What Thoughts and Mindsets Are You Leaving Behind and Not Carrying Along in 2024? Here are EIGHT Thought Patterns That I Want to Work On.

January is the time when many of us are thinking about changes, habits, resolutions etc. The whole "new year, new me" music is ringing in our ears and minds.

I personally don't think we have to go all in, change everything about us, start a hundred new habits and burn our motivation out as quickly as it was ignited.

At the same time, this is also a great time to reflect on how we would like to approach our life, our relationships, our goals differently this year.

The way we think has a deep influence on our actions, our behaviours and our decisions - everything is going to play a fundamental role in achieving our goals.

So, it makes sense to change our thoughts, before we set out to change our habits and set new milestones for ourselves.

I want to invite you think about:

"What thoughts and mindsets did not serve me in 2023?"

"What thoughts and mindsets do I want to let go of in the new year?"

Here are my own personal self-defeating thoughts that I plan to, or at least I am going to try to, leave behind.

1. I am not a good mom if I am not spending all my time with my kids. I am not a good mom if I am not doing tons of life-enriching activities with them.
2. I need to achieve everything without asking for help. Because asking for help means I was not capable enough to figure it out myself.
3. I must keep my schedule air-tight and very busy to make sure I am not wasting time and making the most of my life.
4. I have to look a certain way, in order to look successful. If I don't look like I can be on the cover of Vogue, I will not be able to do my best work.
5. Because I am a life coach, and practice meditation and yoga, I somehow have to become a positive emotions enlightened soul who is never allowed to experience anger, envy or fear at any point. If by mistake I do feel this way, I must immediately recover from it before another soul finds out about this aberration.
6. I have to meet everyone's expectations of me, including and most importantly my own, no matter how unrealistic they may seem sometimes.
7. I have to be good at everything I do. After all, how can I ever say, "I am not good at that." Aren't we all supposed to keep learning?
8. Why have I not figured this out by now? Look around me, every one knows how to get things done. Everyone seems to have figured out their life.

Isn't the above list absolutely ridiculous or hilarious?

That was my first thought after writing these thoughts and reading them aloud.

Most of the times our fears, insecurities, self-defeating thoughts are indeed inaccurate, exaggerated and humourous on a very objective basis.

The problem occurs when we don't examine them (by writing, reflecting), and they remain unquestioned, and we start believing them as absolute truths.

If we want to achieve our big and bold goals and grow this year, the first step would be to get into the habit of questioning and keep releasing the thoughts that are not helping us and in fact holding us back.

So today, as the next step in moving forward in the new year, I invite you to write your own list of thoughts you want to leave behind. Print this list out somewhere and remind yourself whenever you find yourself going into one of these spirals.

The secret to have a different tomorrow, is to think a different thought today.

Which thoughts do you plan to change today?

If you would like to examine your mindset and would like a self-reflection exercise, please send me an email at [email protected].

This exercise will help you know more about your habitual thinking patterns and how they impact your goals, productivity and growth.

Wishing you all the best for creating and choosing a more powerful mindset for more powerful results this year.

Onwards, Upwards, Forwards.

Lots of love and gratitude,

Nidhi