How to set goals and intentions for the New Year
I was looking up Wikipedia for the history of New Year’s Resolutions and wanted to make some suggestions that I’ve found helpful.
As a psychologist and endurance sports coach who often reflects on life practices and habits that enhance well-being, I’ve found collaging and visual reminders to be a useful practice in focusing on New Year resolutions or goals throughout the whole year. Here are the steps for your New Year collage:
Spend some time thinking about what you’d like to feel, experience and accomplish next year. For example, “live simply”, “spend time in nature”, “buy a house”, “date”, “save money”, “complete a marathon” and so on.
Gather one 8 ½ by 11 paper, some glue and a pair of scissors
Get some of your old magazines, put on some music, hang out by yourself or with a loved one and flip through magazines – cutting out words and images that grab your attention. The images may not always seem to relate to your goals, but trust your gut and intuition and cut out what draws you in. The images should be positive. It’s best to focus on what you want, rather than what you don’t want!
Look through the images you’ve cut and select the ones that still draw your attention and glue them to the paper in a visually interesting manner. It can be as simple or complicated as you like. You don’t have to be an artist to get value out of this.
Put up the collage on your bedroom wall or home-office so that you can see it every day for the whole year. If you were working with someone else, explain what your collage means. Verbalizing it makes it more concrete. You may also want to write down what it means for you.
Why is this beneficial?
You have a beautiful visual reminder that you see daily, which helps you put into action what you said you want in your life in the new year. Of course, you’ll still need to break down the steps to meet any particular goals but that will come easier when you have a daily collage to look at and reflect on.
Dr. Cory Nyamora is an endurance sports coach, a licensed clinical psychologist, and the founder of Endurance – A Sports & Psychology Center, Inc. He provides endurance coaching for beginner and experienced athletes, as well as psychotherapy services to children, adults, and families. Find out more at www.runinkenya.com and www.endurancecenter.org.
