Starting Your Year Strong Part 1

To start strong, I will need to finish strong.

Finishing strong does not mean, I have got every thing in tact and we are 100% great! Feeling awesome and accomplished! Far from it!

Finishing strong for me is all about ATTITUDE.

Life is 10 % what happens to me and 90% how I respond to it.

3 steps to Finishing strong so I can start a new year strong:

1 – EVALUATE – Good leaders are always evaluating. As a leader of you, don’t ignore, neglect the power of evaluating yourself. Evaluating yourself is about realistically recognizing where you are at right now in various areas of your life.

Be specific and evaluate yourself in specific areas of interest in your life – Health, Finances, Relationship, Spirituality, Recreation, Career/Ministry, Personal Development, Social life.

Break it down further: Health – what specifically in your health – diet, exercise, a certain health challenge e.g. blood pressure.
Personal development – what area do you want to grow in or develop?

There might be some things you have failed to accomplish this year because of various situations that may have been out of your control – how will you respond to this?

There might be some things you could have done so much better but you didn’t – how will you respond to this?

How I respond makes all the difference.

There is a difference between how I feel and how I handle my feelings. We all have days when we feel bad.

Our attitude will affect our feelings and will keep our feelings from stopping us moving forward.

Dwelling on – I could have, I should have, I would have – will not help. Regret never helps. It keeps you stuck!

Ending your year well, helps you start your year strong.

Do you have any regrets – I could have, I should have? I could have been a better parent, I could have been a better spouse, friend, I could have served my clients better, I could have done a better job and taken that promotion. I should have done better with my diet.

Let’s face those things you were not happy with by writing them down.

Now how will you respond to them – Remember life is 10% what happens to me and 90 % how I respond to it.

I recognize them and take responsibility
I will feel the pain and disappointment, I will see where I went wrong.
I refuse to indulge in self-condemnation. Sometimes it is easier to sit in my disappointment than to take up courage and say – enough crying, enough grief. Give yourself a deadline to grieving. Then take control and pour a lot of grace on myself and remind myself that my failures don’t identify me. I am much more than my failures! I am wonderfully created, God breathed creation, there is greater potential than I could dream of because I am magnificently created.

This is how my healthy attitude can stop my feelings from stopping me moving forward.

Then take action by finding ways to change and grow in that particular area. This is failing forward.

You can do this!

Anna Marangoudaki, MA, ACC
Personal Development Coach