New Year for a New You: An Exercise for Reflection and Review

1. Introducing: New Year for a New You!: I'm Lisa Jacobs and this is a new year for a new you. I don't care when you're finding this class. It's always the right time to do some strategic thinking, Self-reflection, and annual planning. I'm the author of the best-selling your best your workbooks and a radical advocate for growth and change. And you are about to have the year of your life. And I have great news. You already have all of the resources you need to succeed. And that's without buying another book, taking another training, or earning another certificate. You are enough, you have enough and you offer enough to make all of your dreams come true. In this class, we're going to unlock one of the biggest secrets to success. Decide where you are going. It sounds simple enough, but trust me, it's rare. In my upcoming series of classes, I'm going to show you how to move the dial in your life and business because this isn't the stuff you leave to chance. You have to know what you're working toward when you'll prepare, when you'll do the work and make progress. And just as importantly, when you rest and recover and celebrate all that effort you've been putting in your time and you're ready for the next level. With this series, I want you to become an unstoppable, relentless force toward your own good. Are you ready? Let's begin. 2. Set the Tone: In a new year, for new you, we will celebrate and appreciate everything about the previous 12 months. And then we'll use everything that we've learned and discovered to dream big for the new year. Find yourself a comfortable, quiet place. That's where I'm at right now. I'm in one of my favorite most cozy spots in my entire home. And get comfortable with me. Download your workbook, grab a pen and paper, gathered hot drink or something that you love, and get ready to explore everything that's happened in the last 12 months and what's to come in the new year. Be sure to give yourself time and thinking space to reflect on everything we're going to go over today. If you're joining the real-time, it's the end of the year and I love this season. It's such a fantastic opportunity for review reflection. The winter months invite us to enjoy peaceful reflection and really hold space for all of the most amazing people and events in our lives. I always feel so much love and gratitude, stirring in-between all of the festivities of the season. But no matter when you're finding this class, it is always a good time to do a little review and reflection. Here are some things you'll need to get started. You'll want to have the workbook that's accompanying this course. So go ahead and download that right now, you'll want your day planner or a calendar and a journal if you keep one. All of those things will be lovely to have handy so you can flip through the previous 12 months or the upcoming 12 months and really have some consideration for what happened and what's to come. You'll want alone time, a comfy space, and possibly enough room for those things, the things you'll need around you. So maybe some extra N tables or something that will help you keep everything organized and neat. You'll want your favorite pens or pencils, whatever is your writing utensil of choice. But you will want pen and paper handy. Get your favorite cup of something and settle in. The main objectives for this class is to give you a proper end year review that really honors all that you've done so far. We also want to help you reflect so that you can set up really powerful goals for the coming 12 months. Here's how it will work. This class is broken down into four areas of focus. And for each area of focus, I'll offer six prompts that will get you thinking. So get ready for some prompts and review questions that will help you evaluate what has been working in your life and what hasn't. If you have a business, this is also a really powerful exercise you're about to get so much out of really looking at what's been going on and what's been adding value to your life and what's been draining you. It's time to turn your dreams into reality. 3. Why We Get Comfortable: Before we get started, I have to tell you how all of this came about. New Year for a new you used to be a writing practice that I had on my blog. And I would do it every year between that sleepy week, between Christmas and New Years. And I would give several days of prompts and then I would answer them myself as an example. And then I'll come back and list the next phase prompts, etc. And because I had a history on my blog, I wasn't reinventing the wheel. I started that series each year by going back to the former ear and copying and pasting all the questions in the main instructions. One year, a few years into this practice, I went in to copy all the questions and as I was filling them out for myself, I posted that and then went back to collect the next phase questions. Realize that year that I might as well been copying the answers to all of the questions. What's working, what's not working? Because I was still facing all of the same challenges and obstacles that I had been year after year after year. And I think we can all relate to this because change is hard. But I had the good fortune or awareness to be able to have a public record of my challenges and obstacles to realize that it had been a few years and I wasn't doing anything to make what was hard or what wasn't working, work any better. And that was a really heartfelt, really breathtaking moment for me because I stopped and I realized for all my good intentions for how much I love change and I'm such a radical add the kit for growth. I hadn't made any progress for myself. And sometimes you'll find that come up for you in review. And let me tell you right now, this is a time to be gentle. This is a time to wrap whatever comes up for you in love and understanding for your human nature. Because aren't we all human? And understand that This is the first step in creating lasting change and building the things that you really want out of your life. There are three reasons that we get stuck or stalled in some kind of rut or like in my example, a few years. One thing change, desperately wanting