today is our day. An entire fresh, new year stretches out in front of us, pure as freshly fallen snow. I love to picture a new year as a book with 365 blank pages, waiting to be filled with a new story.
What will your story be?
Imagine, on this magical day of endless possibilities, that everything you write down today will become true over the next year.
Believe that the pretty notebook in front of you (or the back of the take-out menu) has special powers, and that your only job for today is to figure out what you want from 2017.
What do you really want?
I have a friend who had the same dream for years and years: To lose weight. She would start a diet quietly, not telling anyone, and then quit again just as quietly, discouraged. Doing it in secret didn't work.
Then one year, she did it differently: She told everyone in her life that the new year would be The Year of Losing Weight. She wrote it into the notebook of her life, so to speak, and you know what? She lost an astonishing 90 pounds that year.
I wrote down several crazy, unattainable goals last year. Packaged as Project 36, I set myself 36 challenging tasks for the year.
This morning, I spent almost two hours going through every single one of them. What I discovered amazed me: Aside from my overly ambitious yoga goals, I managed to cross off 70% of my list. 70%! Amongst them were several where I had no idea how in the world I would manage it: Like paying off my credit card debt (I had $10,000 on my cards alone, not counting Richard's, our mortgage, or line of credit), changing my job, or painting kitchen cupboards (I never thought I would learn how to do this).
While not all of them worked out exactly as I thought I would (I may have quit my old job, but I haven't really found a proper new one yet), they worked out in different ways:
Instead of having my niece come to us, I came to her.
Instead of travelling by myself to new cities, I travelled to old ones. (It still felt like an adventure!)
Instead of simply decluttering our basement, I decluttered so well that we got rid of the entire thing, including the house surrounding it 😁
What I'm trying to say is this: Lists are amazing. By putting down our intentions in writing, we make them more tangible. Instead of weightless ideas floating around in our head, they are now something solid, something to look at and touch. It's harder to ignore them. I am a firm believer in thoughts being powerful physical beings, just waiting for us to make them come alive.
Once we put our goals out there, the chances of them becoming reality increase by 894% (this is a totally accurate number.)
*No, it isn't.
You all know what I want in 2017.
What do you want?
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Warning: May contain dogs.
This morning, I spent almost two hours going through every single one of them. What I discovered amazed me: Aside from my overly ambitious yoga goals, I managed to cross off 70% of my list. 70%! Amongst them were several where I had no idea how in the world I would manage it: Like paying off my credit card debt (I had $10,000 on my cards alone, not counting Richard's, our mortgage, or line of credit), changing my job, or painting kitchen cupboards (I never thought I would learn how to do this).
While not all of them worked out exactly as I thought I would (I may have quit my old job, but I haven't really found a proper new one yet), they worked out in different ways:
Instead of having my niece come to us, I came to her.
Instead of travelling by myself to new cities, I travelled to old ones. (It still felt like an adventure!)
Instead of simply decluttering our basement, I decluttered so well that we got rid of the entire thing, including the house surrounding it 😁
What I'm trying to say is this: Lists are amazing. By putting down our intentions in writing, we make them more tangible. Instead of weightless ideas floating around in our head, they are now something solid, something to look at and touch. It's harder to ignore them. I am a firm believer in thoughts being powerful physical beings, just waiting for us to make them come alive.
Once we put our goals out there, the chances of them becoming reality increase by 894% (this is a totally accurate number.)
*No, it isn't.
You all know what I want in 2017.
What do you want?
Want to make your own list? Sign up for my new newsletter with your free, downloadable copy!
Warning: May contain dogs.
You know how I love a good list! I have been thinking about my 2017 goals a lot latey. I know I want to lose at least the one dress size that 2016 gifted me. I have my nieces wedding in June and several barely worn eShakti dresses in my closet. And I want to mix up my yoga routine by using videos for that added challenge.
ReplyDeleteCrossing off 70% of your list is a huge accomplishment! Congrats to that!
Great goals Mary! I did a reset on my own yoga practice, and started doing 1 or 2 of Kino's beginner videos every day. My freestyle practice had gotten pretty sloppy, and I'm enjoying having a teacher much more than I expected. She also does some slow breathing in the beginning, which I never liked before, but now I crave it! Meditation may be the next step...
DeleteGood luck with your goals! I know you will kick ass in achieving them. You got this!!