2014 will be here before you know it.
Have you slowed down enough to imagine what you want for the next twelve months? And have you reviewed how the last twelve months have been for you?
Maybe you’ve had a stellar year, if so, I’m happy for you. It’s easier to expect more “success” when you can look back and easily see a track record of success. If that describes you, now is the time for you to challenge yourself and reach new heights.
How can you become healthier, happier and develop a deeper sense of purpose and fulfillment? How can you enjoy life more, give more to yourself–and as a result, have more to give to others?
2013 has been spectacular for me in so many ways, but I remember not too many years ago, it was a different picture. I won’t go into details here, but I didn’t just have a “dark night of the soul,”–I had dark years of the soul.
If that is where you feel you are, even if on a lesser scale, this post is for you. If you feel stuck or frustrated–or if you’ve been running on fumes–I know what that’s like.
If you’ve had a tough year and it’s been hard for you to imagine things turning around for you, really turning around, it’s time to get a new strategy.
The strategy I’m talking about is on the mental, emotional and spiritual plane. This new way of thinking involves realizing that our outer circumstances are clues for what is going on within us.
Have you been hypnotized by your circumstances, thinking, “I’ve done everything I can do and I
Stephen Covey, Ph.D, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, said something like “When we think our problems are the problem, that’s the problem.”
Our problems aren’t really money problems, lack of sales, relationship problems, conflict at work, conflict at home, anxiety, depression–or other things we routinely label as the problem. They seem to be the problem–but they’re not.
When we think our problems are external, we go to work on our circumstances. That’s understandable.
It’s also backwards.
To make things change on the outside, we have to begin work on the inside. “As within, so without.”
We are talking about your beliefs here–your beliefs about yourself, your self-worth, and about how much power you feel you have or don’t have. And the self-worth aspect is bigger than most of us realize.
Do you really feel deserving of all the abundance and good that is waiting for you to receive? Do you feel incredibly good about yourself?
It’s almost impossible to elevate our outer circumstances when we’re feeling down about ourselves. Success doesn’t breed happiness; it’s the other way around–happiness fosters success. But many of us are still trying to criticize ourselves into doing better.
This can be tricky. We don’t want to think we’re critical of self or that we’re too hard on self. We think the problem is something else.
We think what we need to do is to work harder, to be more disciplined–or that we need to just quit making excuses for ourselves. But haven’t you already “been there and done that?”
All change begins with self-awareness. We need to look inside and make shifts there. I don’t have a formula to share with you to do what I’m talking about. When someone talks to me about coaching, they almost always ask how I’m going to help them change in the areas they want to transform.
I can give them some generalities, but not specifics. The reason for that is coaching is very personal and has to be designed for each person I work with. But one thing I know: the real work is done within. That’s the fastest way to change our outer circumstances.
Expecting the best for 2014 has to come from within, not from everything on the outside being the way we would like them to be.
Categorized in: Articles, Leadership, Life, Mastering Emotions, Self-Esteem/Self-Worth, Self-Improvement
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