change and doing everything you know how to do in order to try to change it. But finding that you're just not making any progress. Now one of these is most common, but I'm going to read to you them all. So the first reason we might get stuck in a rut is that we like and then nurturing attention. It brings, sometimes we're just having a hard time and sharing our problems or challenges or obstacles is like a cry for help. And when we share something with somebody else, then we get that comfort. If we're talking to write supportive person, we get that comforting wash of, okay, You're okay, we're all gonna be okay. So that's number one. We might like the nurturing attention, having a problem or being stuck in a rut or keeping a problem might bring. The second is, we can be addicted to the dramatics. And this just reminds me of stress. If you've ever been really stressed or really worried. Have you ever noticed that you'll find new things to be worried about you, your focus is there on that stressor, that worry, and it seems like everything popping into your life adds more of it. It's almost an addictive cycle. If you feel calm and you feel like you don't have anything to worry about. You start to search your brain and wonder what else is there to worry about and you pull things up to make, to keep that going. That's human nature. Again, that happens to us all. So when people get angry, they can stay with that momentum of being angry. When people get stressed or worried, they can stay with that. And when people have a problem and it's draining them, they can also stay with that pattern. Those things can happen, but here's what's most likely. Most likely you're stalled or stuck in a rut or keeping a problem year after year or not being able to solve a challenge because you feel overwhelmed, uncertain, and too scared to take the first step in the right direction. Another reason it could be is that you just don't know what you don't know. Maybe you've been trying a strong D and it hasn't worked out for you, but you keep trying that strategy. So here we might say, possibly just not knowing what to do next that will actually produce the results that you want. 4. 4 Areas of Focus: In this session, we're going to cover four areas of focus for our annual review. And each area of focus will have six prompts for you. So I've divided this into sections. These sections are appreciate and that's my favorite place to start. It's where we look back in the year with absolute, utmost gratitude. And we pull out what were the most fulfilling, most value-based activities or events or achievements that we experienced that year. And we give them all their glory. And that's a wonderful section. The second one is review. And that's where we ask a little bit harder questions. We're going to look at things that maybe we don't like the way that they went down or maybe we don't like how we handle the situation. It gets a little bit tougher, but again, this is a gentle process. So I'm going to tell you then, and I'm going to tell you now, everything that we're working toward is perfectly natural, perfectly healthy, and we've all been there. The third section is to set intentions. And that's where we're going to shift from reviewing what happened in the last 12 months. So looking forward to the next 12 months and what do we really want out of them? What does success look like for the coming year? And then finally, we will dream big together. And that's always a fun and exciting. And in that section we're just exploring what's possible. We're just seeing what's out there for you and what might be on your heart really calling you. So those are our four sections. And without further ado, let's move into the first area of focus. Appreciate. 5. Appreciate: Okay, Now we're in and appreciate. And like I said, this is my favorite one to start with. And really I like to bask here for a while. So have fun with it with me. This is about looking back at the year and asking yourself, where did my most fulfilling moments come from? And when I say fulfilling, what I mean is these are the things that might have happened in these last 12 months that were so empowering, so loving, so powerful, so meaningful. They're going to become life-long memories. And this is our chance to explore what happened. That's that we're really taking with us for the rest of our lives. And I love that about the appreciate section because we're able to stop and ask questions and honor this. This is going to teach us so much going forward. We are going to want to create more of that, so much more of that in the next 12 months. So we're almost enhancing the things that were most valuable or most valuable time spent. Most valuable money spent our most valuable achievements and are most meaningful family and are most meaningful moments in life. So the first question that we're going to explore is, what was time very well spent thinking back on these last 12 months, what did you do? Where did you invest time or spend time that you're feeling so good about and so proud of. Personally, I developed a few new routines with my workout schedule and my morning routine, and they paid off huge I had a huge return on investment off a very minor activities such as weight training. And I'm committed to it for the first time in my life. And I have never seen results like I have out of four sessions of 15-minute way trainings a week. Time, very well spent is something that you decided to do, you commit it to do. You created a habit of it, and then you got tremendous results, or it's a vacation you took and you're still smiling about your time and what you did and how you treated yourself and the time you got to spend with others. Where was time well-spent that you're thinking yourself for it here at the end of the year. The next question is, what was the money well-spent? What did you possibly invest in or save for or do with your money that you're thinking yourself because that was really well done. Maybe you purchase a time-saver, maybe you got a book that changed your approach for the rest of the year. Maybe you took a class for me. Some money well-spent was purchasing services and asking for support. Your to-do lists can get overwhelming. So anytime