8 Things for Entering the New Year Successfully
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Want to 2023 to be better than 2022? Do you want to make sure you are starting fresh, with a a clear vision and a new attitude in 2023? If yes, then this episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast is for you. I share 8 things you need to consider before entering into the new year. I suggest taking notes because this episode is filled action items and golden nuggets you definitely will want to look back on.
What I discussed:
Reflect on what your goals were last year and whether or not you reached them.
Problem solve last year’s obstacles so you can avoid them this year.
Don’t let 2022 define your 2023
Define your priorities.
Don’t fall for quick fix solutions.
Set your new goals
Don’t bombard yourself with a thousand new habits.
Write letters to your future self.
Link mentioned in this episode:
Episode 271: 8 Things You Need to Do to Achieve Your Goals
Episode 86: 7 Steps to Setting (And Actually Reaching) Your Goals
If you want more from me, be sure to check out:
Instagram: @embraceyourreal | @movementwithjulie
Transcript:
Hey there, beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter. A podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I issue a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get hugs, girl.
Hello and welcome to another episode on the Embrace Your podcast. If you want 2023 to be better than 2022, listen up. I have an episode for you. I want to share with you eight things that you need to consider before entering into the New Year. And I suggest that you take notes because this episode is going to be action packed, filled with golden nuggets that I think that you'll want to have in front of you, especially as you kind of go into the strategic next year. Planning. Before we dove in, though, I want to share this reveal comes from Nicole Breedlove. She gave a five star review and said Authentic love, Julie's authenticity, sharing her faith and helping women see the positive side of everything from their body to food to hard things in life. I love this. This is short, simple and straight to the point. And I'm so grateful that you sent this review in. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day, Nicole, to send this in. If you haven't already read it and read the podcast. My one ask of you if this podcast has helped you in any way to scootch over to Apple Podcast type and embrace your email. First, make sure to subscribe so that you never miss an episode as a plus sign in the top right corner, and then you can go down on that page and interview. It really does help us out and it also helps other women who are stumble upon the podcast, whether it's from a recommendation or it's from a recommended page, and they're able to see kind of how this podcast is helping people to see if it's right for them. So thank you in advance for doing that. Okay, let's dove in to the eight things for entering the New Year successfully.
Number one, reflect on your goals and what they were last year and whether or not you reach them. So at this time last year, what did you hope that you would accomplish by this time of this year? Do you remember what your goals were that you set for yourself for the New Year's resolutions that you declared? I want you to reflect on these things by asking yourself a few questions. Number one, did you reach these goals? Plain and simple? If not, are these still goals that you need to try like that you want to still be reaching? Or is it necessary for you to accomplish them? Do you still feel passionate about it? I think that this question is super important to ask because sometimes we kind of hang on to old goals simply because we think we need to follow through on that. But here's the thing it's okay to change your goals. It's okay to realize that you maybe are not passionate about that anymore. Life circumstances changed, and it's not something that you feel is feasible or not, something that you want to pursue anymore. It's okay, right? Just because we set a goal once doesn't mean that we have to accomplish it if we're not passionate about it anymore. But I want you to be honest with yourself about your goals and ask yourself if it's still a goal that you want to reach and also why you didn't reach them. And if you didn't reach the goal, you need to know why you didn't reach the goal.
Which kind of leads me to number two, which is problem solve last year's obstacles so that you can avoid them this year. So let's say that you had some goals that you wanted to reach in 2022, but you didn't reach them. Maybe you want to change your body composition, maybe you wanted to change your financial situation. Maybe you wanted to be more intentional in your relationships. You have the goal in mind that you had initially. I want you to ask yourself, why didn't you reach that goal? Why weren't you able to build the body that you wanted, or X, Y, and Z? You fill in the blank of whatever goal it is. Why weren't you able to execute on reaching that goal? Was it your discipline that lacked? Was it your follow through that maybe needs work? Was it your plan of action that requires adjustments? Was it other things in life that got in the way? Was it your commitment to not making it a priority? There are countless reasons as to why you didn't reach your goals, but you need to figure out if these are goals that you still want to reach. But don't stop there. Once you figure out kind of if these are goals that you want to reach, you have to figure out, okay, why didn't I reach it? What are the obstacles? What are the obstacles that came in my way? And maybe I didn't plan the obstacle and so therefore I didn't have a solution and I just kind of let it derail me or kind of just ask yourself, like, if this obstacle comes up in the future, what am I going to do? Because obstacles will always stand in the way. If you don't have a solution for them, they're not just going to magically disappear, especially when you're pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone. The obstacles will come because your body is designed to keep you in a comfortable state. Right. And so maybe, for example, if you were always tired after worked and you just consistently skipped your workouts, that obstacle is not just going to go away, but you have to figure out a solution to that obstacle. Or maybe you're like, Man, I just, I just. There's never enough money. There's never enough money. I'm telling you, there's never going to be enough money. But it's you prioritizing certain things. We agree. And Joshua is our money guy in our relationship. He has all of our money in terms of like a spreadsheet, but we go off of a zero based budget. So like every single penny that we intake on a monthly basis is accounted for. And that includes savings. That includes fun. Money. That includes. Entertainment. That includes. Everything. But at the end of the budget it's zero, meaning that every single dollar was accounted for. And I'm telling you, unless you head late, you really take your goals and you lean into them head on. You're always going to have obstacles as you have to ask yourself, How can I overcome this obstacle? Not if, but when it comes.
