My inbox and social media are flooded with new year what are your goals? Or the word of the year is… For our circle of close friends, family members and clients we are focused on the new year BUT we break it down month by month.  I don’t know about you, but I can’t focus on just one word for the entire year, my life changes, circumstances change and our little world changes daily.  What once was a good word to focus on Jan 1st, it may need to change by March 1st.

What I encourage others when they are looking for a quick fix, or have all the motivation in the world TODAY is simple….. Focus on YOU, focus on what you want to do.  Not what you should do, or what others want you to do but what your mind, soul, and body are telling you.  For a really good friend when she asked for one simple word she could concentrate on each day, it is JOY.  For another it is peace or consistency is someone else.

The new year does not mean you should write down all these things that you know you will pitter out on so you can just beat yourself up to all over again by June.  It is literally out of control how much we make January 1st mean all new, all new diets, all new goals, all these crazy ass things we will chase after all year.  It’s great to list them, but did you list a strategy to go along with them?

For example let’s take the most popular item on everyone’s list, diet/lifestyle or losing weight. You might have lost 20 pounds, eat better, drink more water, cut out soda, cut out sugar or eat healthier foods.  So today you wake up, walk into your kitchen and guess the hell what. The same foods that you had in there yesterday are still lined on your counters, in your pantry and refrigerator.  Did you set yourself up for success or failure? Did you go buy yourself healthier foods to have out for yourself? Did you go buy fruits, veggies, high fiber foods, cut back on meats and replace your refrigerator with other options? Or did you just state “starting Jan 1st I am going on a diet and losing 20 pounds” and just not eat because you don’t have the things you need? Starving yourself isn’t the healthier way to go either.  You need to come up with a plan to keep you successful.  Substitute a large soda for a smaller one at first, or cut back from two cokes a day to one.  Substitute with water or flavored water, like a fresh squeezed lemon, lime or orange in the water.  Did you bother to look up high fiber foods to get the most out of your newly forming habit? Might as well go all in and research the foods you can eat and how some foods help actually curb your sweet tooth to help you along in your journey.

Reverse your thinking and add up how much you spend eating out, that was an eye-opener and stopped me in my tracks.  Every time I even thought of the habit of going to go get my favorite mocha I thought about how much I racked up with that habit and didn’t want to waste that much each month on that. There are so many ways to outsmart a habit and kick it to the curb.  You just have to set yourself up for success and learn you don’t need that much sugar daily.  When I would wake up every morning for a month and my first thought would be I really don’t need to drink those mochas anymore, they aren’t helping my body in any way, I literally fought myself for a month.  When I decided to look at that habit, listen to my body and mind and see how much I spent, it was a huge wake-up call and I was ready to release the habit!!

Today, set yourself up for success, get rid of what you can in your kitchen that no longer serves you on your quest for health.  If you picked business then look at the area you work in.  Is it set up for success? Do you have inspirational quotes? Do you have an organization? Do you have a plan written out in your planner? A daily log of what you can do each day? I recommend 5 things daily that are action steps for your business.  There are always at least 5 things you can do. Calls to make, networking with new people on your friends’ list, getting to know people as human beings, not to sell them something all the time.  Reach out to old friends a couple of times a week, check on them.

Above all make 2o20 the year you got to know and fall back in love with yourself, find your inner joy and love and let it shine.

Much love