My New Year Reset Routine

It's my favourite time of the year because it is the end of the year and I get to troll every one of you.?

Why??

I know you've probably listed out a bunch of resolutions to pick up in 2025, but we both know you'd stop them halfway through January or, worse, halfway through the first week in January.?

Look me in the eye and tell me I'm lying, you know I'm not.?

Every year, I troll people for making New Year resolutions that will not pass the first month.?

But I've had a change of heart.?

This year, I'm switching it up and showing you what I do instead of making unrealistic resolutions.?

Stay with me.?

First, I reflect.

At the wrap of the year, I take out my diary and write out details of the year I just lived.?

"2024, the year I experienced an immense mindset shift. 2024, the year I got realigned with my purpose. 2024, the year I got to see someone's true colours. 2024, the year I learned the art of detachment..."?

I keep going on and on until I have exhausted the list of experiences I had in the year, whether good or bad.?

Then I go through my past diary entries of the same nature to reflect on the previous years' growth and compare those growths to what the current year's looked like.?

This helps me see areas I developed or lacked, or slacked, and areas I need improvement. It also helps spotlight the changes I want to bring into my life in the coming year.?

Then I plan.?

With the knowledge of where I was a year ago and where I am now, I have a somewhat clearer vision of where I want to be by the end of the coming year.?

I bring out the pillars of my expected growth - spiritual, physical development, mental, career, and whatever else might have been highlighted during my reflection session. Then I set goals for each of those pillars.?

Maximum 4 goals, minimum 2 goals.?

I set Metrics.?

I just picked this up this year, but I'm going to put you on to this as well.?

So, we have 4 quarters in each year.?

January - March.?

April - June.?

July - September.?

October - December.?

So for each quarter of the coming year, I set a goal or two, e.g. Get 50 new subscribers on "A Smart Lifestyle" by the end of March.?

That is realistic and actionable because I know that all I have to do is build and be consistent at it. And since I've been trying my hands at consistency since the return of this newsletter, I know it is achievable.?

Next, I Act.?

I begin embodying who I want to be by developing the habits I would need to get to my desired position - daily devotional, frequent exercise, daily reading, writing my content ideas and developing them - whatever it is.?

Takeaway: I don't wait for the first of January before acting on my goals.?

When you get inspired and motivated, it's important to get to work so the sparks don't die out.?

Acting includes embodying the person I want to become in the new year.

I ask myself who my future self is, how she acts and what her routines and habits look like, then I write those down and start making conscious efforts to be like her. It is not just about seeing who I want to be but taking steps to become that person.

If her daily routine involves a daily worship session, I begin to do that. If it involves a one-hour writing session, I begin that. Whatever she does is what I start because if I take a break and wait till the new year, I would have lost motivation and other things would have popped up along the way, further wrecking the possibilities of making the lifestyle change I desperately needed.

I ask myself always, why wait till the new year when I can start now?

Then I make tweaks and adjustments where required

Sometimes having a smart lifestyle change involves cutting off habits, routines and most times, people. A couch-potato lifestyle obviously can't get me a job or a well-toned body, so that has to go.

Similarly, having a pessimistic person as a friend will put me at a risk especially since a maor mindset change is needed to achieve my new year goals.

So what do I do?

I cut them off.

This step involves doing an intense internal audit of myself and a comparison to the woman I was and the person woman I want to be - not a comparison with another person entirely.

The only person you should be in a competition with is the person you were yesterday.

I know all these sound a bit excessive and hard, but I promise that practice makes perfect.

Take me and this newsletter as an example. When I had the lead to get back on the newsletter, I had every reason to wait till the new year. Instead, I decided to begin posting again in THE MIDDLE OF DECEMBER. I'm grateful I did because I get to be a real-life example for you to know that when it comes to making changes, the best time to act is the day the change springs up in your mind, not two months after, on the first of January when you are shouting "Happy New Year" in church.?

What's your key takeaway from this newsletter??

Please tell me in the comments and share this with your network; there is love in sharing.

Check out my previous musings about New Year Resolutions here, here, and here.

Here is also a guide on levelling your productivity in the New Year.