5 Tips to Live Your Best Life in 2021
The new year is here! And with a new year comes new hope for good things, fresh ideas and opportunities, and a reset to do things better and achieve those goals! Another common new year practice is New Year’s Resolutions. Unfortunately, most find themselves at the end of the new year feeling the weight of failed resolutions, and, often, a new resolve to accomplish the failed resolution. Why do most New Year Resolutions fail? Because it takes more than a decision. And I’m going to show you what you need to make sure 2021 is your best year yet!
The 5 Tips
Create a specific and detailed vision. This is the most important step because without a specific and detailed vision, it’s impossible to train your subconscious. And notice the words “specific” and “detailed.” A generalized vision creates a generalized approach to life meaning no real change occurs because the necessary signposts and boundaries to your decisions and thoughts are missing. It’s like trying to drive to a destination absent signs, your GPS, and even a destination! The specifics and details are your blueprint to the life you’re building. If something tries to insert itself into your blueprint that doesn’t fit, you’ll notice it fast and be able to say, “No,” more quickly and easily.
Learn how your subconscious works. I’m sure you’ve heard of the Titanic, and you’ve, probably, seen the movie. One of the most fascinating aspects of the story to me is that the Captain ignored common sense because he believed his own press. I believe one statement was, “Even God can’t sink this ship.” Several warnings and sightings of icebergs were ignored until THE iceberg brought the ship down. The Captain knew that the largest part of an iceberg is what’s unseen. The subconscious works the same way. The current state of your life is controlled by the unseen state of your subconscious—good or bad. If you want to change your life, you must first change your subconscious by giving it the data you want it to have. You see, your subconscious is like a computer. Garbage in. Garbage out. It can’t process whether the data is good or bad. It simply follows directions. And, here’s the kicker: if you give it bad data and then try to accomplish the opposite, it will actually resist you, which is why step one is so important because a detailed, specific vision retrains your subconscious.
Stop self-sabotage. Self-sabotage is centered in the subconscious as discussed in step two. But another source of self-sabotage is your inner scripts. I like to call these your “mental brew.” This mental brew can come in the form of ripples or waves. Ripples are those “undercurrent thoughts” that seem normal and go unnoticed until you start having problems. Then you encounter waves, which are thoughts and circumstances that are significantly impacting your life in a negative way. Use your scripts as mentors meaning allow the collision with thoughts that no longer serve you well (good or bad) to alert you to their influence and begin to shift the narrative.
Create hope. One of the easiest ways to create hope is through an aspiration journal. I learned this from my kettlebell coach and friend, Greg McNeil of Coaches Korner. Aspiration is one of the most powerful motivators (even over pain). On a scale of 1-10, only those things that are an 8-10 should be in your aspiration journal. You then take one of those and flesh it out with specifics and details. You can do that daily or weekly if a long-term goal until it’s fulfilled. What this does is create hope (a.k.a. expectation), but it also retrains your subconscious by creating a mental picture so strong you begin to live it.
Utilize the Three to Thrive Technique. I first learned this from Lance Wallnau, a very successful business consultant. Here’s the general idea: you need three things to accomplish your goal—knowledge, skill, and personality awareness. Knowledge is the gathering and research of facts, truths, and principles you need to accomplish your goals or projects. Books. Google research. Mentoring. Courses. Skill is the ability that comes from the knowledge and practicing what you learned. Personality awareness is an assessment of your strengths that will help you and any weaknesses that might hinder you. It’s important to understand that any strength overextended becomes a weakness, so be alert for those, too.
In Summary
I hope you see that a mere resolution on New Year’s Day isn’t enough. A quality decision is the first step, but to end 2021 with actual results and the life you wanted a reality, you must have a vision, a plan, execute it, and deal with any obstacles, whether internal or external, as they pop up.