With a new decade at hand, here are 10 lessons we’ve learned about planning for the new year, starting with letting go of the extra and getting back to the every day.
With the turn of the clock on December 31, not only will we be welcoming a new year but a new decade too. There’s something so complete about starting a fresh ten year run in front of us. Funny how life works. In the moments, days, and sometimes even years, not much seems to change. But looking back these past 10 years, we quickly see how much has indeed changed, and how much still can.
It’s a good reminder that life doesn’t happen in the big, grand moments.
For Alexa, the biggest changes of the past decade occurred in the day-to-day. Here’s what this past decade of living has taught her.
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If I’m honest, the vision of where I thought I’d be in 2020 is similar, but not exactly, where I am. But isn’t that life? No matter how much we like to control it, there is still an element of mystery.
Ten years later, I’d like to say I arrived to this place by meeting resolutions and checking off goals. But, I think the more accurate truth is it was less about controlling the big picture and more about what happened in the everyday rhythms.
These lessons I’ve learned are what I’m taking with me to plan the big picture for the new decade, realizing I can shift my perspective from what I think I need to accomplish to knowing how much life I want to live. It’s time to set aside the big resolutions and the hard blueprints, and go back to the sketch. It’s time to make the return to living my real life.
With that, here are ten big lessons I learned in the last ten years and how I’m using them to enter this new decade.
Lesson 1: Resolutions are Dumb
For lack of a better phrase, resolutions are dumb. Resolutions don’t work. Resolutions are based on the perception of who we think we need to be, not who we want to be. Let go of resolutions and instead lean into the concept of nourishing who you are. Get to know yourself and what you really want in life (success? energy? relaxation? belonging? love?) and do more of that.
Lesson 2: It Only Works If It’s Realistic
It’s easy to look at different ideas and systems and see the good in them. It’s an entirely different story to look at these systems through the lens of where you actually are in life. Make sure that the change you envision fits into your real life scenario. If you have a full-time job and a family entrenched in their own lives and community, escaping to a beach life in Mexico may not be totally realistic. Not yet anyway. Change doesn’t happen in the 180-degree moves, but with methodical shifts. If it doesn’t fit, it won’t stick.
Lesson 3: Self-Awareness is Key
You have to know yourself enough to see what you really need. Living in the self-help age that we do, it’s essential to sort through the differences of what you need and what you want. Even more, do your wants fit your lifestyle? Working to achieve your wants can turn into a cycle of overwhelm and unhappiness for things and situations you simply don’t need.
Lesson 4: Happiness Isn’t Learned It’s Lived
Happiness isn’t something you have to earn or work for. Happiness is a choice. Stop waiting to be happy and start living happy in life’s every day moments.
Lesson 5: Extraordinary is Found in the Ordinary
We all want to live an extraordinary, purposeful life. But too often we miss the extraordinary moments by becoming blinded by the extra frills thought to make events seem more special and significant. But really, the extraordinary is found in living the ordinary. Invest your full attention and appreciate the everyday.
Lesson 6: Stop Fixing and Start Filling
We’re problem solvers by nature, naturally in tune to fixing problems. But looking inward and attaching this mindset to personal growth suggests fixing ourselves makes us unworthy. But when you replace the fix-it mindset with a fill-it mindset, that undeserving perception goes away. For a healthy attitude to grow, look at your personal changes as filling your cup instead of fixing it.
Lesson 7: Trust the Process
Trying to manage things out of our control only leads to anxiety, fear, and exhaustion. We can’t control it all. The most freeing gift is to learn to let go of the control and trust the process instead.
Lesson 8: Prioritize Yourself
You can only get as far as your body will take you. The hustle may have worked for the past decade, but at some point, that spark has run it’s course, leaving many of us worn out and burnt out. Instead, what changes occur when you prioritize yourself? Practice self-care, schedule fun into your life, and get out and live. You are only as good as your body is healthy. Take care of yourself.
Lesson 9: Confidence is Born from Action
Like eye color or the scent of a rose, I used to believe confidence just magically appeared as if engineered in our DNA. But what I’m learning about confidence is that it doesn’t come from perfection or being naturally gifted. Confidence isn’t a mask. Confidence is born in daily actions—no matter how scary they may be. Confidence is trying new things, attempting, failing, and getting back up again. Confidence is action.
Lesson 10: Less Extra More Every Day
You don’t need anything extra to live a life of purpose. Fancy tools, apps, that magic number of followers on social media, or the latest magic bullet will not be the key to your happiness. Life isn’t about the fluff and extra. It’s about living with joy and finding appreciation in the small things, in what you already have.
As they say, the days are long, but the years are short, and a new decade is an excellent reminder to this.
The question is, how are you going to go into the new decade?
This year we hope you focus less on the extra and more on the everyday.
We hope you choose to live the coming decade with joy, happiness, and love. Who knows? You may find that what you’ve been working and waiting for is already right in front of you.
No matter where you want to be in the next ten years, it all happens in the everyday moments.
Soak it in, every moment of every day. Time matters, and it’s the one thing you won’t get back.
Live In The Every Day
Need help getting rid of the extra to live more in the every day? The Nourished Planner will walk you step-by-step to break down your daily habits to create healthy rhythms and reach all of your life goals. Finding a better life is only as good as the one you choose to create. The methods in the planner help you focus on both the goal, and living a fulfilling life in the every day.
If you want to start planning for a new year, goal setting and goal-reaching, check out the Nourished Planner here.
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