“We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” Edith Lovejoy Pierce

It’s that time of year again, where you look back on what has been and gone over the past twelve months, and look ahead to what a fresh New Year brings for you. But really, why is this time of year different to any other? Well it isn’t. New Year is just a date change, and time is just a concept invented as a unit of measurement. Like many things in life we end up unconsciously following the trends of society and our culturalisation, and setting New Years resolutions as if we can’t make positive changes at any other time. “Everyone else seems to be doing it” right?

Have you set any New Years resolutions?
Yes? Good. No? Good. The bottom line is that if you know where you want to go, and have worked out how you need to get there (well at least the first stages anyway), then all the New Year should bring is another time period to work towards your goals. New Years resolutions have a bad reputation anyway, as most of them fall by the wayside in the first few weeks of January. As a regular gym goer all year round, New Year is a time that I know when I hit the gym it will be full of people who have probably been members for years but only visit in the first few months of January, can’t remember how the machines work and think that spending 10 minutes on a bike and 30 minutes in the sauna is progress.

I have worked out what my priorities are. I have taken the steps of reviewing, recording and working towards my goals. I have declared my lifestyle project and I am trying my best to take the necessary action towards getting to where I want to be (I have both come a long way, and have a long way to go). The fact is I don’t need any new resolutions, I just need to do what everyone needs to do. Stop thinking, stop dreaming and start doing.

The Action Habit
So if you have to have a New Years resolution make it this. TAKE ACTION. Don’t set a new goal (unless you are due to do that anyway), why not just make sure that you take the actions that you need to now to get to where you want to be.

2 step plan for New Years:

All it takes to get your New Year off to a good start is:

1. Record or Review your Lifestyle Project
Have you already posted your Lifestyle Project? If not do so now. If you have review it and check that it is focused and relevant.

2. Go! Take action. Stop wasting time on meaningless tasks and take the actions necessary in your Lifestyle Project to get you to where you want to be.

Remember where you are now is a result of the actions you have taken in the past, and where you will be (and want to be) in the future is a result of the actions you take now. You New Years resolution won’t fall by the wayside if you link them to your goals, and make a priority in your life of getting yourself to where you want to be.

Let me know you progress in the comments below and stay subscribed for more productive lifestyle design tips.

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Free eBook and Book Launch

As you will know from the style and postings of my blog, I am a big fan of Leo Babauta of Zen Habits. Leo has a book coming out very well timed to deal with the continued apparent downturn in the economy and the New Year resolutions market. The Power of Less will I am sure be a fantastic book (unfortunately it is not out in the UK for a few months). If you read it before me and would like to post a review of it on my blog please do get in touch with me. Whilst waiting for the book Leo has released a free eBook and a number of Podcasts. I highly recommend them, you can download them all here on The Power of Less website.

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• Don’t forget to make sure that you are subscribed to win a Muji-Chrome notebook (competition runs in January)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Image by Christopher Chan on Flickr via Creative Commons