How To Move Into The New Year With Intention

Happy December! Let’s have a conversation about getting intentional this last month of 2022!

If you are reading this post in a different month or a different year keep reading! You will still find this information helpful regardless of when you see it because these ideas apply at any time during the year!

I love the idea of using December to build momentum moving into the new year. We have almost 4 full weeks until 2023 rolls around. That may not seem like a lot, but it’s more time than you may think.

For example, let’s say you want to start working out in the new year. If starting today you complete 3-5 workouts a week you will have worked out 12-20 times by January 1! That’s huge! Think of how much more in shape you will be after those 12-20 workouts. And those workouts don’t need to be an hour long. What if you did just 15 minutes of exercise a day? Later in this post, I will be talking about baby steps and this would be an example of that. Doing something small in December will lead to big changes come January.

Now, take a moment to close your eyes. Think about how it would feel to wake up on January 1st already on the path to doing something you want to do in the New Year.

It would feel pretty great, wouldn’t it?

Use this feeling during and after you read this post to keep yourself moving forward. When you attach a feeling to why you want to do something it solidifies it that much more.

Use today or the days ahead to think deeply about the aspirations you have for yourself and your life in 2023. Take a look at what worked and what didn’t for you in 2022. Think about what you want to shift in a new direction. Or, is there something new that you want to learn or add to your life?

HOW TO MOVE INTO THE NEW YEAR WITH INTENTION

The title of this blog post includes the word intentional so let’s start by defining intention.

Intention: an act or instance of determining mentally upon some action or result.

To do things with intention requires thought vs. just winging it or moving through the motions and hoping you accomplish what you set out to do. In my opinion, intention is the key to making sure we accomplish everything we set out to do, not only in our day-to-day lives, but also with our long-term goals, dreams, and aspirations.

We are all getting pulled in multiple directions and can be highly distracted by this modern world. This makes it easy to move through life day to day just moving through the motions without thinking about why we do what we do. When we are intentional about what we do or the goals and aspirations we have for ourselves it helps us to create focus at the moment we are doing something as well as remind us of the following things.

  • Intention reminds us of who we are.
  • Intention reminds us of what we want to do.
  • And, most importantly intention reminds us of WHY we want to do it.

Okay, let’s take some time to talk about the last one quick and we will come back to in later in this post. Defining the “WHY” behind what we are setting out to do.

Defining your “WHY” is critical in every aspect of your life. When we define our “WHY” and come back to it often it will keep us moving forward. This will give us the motivation we need to follow through on what we want to accomplish.

Grab a pen and paper and slowly read through the following list of 5 questions. Jot down your thoughts on the questions that resonate with you most. You don’t need to answer all of them.

Think about just one or maybe two things that you would like to either accomplish or see changed in the new year. These are probably things that come to mind easily. They are more than likely things that have been in the back of your head for some time. Don’t overthink it! Select something you feel you will be able to take baby steps on in December.

Keep in mind that people tend to set way too many goals for themselves which then leads to them not sticking to any. It’s not about the number of goals and aspirations you have for yourself. Instead, it’s about the small consistent steps you take each day that will lead to substantial results over time.

5 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF AS YOU MOVE INTO 2023

Use these questions to brainstorm and with intention think about what you want to work towards come 2023.

  1. What goals and aspirations do I have for myself? What do I want to accomplish next year?

  2. What things have worked for me this year that I want to continue and what things do I want to do differently?

  3. Who do I want to impact? Do I want to impact just me or are there people in my life that will be impacted as well?

  4. Are there any habits I want to break free of and are there new habits I want to create?

  5. And lastly, how do I want to feel at the end of December heading into January?

DEFINING YOUR “WHY”

Now that you have identified one or two things and created some intentional thoughts around these things, it’s time to define our “WHY”.

Identifying your WHY and continuing to come back to it can be the catalyst for real and lasting change in your life. This is a step that often gets missed when it comes to working towards change in our lives.

10 WAYS DEFINING YOUR WHY WILL HELP YOU ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS AND ASPIRATIONS
  1. Your why will help you to stay focused and keep you passionate about achieving your goals and aspirations.
  2. Your why will help you to gain full clarity on why you are doing what you are doing. It will help you identify the real reason behind it.
  3. Your why will help you to feel more satisfaction as you progress.
  4. Your why will help guide your values and decisions related to your goals and aspirations.
  5. Your why will help to increase your trust and faith in what you are capable of.
  6. Your why will help to increase flow vs. fight.
  7. Your why will help keep you moving in the right direction.
  8. Your why will help motivate you.
  9. Identifying your why will take the guesswork out of doing what you are doing. It will ensure there is no hesitation or overthinking.
  10. Finally, if you fall off track, remembering your why will help you get back on track. Remind yourself of your why daily and I promise it will keep you heading in the right direction.

One of the first exercises I do with all of my coaching clients is to define your “WHY” when it comes to healing. I ask them to think about why they want to heal and get healthier. Getting clear about the why behind what they are doing ensures they are continually taking steps that serve them. This is their true reason for doing the work they are doing.

BABY STEPS

The last thing we are about to talk about is baby steps. People tend to set too many goals for themselves, especially at the start of a New Year which almost always results in overwhelm. When we get overwhelmed the majority of the time we don’t do anything. Doing nothing is certainly not the way to help us get closer to what we want to accomplish.

Think about the small steps you can take in December that will over time lead to meaningful change. Small consistent steps lead to big results long term.

For the one or at most two things you came up with after answering the 5 questions above think of one small thing, you can do in December to get started. So, using the exercise example again. In December you could goal yourself with 3 workouts a week for 15 minutes each. Then in January you could increase your time or number of workouts a week and so forth continuing to tweak throughout the year.

CHECK IN WITH YOURSELF

Before January gets here at the end of December take a moment to reflect and celebrate your wins. Checking in with ourselves is so critical when we are working towards something.

As we check in, we should both be real with ourselves and celebrate what worked. If we are not sticking to what we set out to do then we should evaluate the why behind it. Ask yourself what is not working and what tweaks can I make?

And don’t forget to acknowledge and celebrate your wins and accomplishments. It can be human nature to just focus on the negative or what did not work. However, be sure to take time to honor yourself and the work you put in during December.

So how can you use this information after December? You can come back to the 5 questions and defining your “WHY” whenever you want. Goal and aspiration setting should not just happen at the start of the new year but should be something we are consistently doing and tweaking throughout the year as we grow and lives evolve. I recommend checking in and tweaking what you are doing at the beginning of each month. I truly believe this will help to keep the momentum moving throughout the entire year. And will ensure consistency which is the key to long-term success.

In Love, Health + Gratitude,

Katie

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