A Formula For 2021

As 2021 begins for many this an opportunity for a new beginning. Many will use this date as an opportunity to facilitate change but most will fail.

Just like I did for many years, they will fail without a clue and my hope with the post is to help you come up with a formula that will help you succeed where you have failed for many years.

I want you to say goodbye to an old you and embrace the new you.

Here we go...

As a culture we obsess over seasons, thinking that’s what’s going to facilitate change in our life. I've had a lot of people tell me they can't wait for 2020 to end as if the change of calendar is going to miraculously end the pandemic.

I understand the sentiment but unfortunately, that’s not how life works. It’s the meaning we give to the season that facilitates change.

The act of making a new year resolution is only as good as the why behind the resolution.

2021 is just a random number we humans use to make sense of life. Unless you change, nothing will change. The pandemic will not mysteriously disappear, your problems will still be there and the life you had in 2020 will still be waiting for you.

Think of time as a ruler, it helps us measure the beginning and end of life.

Time in essence is just a tool that gives us a historical framework in which things happen, there’s nothing transformational about it.

Time can't do anything, it's just is.

The reality is there are no points that exist in the universe; therefore there is no time but just our interpretation of reality.

There is only now.

We experience everything now, not in the past, and not in the so-called future, only now. Yesterday is a memory and the future does not exist until we create it.

It’s not the seasons ( time) that usher in change but our actions. You see “to every season there’s a thing.” not to everything there is a season.

It’s the thing you do that will bring about the new season for your life. Not a new year, spring, summer, winter etc..but your decision to act and the meaning you give to your action is what will facilitate real lasting change.

A desire to change is a starting point but unless it’s anchored by intention nothing will change. You will end up in the same place a year from today.

Here’s a formula that I believe can help you to have the best year ever:

Clarity + Motivation + Identity = Action

Clarity

First figure out what you want, have a clear picture of the desired outcome. Be clear and be specific. This is a concept of beginning with the end in mind. Wake up every morning and picture this in your mind's eye. You are not chasing but surrendering to the outcome.

Motivation

find out why you want it. This is not some surface-level why. It has to be visceral and real. For example, my Why is my family and the people that I’m called to serve. I wake every morning with this why in front of me. I think about what would happen to my clients if I don’t show up every day as the best version of myself. I look at the picture of my kids and remind myself why I’m doing what I’m doing. Your “Why” has the be the thing that will allow you to keep moving forward and not quit when things get really difficult.

Identity

This one is really hard, ask yourself who you need to become in order to experience your desired outcome. This all about dying to your old way of thinking, seeing and interacting with life. It’s completely divorcing yourself from the person you are today. This is what we call identify shifting. It’s intentional and purposely behaving as the person you are becoming long before you see any evidence of the transformation. This will require faith, to see your life not as it is but what it’s becoming.

Actions

The when and how is a byproduct of having a clear intention. You’ll begin to see exactly the person, tools, strategies, systems that you will need to get to your desired goal. Instead of being driven by the When and How the When and How will begin to show up for you. When we have clarity God will begin to bring the necessary resources to accomplish the task.

This is the concept of living by addition rather the will power. You see willpower is finite and will eventually run out, but having a clear spiritual vision will pull you towards your higher calling even when things get really difficult.