that I'm able to purchase help in the home, life, business or career, I'm doing it. So what was money well spent. Then the next question is, what are your favorite memories of the year? For me, it's always very helpful to have my 12 month planner right beside me. I leave a note in my planner and then asks, what did you accomplish in the last 30 days? So easy to forget all of the amazing memories and accomplishments you've done in a single year. So I keep that note as well as just flipping back through the months. What are the things that really made me feel fulfilled and whole and just valued and loved in life. I'm going to bring these memories here to this reflection. The next question is, what felt successful as a whole? So looking at the entire 12 months and with all those memories, adding up, what felt really successful? What's making you feel strong and empowered about the 12 months behind you, What did you do or how did you handle situations? Or what mindset shift did you adopt? That is just making you feel so successful here at the end this 12 months, what felt successful for you as a whole? The next question, I love is who nurtured and supported you the most? Now again, you get to sit with these people. You get to think back over the last 12 months and ask yourself, who was just my ride or die? Who is in my corner no matter what happened this year. I find that year after year I have a few consistent people. They're just always there. But sometimes this question surprises me. Somebody will come out of the blue and I'll think, oh my gosh, group or this community or this person was with me through the ups and downs. And I might not have realized how the collection or the pattern of their support, but it's such a great time to think and reflect on the people that were there, nurturing and supporting. You know, what's so interesting between this question and the next is that you'll find different people who nurtured and supported you most. You sit with that. And then when you go to the next question, Who did you enjoy nurturing and supporting it. So fascinating because again, some of these answers may be parallel, but they're not always. Sometimes you find that you had somebody in your life really going through it or going through some types of transitions are challenges that you were showing up for them as much as you possibly could. So your answer might be different and might not be 5050 everywhere you look. But that is the nature of our human connection. Sometimes people show up for us in special ways so we can go fill the cup of another. We're always pouring into each other. And I love that about the people in our lives. So sit with this section. It is my favorite. It is a giant dose of gratitude and appreciation. And just enjoy it. Let's bask in this. This is what this year was all about. This is what made it's so meaningful, is so precious and so valuable. And let's honor that for a second and you just enjoy this section. I'll see you in the next area of focus. 6. Review: The next section is the review section, and we're going to have to talk about some things that didn't work. But again, I can't stress this enough. We're gonna be gentle about it. We're going to hold it very carefully because I don't care who you are. It's really hard to see that there are areas in your life that aren't working, or maybe challenges you're facing or mistakes that you've made and not have a little wash of sadness or just, you know, that you have the best intentions for yourself. I know you do. We all know that we have the best intentions for ourselves? We mean so well. So it can be sometimes challenging to review errors or review maybe time wasted and other things that we can do better in the future. And I'm here to say we're going to bubble wrap this and love. This is not meant to be a harsh review. This is meant to be like, okay, you did your best and we know your best intentions are behind this. Now let's move forward and try not to bring the same mistakes with us into the new year if there are any. The first question in this section is, what was time wasted? Where do you do just run off on false starts or find your schedule overloaded and the juice wasn't worth the squeeze. What was time spent where you just did not get a good return on your investment. And so that we can minimize spending time there in the coming 12 months. The next question is, what was money wasted? And again, this is okay, we all make mistakes. I am constantly returning things. What are the things that you've purchased this year that if you had the choice, you wouldn't do it again. What are the impulse buys? What role might you create for yourself if you're an impulse buyer, I'm raising my hand. What role might you create your for yourself? Because of this question, I created a rule for myself that says, if I see something that I like online, I have to sit on that for at least 24 h. I have to sleep on it. And if I come back still thinking about it the next day, now I can consider this purchase. What I can't do is impulse buys on the Internet. And I have another role that I created because of this question. That is just so much internet shopping, that's me. I'm an introvert. I love being at home with my computer and doing all the shopping. But I found myself with a closet of things that I didn't necessarily love. And I realized that all of my favorite material objects had come from me being in the store, feeling things, trying them on trying them out, and then being like, this is a perfect fit for me, which I can't do online. So I was making all of these compromises because I'd done to my shopping online. Those are just examples of money wasted and things that I'll do differently and better going forward. The next question is, what was the biggest challenge you faced in the last 12 months? What was the thing that pushed you to the brink? And can you think what's bubbling up for you right here then, for anything about that big challenge you faced, what would you change? So with whatever is within your control, would you change how panicked you got when you change how you handled it? Would you change some knee-jerk reactions? Would you change your system for dealing with it? Is there anything