New Year Resolutions: How To Pull The Most From The Previous Year And Make This Your Best Year Yet

I'm back in Canada with another video for you today, and with New Years right around the corner, I thought it'd be appropriate to share with you a video and blog post about a ritual that I go through every year to pull the most from the previous year and make this your best year yet.

In this video and blog post, I'm going to share with you TWO QUESTIONS that will really allow you to reflect back on 2012 and associate to all of the successes and magic moments, as well as to really learn from all of the challenges to make 2013 better than the year before.

This process will allow you to…

1) Re-live and experience again all of the great moments and successes of 2012.

2) Have more confidence, certainty and belief in yourself that you can make anything happen.  It will show you what you are really capable of by stacking the previous successes.

3) Learn from the past so you aren't making the same mistakes over and over again, and so that you can turn the bad into something positive that you can use your future.

You're going to want to make sure that you watch the video first and then IMMEDIATELY take out a journal or piece of paper and start answering these two questions.  This exercise should take a minimum of 15 minutes, but you can take as long as you want.  You really want to make sure that you don't just write down the answers, but FEEL the experiences and really feel proud of all the good that you've been through.

Watch the video below:

(Click here to watch the video on YouTube)

New Years Resolutions Exercise

Take out your pen and paper and immediately start answering these questions below.  Start with a list and then go through and really think about each one and re-live it and feel proud and happy about them.  CELEBRATE your successes and accomplishments.

If you don't appreciate and celebrate what you've already accomplished, then there is no point in going after more because you won't appreciate or celebrate that either.

1) What was great in 2012?  What were your successes?  What were all the amazing moments?  What was great in each area of your life… relationships, business, career, physical, family, friends, spiritual?

The purpose of this part of the exercise is to really focus on the GOOD and suck all the positive juice out of 2012.  No matter how bad you perceive your year to be, there is always SOME GOOD to be found if you look hard enough.  It doesn't have to be anything big either, it can be the little things.

Back in early January of 2012 I set my 2012 New Years Resolutions and made certain commitments on my blog that I was going to achieve.  I didn't achieve all of them, but most of them I did and I am proud of that.  Instead of beating myself up, I make sure that I take this opportunity to really feel grateful and celebrate what I did accomplish.  Even with the goals that I didn't achieve, I did make A LOT of progress and that is worth celebrating too.

My List of Successes and Magic Moments of 2012…

• Created and launched Project Life Mastery.
• Started life coaching through Project Life Mastery and have helped many of my clients get phenomenal results.
• Transformed my body and competed in the WBFF Fitness Model Competition in June of 2012.
• Travelled to Mayan Riviera, Mexico for 1 week.
• Travelled to South America for 2 months, visiting Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
• Went on many fun trips up to Whistler, Victoria, Kelowna, Seattle, Portland, and Miami.
• Attended Tony Robbins Unleash The Power Within event twice, in New Jersey and San Jose.
• Attended Tony Robbins Date With Destiny event in Palm Springs.
• Attended the T. Harv Eker Millionaire Mind Intensive event in Vancouver.
• Launched several new internet marketing websites that are making me a passive income.
• Improved all my businesses and continue making passive income through my Clickbank products, affiliate marketing, and Kindle books.
• Saved more than enough money to buy an investment property in 2013.
• Continued investing at least 10% of my income into mutual funds and stocks.
• Went through dozens of incredible books and self-help programs that have helped me improve and become better.
• Met many incredible new friends and dated some great women in 2012, including being able to fall in love and attract an amazing relationship in my life.
• Had many amazing coaches and mentors in 2012 that helped me achieve my goals and become better.
• Connected deeper with my parents, siblings, and nieces.
• Built stronger friendships and shared many amazing moments with my friends, including parties and adventures.
• Made many contributions to charities and foundations that I'm proud of.
• Did a 30 day challenge with cleansing my body with wheat grass and juicing.
• Completed the 10 Day Mental Diet Challenge.
• Did at least 2 months of Muay Thai training and a lot of Yoga in 2012.
• Spoke at several seminars and taught several Bootcamp events in Vancouver.

2) What wasn't so great in 2012?  What did you learn?  What could be better?  How can you make this year better than the year before?

Now to be willing to look at the “not so good” of 2012.  Most people aren't willing to look at this part because they don't want to face the truth and reality of how they are living.  The problem with that is that you'll remain in your comfort zone and without awareness you won't be able to get out of it.  For me, I know that I don't want to repeat some of the same mistakes of 2012 and carry them over into 2013.  With this section, it requires a lot of HONESTY and COURAGE.  The purpose of this isn't just to beat yourself up, but to LEARN FROM and IMPROVE UPON your list.

For me personally, there were several things on my 2012 New Years Resolutions list that I didn't accomplish, such as buying an investment property, competing in Tough Mudder, and learning how to play the guitar.  While I may have my reasons why I didn't achieve those goals, it's still unacceptable and not the standard I want to live at.  Therefor, I know I can improve there and I want to make sure I learn from those experiences so that in 2013 I don't make those same mistakes.

My List of What I Can Improve for 2012…

• Make sure that I achieve all the goals and commitments that I set for myself every year.
• To  make sure my goals aren't in conflict with one another, such as competing in the WBFF and doing Tough Mudder.
• To make sure I don't set goals that require some patience and cannot be rushed just for the sake of achieving, such as buying an investment property.
• Develop better systems for my businesses so they're more efficient and managed better.
• Be more consistent with managing my finances and certain rituals.
• To make sure that I remain in low body fat all year round and don't have periods where I'm not monitoring my eating as much and being as disciplined.
• To make sure that I don't depend on one stream of income, but rather have multiple streams and am diversified so that if something unexpected happens to one then I don't have to panic.
• Spend more time taking initiative amongst my friends to put on parties, fun events and activities.
• Involve myself more in charities and volunteer programs.  Focus more on making a difference outside of Project Life Mastery.
• Make sure I'm more focused on the highest leverage activities first thing in the morning and following the 80/20 principle.
• Become better at scheduling things in my life.

Here's another list of a few things that I need to improve upon and that weren't so great in 2012.  I didn't go into many specific events, which is something I did in my journal, but I like to make sure I am really thorough with this and list as many things as possible and really make sure I learn my lessons.  No matter how bad an experience was, I always believe that you can learn SOMETHING from it if you look hard enough.  There are always lessons to be learned.  And I also believe everything in life is a gift – it's an opportunity for you to learn and become better.

Now It's YOUR TURN…

Now it's your turn to take action and spend the time to complete this process.  You will find that by doing this exercise you will feel totally different at the end of it.  You will feel really amazing about 2012 and have celebrated your victories, while also feeling really good about the challenges and adversity you faced by taking the time to learn the lessons from it.  This is a powerful process, and it will prepare you for setting your New Years Resolutions in 2013.  So go ahead, take action immediately after reading this and do this for yourself!

I'll be posting a video and blog post in the next few days for My 2013 New Years Resolutions and also share with you a goal setting process that I do every year to help me with setting my goals.  Stay tuned…