Number three Don't let 2022 define your 2023. This is really, really important, especially if you didn't reach your goals in 2022. That is okay. You have to come to terms with that. This does not mean that you're never going to reach your goals. This doesn't mean that you're incapable of reaching them and it sure as heck does not mean that you should give up on your goals. Maybe this year you made a lot of mistakes. Maybe you weren't the person that you wanted to be. Maybe something happened that you weren't anticipating. And that's okay. You do not need to let those things define you and what you're capable of achieving. What matters is that you are committed to making the changes now, and you're committed to making those changes in the future. Maybe this year wasn't the time. Maybe next year's timing is going to be much better for you. Maybe you just weren't ready to commit. Maybe the goal actually isn't the goal that you need to reach. There are so many different reasons as to why you didn't reach your goal. It could just mean many different things, right? But one thing I want to tell you is it does not mean that you aren't capable of reaching your goals. What you didn't accomplish this year does not define your capabilities, your self-worth or anything about you. Learn from your mistakes and move on. I believe in you. Now it's time for you to believe in yourself.
Number four Define your priorities. Many times when we don't reach the goals that we wanted to reach, it's because we had our priorities off right. Many times we have a list of top priorities, but when we actually sit down to see what we're using most of our time with, we realize that those aren't actually priority priorities in your life. You're not prioritizing them. So you need to sit down right now and figure out like what actually matters most to me and then kind of audit how much time you're actually spending on those things. Are you actually prioritizing them? If not, what are you prioritize over those things and how can you start prioritizing the things that actually matter to you over the things that really don't matter in the long run? If something really is a priority, you need to treat it as a priority. There is a difference between thinking something is important and actually prioritizing it in your life. Like that, saying actions always speak louder than words. You could say X, Y and Z is a priority. But if I looked at your and I took an inventory of your time, I will tell you immediately. Yes or no. That's a priority in your life, right? If you have a goal to reach, you need to figure out how to make it a priority in your life. How can you make it a priority to execute on the things that you need to do in order to get closer to that goal, I need you to audit how much time you're spending and see if it aligns to what matters most to you. Once you do this, then you'll be able to successfully enter 2023 with a clear idea of how you're going to prioritize the things that matter most.
Number five don't fall for quick fix solutions, please. I know I had to include this in the episode, but I know that so many women are going to try a diet once 2023 hits. So please let me repeat, do not fall for those quick fix solutions. I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Diets are a quick fix because of how quickly you see the results from them. It's honestly just as quick, if not quicker, that you will lose those results. Because here's the truth quick fix solutions do not last. They are just that they are quick fixes. It fixes your solution temporarily, but it will not fix it in the long term. That's just what a quick fix is, right? They're not meant to give you. They are meant to give you quick results. But trust me when I say you will likely lose that result just as quickly. So here's my advice to you. Focus on establishing habits that you can see yourself doing five, ten, 15 years from now. If you can't picture yourself continuing to cut out carbs consistently for the next ten years, then it's not a habit. And you should cut it out right now. Building the body that you want, maintaining it long term. This actually requires you to establish establish healthy habits that can you can easily stick to in the long term. Right. It's all about making it a lifestyle, establishing a lifestyle that you enjoy, not one where you feel deprived. So please keep this in mind when setting New Year's resolutions.
