your mindset can go a long way to moving you towards your goals.
[embed_popupally_pro popup_id=”9″]