you would change there, anything you can take away and you can learn. And then do you have any unfinished business? Do you have something on your plate that you're starting to feel like it's nagging at you a little bit too much. It's draining too much creative energy and might have been on your plate for a very long time. Is there anything that you're just ending the year you're feeling like I wish that loose end was tied up with a bow. Jot those down just so we know what we're working with going forward. And then finally, are there any outstanding goals you'd like to let go of? Now, I asked these two questions in order for a very specific reason because it's a great time to review that unfinished business and ask yourself, do I really still want to do this task? Can I let go of it? One year I carried some unfinished business year-to-year, feeling like I should do this. This is what I should do next. And I just, my heart wasn't in it. It was a goal I set and then grown out of and I didn't have to do it anymore. So I'll put those in order because if you have unfinished business, maybe now's the time to review and say, do I actually need to do this if I am not there yet? And it's been a really long time that this has been lingering. Can I cross it off altogether? Would that be fine? Try it. Maybe there are some outstanding goals. You can just let yourself let go of. That concludes our review section. It wasn't that bad. I told you it was going to be gentle and I hope that you felt that. I'll see you in the next area of focus, which is setting intentions. 7. Set Intentions: Now we're looking at setting intentions. And this is one area where you really will go, spend time with your pen and paper and your workbook exercises and sit and think what's right for you because this is going to get, this is just personal for your intentions. I typically work in goal setting with five pillars of life and I would call that financial, spiritual, mental, relational, physical. Physical is your body and your environment and everything that surrounds you in your physical atmosphere. To keep in line with how we've organized the other four sections, I made this into six categories. I added one by separating physical body and physical environment, which I love because those really are two different things. And so we'll be able to set intentions for each. So when I say set intentions, this is where we are loosely goal-setting. We're not writing New Year's resolutions right now. I don't do them. This is where we're looking at each pillar of life. What we would like that to look like in the coming 12 months, it's more of a visualization than it is a resolution. Pouring out our best intentions onto paper. We're gonna do this nice and easy. Your first pillar is financial. What are your best intentions for your finances in the coming 12 months? So mine might be something like increase my income, reduce my dad. Those are very common. I think we can all relate to doing those type of things at one time or another in life. But I also might be saying, spend my money more mindfully. Be very conscious where my dollars go and make sure that my dollars are contributing to my most fulfilling memories and moments in life. So this is just the time to say, what does my ideal 12 months look like financially? And jotting that down, the next pillar is spiritual and that is your well-being, however you like it to. So this might be religious. This could be mind, body, soul, this could be just the true meaning of spiritual, your metaphysical connection, but this is where you're thinking. Do I need to be more present? Do I need to quiet down and connect more? Do we need to meditate what I like to go to church more? How can I increase or enhance my spiritual pillar of life? What would that look like ideally, in the next 12 months? The next pillar is mental. I typically put career in here. So business career, because mental is the sharpening of your skills. It is the acquiring of the knowledge that you need. It is when you are setting out to do something and you don't know how you're going to do it. It's connecting those dots, doing the research, finding the resources and that for me, mental and setting intentions around my mental pillar have to do with what skills do I need to become the person who achieves that financial pillar? My financial intentions, who achieves those spiritual intentions I have mental is going to help you acquire the skills, hone the talents, and showcase your abilities better. Or it's just learning something new. What do you want to learn? What do you wanna do in the coming 12 months? Ideally, what's one thing that's been on your heart to learn and you haven't done it yet, that can go there as well. The next pillar is relational and this is so important, people are connections to people. It's number one. And when you're thinking about relational and you're thinking about the 12 months ahead. What does an ideal community, your connections, your closest relationships, what do they look like? And that is just setting the intention that everybody is strong, healthy together we feel connected, we feel supported, we feel loved. And that relational and how you feel in your relationships will be what you spell out right there for that pillar. Then we get to physical body. How are you feeling in your body? Are there things that you would like to feel better about? Are there things that you're just really enjoying that you want to make sure you take into the new year like I'm bringing weight training with me for sure. What are the things about your physical body? What ideally will that feel like in the next 12 months, what were your body feel like? We feel strong. Will you feel Agile? Will you feel nimble and energetic and alive? What intentions would you like to set for your physical body in the coming 12 months? Lastly, is your physical environment. Now look around you and how comfortable are you feeling? Would you like to feel organized, orderly, on top of everything more than you do today? Do you want to feel more comfortable? Would you like to feel more warmth or color or anything in your physical environment? What's there and what's missing, and what are your ideal intentions for the coming 12 months and creating that space that you loved that rises up to meet you. So that is the setting intentions section, and I'll see you in our next area of focus. 