Happy New Year 2020!

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit.”   —Aristotle

Make this New Year a great year by living your life well every day.  I have put together a list of good advice that I have come across over the years to consider as you go forth into another New Year.

Good advice:

1. Live in the moment. By all means have long term goals but then avert your attention and focus back to today. Be fully present in your life and don’t check out of life and live for a future that hasn’t arrived yet.
2. Give up comparing your life to others. We are all here to accomplish different things at different times. Success is not liner and success isn’t necessarily financial stability or a full social calendar either. The more you are true to yourself, the less you will worry about what others are doing. You might rejoice in their successes but you won’t use it as a competition or a reinforcer to remind yourself that you are failing.
3. Stop overthinking. When you are in your mind you are in ‘enemy territory’. I like that saying as I have found personally, and in my professional work, that people can be very hard on themselves and tend to default to negative, self critical thinking. Use your thinking time to find solutions and make action plans. The moment you find you are ruminating over the same topic without much progress it is time to distract yourself and do something else.
4. Maintain balance in your life. It is hard in modern times to find time to pamper ourselves and when we do we tend to invariably feel overwhelmed with guilt. Part of honoring and loving ourselves is accepting that we deserve love and care and that we owe it to ourselves to spoil ourselves – take a holiday, go for a massage…everything should have it’s place and a clear even balance between work and play must be followed if you want to function optimally in life. Get used to rejecting guilt – a wasted emotion that you can choose to reject.
5. Open your mind to the new possibilities that lie in the unknown. Be willing to try new things. Make a conscious effort to get out of your comfort zone; this can include pursuing new career/job opportunities or learning/skill activities that you may have never considered before. It can also include unexplored relationships or—for that matter—even new types of food and entertainment. With the right perspective, you can consider stepping outside of your box of your known world as a great opportunity and welcome it with open arms.
6. Forgive. As long as you live in a human skin, forgiveness is the one practice that you’ll need to master because nothing will keep you stuck in the past more effectively than resentment and non-forgiveness. Think of it this way: What (or who) you don’t forgive, you drag into the new year with you. To forgive is to erase the negative energy that keeps you from entering the new year with a clean slate; this includes forgiving yourself as well.
7. Set realistic goals & write them down. Goal setting is a vital component of creating anything new. However, it’s important not to set yourself up for failure by declaring goals that are so lofty—so far out of your box—that you know, in your heart, can never be reached. The practice is to come to the edge of your comfort zone and lean over just enough to make yourself uncomfortable, taking small, achievable steps that allow you to see still the possibility of arriving at the finish line. 
8. Have more fun and laugh a lot. Be adventurous, be daring and learn to try new things regularly. How else will you learn about your strengths and weaknesses? Get out of your comfort zone and meet others, try things you feel scared of. This is the best way to conquer fear and gain confidence and you will be able to look back on your life with fewer regrets and “what ifs”. Life doesn’t have to be that serious…