Get Into Your January Mindset

It’s the beginning of a new year and you’ve resolved to make this year better than the last. You’ve mapped out how you’ll achieve your goals for the year and you’ve got your goals written out and posted where you’ll see them. You’ve developed your plan of action for implementing your goals and you cleared off your desk to clear out your mind. So what’s the problem? Why are you still not in action?

Could it be your frame of mind? Your mindset? It’s tough to get back to the momentum you had prior to the end-of-year holiday season. You did a great job planning and getting your physical space in order. Now you’ve got to get your mental space in order. You’ve got to get a January mindset to be in action.

Here are four points to help you get into your January mindset so that you can make this year your best ever!

1) Carve out space and time to reflect and restructure.

So many interruptions in a day and no time, it seems, to stop and reflect. The last business day in December of each year is “No Interruptions” day. (Reference: Chase’s Calendar of Events – December) This day is set aside and designated for you to claim as your special day to hang the “do not disturb” sign – figuratively or literally – to keep family and colleagues from interrupting your life this one day.

It’s January, already and you missed that day? You’ve got another chance in February. February is National Time Management Month. (Reference: Chase’s, again.)

Take time out to look back on your goals and evaluate how you fared. Examine where you are today and what you need to do for the new year. Set new goals and milestones to reach to ensure that next year on “No Interruptions” day, you are satisfied with your results.

2) Nip at a nagging point.

Habits are hard to kick. Resolutions fail because we try to tackle too much at one time. Identify one thing you want to change or improve and make your goal to tackle that one thing. For example: say you want to be a more reliable person. Define what “more reliable” really means for you. Does it mean that you want to be on time for appointments more often than you are now? If so, then make a commitment to be on time for appointments 7 out of 10 times rather than the 2 out of 10 times you are now.

3) Free your family ties.

No, I do not mean to leave your family and abandon your obligations. By freeing your family ties I mean to identify one area where, right now, you feel a family member or friend is holding you back. Does someone owe you something? Are you letting someone stay with you who you feel needs to move on? Has someone told you that you cannot do something you think you can? Identify one item for now. Decide whether you benefit more from letting the situation stand as it is or from making a change. Be direct and initiate the change.

Sometimes you need help to get past a roadblock in your life, and sometimes that roadblock is the very entity – your family – to which you are closest. Only you can decide if you are going to take the steps you need to in order to move forward with your goals. While change may hurt in the short-term, a positive change is best for the long-term.

4) Look wider, still.

A song I sing in Girl Scouts is called “Look Wider, Still”. The words are:

“When you think you’re looking wide, look wider still,
Behold the world that lies outside your window sill.
All creation from the start becomes a wonderland,
For all who learn to lend a heart before they lend a hand.
And when you’ve looked the world around, then look once more,
And find the friendship to be found, beyond your door.
You will walk the earth with pride, and never look your fill,
When you look, and look wide, and look wider, still.”

What this means for getting into the right mindset for success is to step outside your mental and physical boundaries. Read a book you have not yet read. Listen to a music genre different from your usual. Introduce yourself to a stranger at a gathering you attend and strike up a conversation. Take public transportation to the opposite end of the route to see the world beyond your neighborhood. Try something new to see if you like it. Volunteer to help without a goal to get back in return.

When you look beyond your current boundaries, you grow a little at a time without even realizing it!

Get into the right mindset for success by adopting the points above that are right for you.