8. Dream Big: I'm so excited to be here for the final area of focus for our New Year, for new you review and that is dreaming big. Now this is just where we get to look at the landscape and look out at the horizon and say to ourselves, what do we want to create with the next 12 months ahead? I have some questions and some prompts that I think you're going to like. My first is, what would you do if you knew you could not fail? I have to tell you, I've been using this question for nearly a decade and I love it so much. I love when people share there. If I knew I could not fail list or even just write it down and then see it with all new eyes. You can totally do that. You should try it, even if you might fail at one or two. What is the worst-case scenario there? If you knew you could not fail, what would you do? What's the answer to that question? And maybe the next 12 months or when you really set out to tackle it, I'm rooting for you and I think you can do it. The next question is, what something you've been too afraid to try? I love this question. It's almost a two parter to the one above it. What's something that you've been too afraid to try? And how do we get that on your list to tackle in the coming 12 months? What if we just put it out there a few months down the road and let resources come to you like you're a magnet. Let the resources references and people fall into your life. The next question is, how can you stretch your comfort zone? Sometimes comfort zones are important. Sometimes you've pushed yourself really hard and just get a blanket and pillow and laid down in the comfort zone for beat. You've earned it. But then other times you'll know that you're a little bit too stuck in a rut or you're really feeling restless for change. And this is a great question to think about is how can you stretch your comfort zone? You might be having momentum in a direction that's really not lighting you up anymore. Or maybe you've achieved your goals and your sort of not finding the next great challenge or the next great growth spurt that's perfect for you or on your heart. So how are you feeling in your comfort zone right now and how can you stretch it if it's time to do so? What have you been struggling with for too long? I love this question. And just like I shared with you in the opening, if I find myself writing down the same challenge year after year after year, I'm struggling with it for too long. And I don't know what I don't know. It's time for me to ask for help. It's time for me to look around and see people who have, who are creating better results than I am and adopt some of their ways. Next question is, what were you delegate, automate, and stop doing? I love this one. This one deserves space in your journal or on your piece of paper. What are the things you're going to take off your plate? What really should use stopped doing. What can you automate? What are some of the tasks that are just eating up time and energy, but don't require your bandwidth. Get out your daily planner and this is a great thing to audit with. Then finally, in what ways in which areas will you upgrade? Now I have to tell you, one of my favorite bloggers and book authors, Denise defile Thomas, has an entire course about upgrading your life, and I love it. In one of her modules, she makes everyone go to their underwear drawer. This is what she uses as the example for upgrading your life. Go to your underwear drawer or the place that people see the lease and ask yourself, do I need an upgrade? Upgrading all the areas in my life to really serve myself. That's just a fun example for thinking through this entire question. For me, I had a drawer full of shirts, I guess that just were not I didn't want to ever put anything on in that drawer. And I realized I was just craving a perfect T-shirt. And I went out and found that my favorite t-shirt only costs $1. And I thought I'm going to eliminate Holland these shirts I never want to wear. Just fill my drawer, fill this entire drawer with these eight dollar T-shirts and it makes me feel so rich every single day. And they're $8, they're just fresh, they're clean. I love them. And that was a big upgrade for me. Get out those clothes that I bought on the Internet that I'm not wearing anymore, go to the store, try things on and then really feel my drawers with things that are valuable and feel good to me. So that is the end of the dream big section. I hope you had so much fun and I'll see you in the conclusion. 9. Conclusion: Okay. So as we've explored your year, your last 12 months filled with ups and downs. Sometimes our own brain's wiring and our human nature is working against us. Not sometimes actually a lot. I studied this quite frequently. This life is happening you challenging stuff. And I commend you just for showing up, just for being brave enough to look at the last 12 months. Most people don't. So every one of us struggles from time-to-time. And even your pie in the sky, role models are struggling. You just don't see it. They're real people, which means they too get crabby and puffy and hunk over and Harriet all those things. And on those days they don't feel very good about themselves either. You don't really want to see that side of them. We think we want the real story is not as interesting. Last, not what we're here for. That's not what we're hoping to find in our Instagram feeds, but I get it. You are hoping they're real tube. And we all get to a certain point with somebody where we're just like, can I get the real story there? So for that, I share one of my favorite quotes. We always end the others comparing our shadow sides to their sunlit side. And that's from Margaret George. My friends. We all have both shadow and sunlit sides and I honored both of those in you. I honor them in me. And I want to make sure that you love on all the sunlight days and all the shadow days, all the great times and all the challenging times, because that's what is the tapestry of our lives. It's your time and these next months are yours for the taking. Here's to your vest here yet.