Ditch Your "New Year's Resolutions" and Ask Yourself These Questions Instead...

"New year, new me, baby!"

How many times have we said this to ourselves (I know I'm guilty of it) as we make our new year's resolutions, only to break the promises we make to ourselves by the time March rolls around?

New year's resolutions are good in their intention, but they can get messy. Far too often, we set too big of goals and then become frustrated when are unable to achieve them. Now, I don't know about you, but I had a lot of expectations for 2020. This year has taught us to "expect the unexpected" and that sometimes things just don't go to plan.

This is why, instead of creating new year's resolutions for 2021, I am going to focus on reflecting on 2020 and the lessons I have learned from it. The questions below will help you discover your 2021 manifestations and require you to reflect on your greatest challenges of 2020.

I answered these questions in my journal at the end of 2019 and they allowed me to get clarity about just how much alcohol was effecting my life. I would even go as far to say that this "journal exercise" was what convinced me to quit drinking altogether (you can see my blog post on this here).

I also made a video this year on my YouTube Channel where I talked about the things I want to leave behind in 2020. You can check that video out here.

I encourage you to complete these questions in a journal (or even on your phone) so that you can refer back to them throughout the year and see the progress you've made.

What were my biggest accomplishments this year?

5 Best Days of the Year:

What do these five days have in common?

What did I learn this year?

Who do I need to forgive?

What do I need to take accountability for?

What were my biggest challenges?

What do I need to let go or give up?

Things that took up mental/physical space or energy?

What is the one thing I could do that would make the biggest difference?

What do I give 20% of my energy to, that makes up 80% of my day? (In other words, what is one thing you do each day that you KNOW makes the biggest impact on your day/makes you happy?)

After filling in your answers, take a minute to reflect. What do these answers have in common? What are the things you have control over? What are the things you can change? What are the things you should increase?

I sincerely hope that you find this exercise helpful and that it allows you to self-reflect during this chaotic time. As always, thank you for reading, happy journaling, and here's to a better 2021!

These questions were inspired by one of my favorite podcasts, "Manifest with Tori DeSimone". CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE EPISODE.