Starting Your 2023 with the 3 Crucial Steps to Set Your Year Up for Success

An unhealthy outlook to the year ahead can be avoided so you can finally get the results you want. 

Let me start by sharing a couple of stories to set the scene. 

Olivia felt quite nervous this going into 2022. She was not sure of what the year would bring.

The previous two years had been quite a disappointment for her. Throughout these years, she was not able to achieve any of her goals and resolutions. What makes her feel worse is that most of her work’s results are subpar and do not exceed her expectations. She feels fired up and driven in the first few months. However, her drive seems to wane in the middle of the year and, therefore, not being able to complete any of those resolutions. Because of this, Olivia feels disempowered and unmotivated to set any goals this coming year. She thought that she was not cut for success and, therefore, just settled with what she had.   

William, on the other hand, feels apathetic. He does not believe in "goal setting" and resolutions. He believes that you do not have control over your life and fate will decide whether you'll be successful in life or not. Although William feels miserable with the life that he has, he thinks that he cannot do anything about it and has surrendered everything to fate. 

How about you? Can you somehow relate to Olivia or William’s demise? 

If their experience somehow resonates with yours, then you, like them, may be setting up the rest of the year – or even your life  – for failure.  

The Importance of Goal Setting 

You need not surrender your life to fate. In fact, all human beings, including yourself, have the innate capacity to achieve great things. However, for you to do great things, you need to have goals and be able to follow through on them. 

You see, goal setting is essential for achieving success. You lose focus and direction when you don't have goals. Setting goals not only helps you to take charge of your life's course, but it also gives you a baseline for judging whether or not you are succeeding. 

Let this blog share with you the three crucial steps to take so you can surely follow through with your goals and set your year up for success: 

1. Assess Yourself — and have yourself assessed. 

A lot of people are excited to start their new year. They are eager to scrap off the memories of 2022 and move forward to 2023 with new goals in mind. They would like to pick up where they fell, move on, and start their year afresh.  

However, if you have this mindset, you are setting your year up for failure.

Although nothing is wrong with wanting to move forward, moving forward without self-assessment is a recipe for injury and disaster.  

It's like marathon runners; before getting into a race, they would first assess themselves -- and have themselves evaluated by their coach and a doctor -- to see if they are physically, mentally, emotionally and psychologically fit to run — and win — the race.  

Studies show that frequently assessing runners helps optimise their biomechanical function and improvement, reducing the risk of injury. 

The same principle goes in running the race of life. Self Assessment — and having yourself assessed — enables you to optimise your performance and decreases the chance of “injuring” yourself.  

Accurate Self Assessment is the ability to accurately examine yourself – knowing what you’re capable of and your strengths and limitations. When you have this competency, you will be able to: 

•   Reflect and learn from your experiences.  
•   Understand and know your talents and capabilities better; you are fully aware of what you can and cannot do.  
•  Be receptive to feedback, new viewpoints, continual learning, and self-development.  
•  Seek assistance from people with more experience, expertise, or talent. 
•   Identify and prioritise opportunities for improvement and change. 

• Show a drive to learn and improve. 

To improve in this competency, you can do the following developmental tips: 

•   Request input regularly and accept it without becoming defensive. 
•   Make it safe for others to give you feedback. Be open to fresh perspectives and learning. 
•   To understand your strengths and development potential, use an assessment tool such as Extended DISC. 
•   Examine your talents and shortcomings. 
•   Request feedback from others on your strengths and weaknesses. 
•   Maintain an open mind and a commitment to continuous learning, development, and progress. 
•   Allow people to experiment and foster a safe environment for modest risk-taking and failure.  
•   Take on new initiatives with caution, and create new goals and objectives. 

 So, before jumping on creating your goals and resolutions, end this year by accurately assessing yourself and having others evaluate you as well. 

Ask yourself and others the following: 

What are the things that I need to improve on? 

What did I do that worked? What did I do that did not work? 

What are my strengths and weaknesses? 

Once you have the answers to these questions, reflect on them and reflect on how you can utilise them to move forward. 

2. Acknowledge your achievements and celebrate progress.  

One of the main reasons people fail to achieve their goals is that deep down, they already think they are a failure. This mindset often comes from dwelling on past mistakes and taking losses to heart.  