Number six, set new goals. I think it's so empowering to live a life where you're constantly working towards something that fulfills you, something that makes you better and better, whatever it may be. If you want to achieve something, then you need to make it a concrete goal with an action plan. So let's backtrack. What is a concrete goal? Well, it's a goal that has a specific outcome that you can clearly measure whether or not you've reached it. For example, working out more, although it sounds nice, it's not a conscious. Great goal. On the other hand, what is a concrete goal would be something like I want to work out four days a week for 30 to 45 minutes a day. That is a concrete goal. If you do not work out four days a week for 30 to 45 minutes a day, it's very obvious that you're not sticking to that initial goal that you set. Right. Once you have your concrete goal, it's then so important that you create action steps for executing your goal without action steps. How do you expect to reach your goal? So if I want to work out four days a week for 30 to 45 minutes a day, this is what I need to be doing X, Y and Z. Really creating that action plan along with that concrete goal is going to set you up for success. I talk about this a lot in episode 86. I will link it in the show notes below, but it's called Seven Steps to Setting and Actually Reaching Your Goals. Again, I will link it in the show notes, but that will help you put together your action plan for that concrete goal.
Number seven Don't bombard yourself with thousands of new habits. One of the biggest mistakes that I think we make is trying to commit to too many things all at once. Like once the new year. Once the New Year hits, many of us will try to implement ten new habits all at once, and then we get mad at ourselves if we fail to commit to all the habits, right? If we truly want to set ourselves up for success, we need to be realistic about how we can actually accomplish what we want to accomplish. So, yes, maybe you have ten habits that you want to implement, but please don't dump them on yourself all at one time. Pick two habits to start with. Commit to those two habits for a month or two and then start to habit stack, then start to build another two habits into your daily lifestyle. And then by the end of the year, you will have all of those ten habits mastered. Instead of trying to rush the process. I want you to take it step by step. Remember that you're in this for the long haul.
And lastly, number eight. Write letters to your future self. This is something that I have done a lot and I love it. Like I love writing to myself. Or it can also, if you don't want it to be like a proper letter, it can just be a journal and you can journal about the goals that you have or journal about where you want to be in three months or six months or nine months. It's amazing when I look back at my journals, whether it's like a specific letter that I wrote to myself or just kind of journaling, like what I'm going through and what my hope and what my prayers are for the next three to 6 to 9 months. It's awesome to look back on. And so I want you to document like, please do not think that everything needs to be perfect before you start documenting. There are so many times that I wish I had like documentation of something, but in the moment I was too scared. Or I was like, Now no, I need it to be more perfect, or I need to be more consistent in order for me to document. And I'm telling you the more documentation that you have. So whether that's filming, whether that is you writing something, please, please, please document the process. You will be so thankful and so much better off in the future. Looking back on it, it's awesome. It is so awesome and highly encourage you to do it as well as practice visualization. I've talked about visualization in my in some previous podcast episodes, but visualization is awesome because it allows you to see something in the future so crystal clear that your brain doesn't know what is real and what is vividly imagined. And so if your brain has already seen it, it's a lot easier to align your actions with that vision that you had. Thus, you're able to accomplish something with more ease because you've already seen it and you've already experienced it in this vivid imagination.
Okay, so let me quickly recap those eight things. Number one, reflect on what goal, what your goals were last year and whether or not you reach them. Just an honest kind of snapshot. Number two problem solve last year's obstacles so that you can avoid them this upcoming year. Number three, do not let 2022 define your 2023. Number four, define your priorities. Number five, don't fall for quick fix solutions. Number six, set new goals. Number seven, don't bombard yourself with thousands of new habits. And number eight, write letters to your future self or at the very bare minimum, please document. Take the progress photos. Take the videos. You will be so thankful for doing that. The two episodes that I mentioned in this episode that I want you to check out next are episode 271 eight Things You Need to Do To Achieve Your Goals. And also, Episode 86 seven Steps to Setting and Actually Reaching Your Goals. I will link both of those in the show notes below, but both of those episodes, I believe, will greatly help you enter into 2023, more successfully with a clear mind and a clear action plan. Again, I've linked them in the show notes that you can easily go tune in to those next. That is all that I have for today's episode. If you found this helpful, I would love for you to share it with a friend or a coworker or someone in your life. You can screenshot this and post it up on your story. You can also text someone. You can copy the link and send it to them in a text message. But I love hearing your aha moments. I love hearing your goals. So please tag me in your goals for 2023. I would love to celebrate them alongside of you. That is all that I have for today's episode. I love you so much and I'll talk to. Thanks. All right, sister. That's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so, Julie. A lot better. Yes. It's with an name in the middle for that daily poser about real talk. Healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing. Be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world and I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember, that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it.