One of my favorite things about the end of the year is not just all of the holiday fun, but also the ability for a clean slate. I think a lot of people really enjoy the idea of wiping away a year and starting over, especially if the past year was a particularly difficult one. I feel like this is why New Year Intentions are so fun for some people and why they get so excited. It is a time to start fresh and get back to basics. Right?
I think the “intention” is always there, but where the real problem lies is the follow through. The problem is how do you maintain those intentions and changes throughout the rest of the year. How are you going to get these goals to stick? I used to always have this problem. I would get all excited for this clean slate and I would set out all of these new goals for the New Year. I couldn’t wait to get it all started, and then by the time February rolled around, I was back to my old ways. It used to make me so sad. I would think, why couldn’t I do this? Why couldn’t I change things for the better. It wasn’t until I started using a specific tool, however, that I really began being able to maintain my goals throughout the year.
So, today, I am not going to talk to you about how to figure out your goals or what you should change for 2019, instead I am going to educate you on a tool I use to keep whatever intentions you would like to set, flowing through the entirety of 2019.
Okay, you ready to know what tool I use? It’s a game changer guys, they are called powersheets and I would be lost without them!
So, what are powersheets? Power sheets is a term coined by a company called Cultivate What Matters. They essentially help to keep you accountable 365 days of the year, instead of just writing out your goals on a piece of paper on New Years Eve and hoping they stick. You have a bit of homework in the beginning and this is to help ensure you are really choosing goals that are on your heart. When you go through each page of “prep work” you are doing some self-evaluation to really figure out what areas of your life need the most tending. You are asked to look for themes, evaluate areas you feel like need growth, and ultimately evaluate yourself. In this way, you are developing and uncovering “threads” that will ultimately become your part of your goals for 2019.
Once, you have done your internal work and you have uncovered the common threads, you then create an action plan. This is the beginning step in ensuring that these goals you are hoping to work on, don’t just fall flat. One of the biggest mistakes so many of us make when we are setting our New Year Intentions is that we write out what we want to accomplish, but we don’t figure out HOW we can accomplish that.
There is a reason, why you aren’t doing what you hope to be doing. For example, if one of your goals is to workout more in 2019, you can’t simply just say, workout 3 days a week and hope that by simply writing those words, it will happen. Instead, you need to first figure out WHY you aren’t working out. Is it time, is it accessibility, is it that you don’t know where to start? What are the reasons that are currently holding you back, then, how can we make this a reality day in and day out? Perhaps there isn’t a place close by to you, so you can only workout at home, but don’t know where to start. If that were the case, I would then decide okay, well I need to find a program I can do at home. But, maybe you don’t want a lot of equipment. Okay, I need an at home program that doesn’t require much equipment. Now, something that isn’t too much time because work is busy or I only get an hour to myself because of my three kids. Okay, so now we need an at home workout, little gym equipment, that is 20 minute workouts. Google that shit.
Once you have created your action plan, you can take it to your tending list. Your tending list is what you will use in the New Year to keep yourself accountable. Each month, I take about an hour out of my day (either at the end of the month or the beginning) and I write out my tending list. I look at the goals and action plans I created, and I write out what I want to work on. This page has space for monthly goals, weekly goals, and daily goals. I then tear out that page and put it somewhere I will see it everyday. In that way, I am always reminded of what I need to work on and I can see how I am progressing towards my goals.
Plus, the great thing about the powersheets, is that they provide all of this for you. They help you find your threads, they help you fill out your tending list, they make sure you are coming back each month to re-evaluate your goals.
After using the powersheets for the past few years, I have hit goals I never thought I would. I have begun slowly cultivating a life I am happy and excited to live and seeing how much I progress each year, makes me want to do even better each time I sit down. It is amazing to see now only what I accomplish, but also how much I have grown in this process.
For example, when I first sat down and did my prep work, I needed to work on 10 different areas of my life. Ten areas were lacking and it felt so overwhelming. But, each month I sat down and worked on the little things (read more, eat better, workout more, etc) and I made slow, but steady progress. This year, I sat down to perform my prep work, and there were only THREE areas I felt needed a lot of work. Three areas that I wanted to better cultivate. While, I do feel like this is just the season I am in, I am proud of the fact that I feel so comfortable and confident in the seven others. Seeing it on paper in that way, really helps me to put my life in perspective and realize that while there may be days that I struggle (as we all do), I am actually cultivating a beautiful life that I am happy and excited to live.
This year, instead of making New Year Intentions that fall flat by February, I encourage you to pick up some powersheets (they have 6 month options as well) and begin cultivating a life you want to live. I want you to dive deep and evaluate each area of your life and really figure out how you are going to implement change. Don’t let your goals be empty words, provide meaning and action behind them and I can promise you will carry these goals further than any year before.
Tag me on Instagram if you pick up some powersheets and I will be sharing more of my intention setting on stories this week!
**This post is not sponsored**
xoxo,
Melissa