Our minds are very powerful. Unfortunately, if you're like most people, you probably only spend a little bit of time thinking about how you think. 

However, your perception becomes your reality: You will restrict your potential if you make incorrect assumptions about who you are and what you can achieve. 

You see, your thoughts, emotions and behaviours are directly linked. Your thoughts are a driving force behind self-perpetuating cycles. What you believe has a direct impact on how you feel and behave. So if you think you are a failure, you will feel like one. Then you'll act like a failure, reinforcing your belief that you're a failure. 

So, how can you overcome this self-perpetuating mindset? 

You can overcome this with Personal Power.  

Personal power is confidence in yourself and an inner understanding that you can overcome life's obstacles and live the life you want. It enables you to conduct difficult conversations and communicate your truth calmly, honestly, assertively, and appropriately.  

People with this competency are confident in themselves. They can acknowledge their achievements and celebrate their progress. They know what they want in life, so they do not let their past mistakes and failures hold them back from getting up and starting over again. They instead use these failures as their fuel to success. People with high personal power define themselves from the inside out (“I’m capable,” “I’m good at managing setbacks,” “I’m pretty good at managing conflicts,” “I’m creative”) rather than from the outside in (“I’m a Vice President,” “I’m a banker,” “I’m a lawyer,” or “I’m a doctor”). They are also able to speak their truth with conviction.  

Indeed, personal power is a powerful competency. It is a force that propels you to move to greater heights.  

To develop this powerful competency, you can practice these 4ps: 

PRAISE Yourself. 

PRACTICE Assertiveness. 

PLACE Boundaries. 

PROGRESS Incrementally. 

(To learn more about personal power and these 4ps, read this blog: https://www.peoplebuilders.com.au/blog/taking-back-control-of-your-life) 

3. Develop Intentionality. 

Have you ever experienced getting so fired up at the beginning of the year and getting really excited to list down all those resolutions and goals, but you end up unable to achieve them?  

Well, you are not alone.  

The beginning of a new year is an ideal opportunity to start over, which is presumably why so many people set New Year's resolutions. The new year is a fresh start and an excellent opportunity to break old habits and build new routines. 

Of course, resolutions are far easier to make than to maintain. According to a study by the University of Scranton, 60% of New Year’s resolutions fail. Nearly one-third of them won’t make it to Valentine’s Day. 

So how do you keep the momentum going? 

Well, the secret is developing Intentionality.  

Intentionality is thinking and acting “on purpose” or deliberately. It also knows what it takes to control your outcomes and destiny. 

Without this competency, people will fail to set goals and adhere to them. This is because they are quite unsure of or easily become distracted from what they ideally want to achieve – whether that’s their ideal life, finding their ideal position or career, or being intentional in choosing friends or a mate. They allow themselves to be tossed about by the prevailing winds of life or the day because they are unclear about the outcomes they seek. 

Developing Intentionality will enable you to make decisions and take consistent action with your goals and values. Intentionality also enables you to manage distractions and be focused on your objectives and gives you the ability to achieve your goals and make things happen. 

So, adopt this belief that you are in control. Permit yourself to actively set an intention for what you want and go after it. Stay focused on your goals and intentions. If you are in a dilemma, step back and ask yourself: “What do I want to happen in my life?”. 

Take charge and choose to be in control of your life, your emotions and even your destiny! 

Become a victor instead of being a victim of your circumstances. 

We Are Made for Success 
 

Indeed, we can be in control of our lives and can achieve our goals if we have the intention to be this is because we all have the capacity to succeed.  

Therefore, as 2023 approaches, learn to value and enjoy life by allowing yourself to live in it actively. Set your year up for success by carefully assessing yourself, acknowledging your achievements, celebrating progress, and developing Intentionality.  

Have a wonderful New Year ahead! 

We Are Here to Help  

At People Builders, we have a team of expert trainers and coaches who can help you achieve your goals by helping you build the competencies we have talked about today. 

Contact us today for a quick chat to see how we can partner with you to train and coach you and your team.  

If you are interested in becoming certified to be a trainer and coach in Social and Emotional Intelligence, Applied Neuroscience, or Extended DISC, go to our People Builders Institute website.