Lori Streator suggests picking a single-word theme like "peace" or "warmth" instead of writing goals. Use it as a filter to decide what matters and what doesn't, then let your actual goals grow from there.
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Welcome back to my channel. This is a topic. It doesn't matter if we're rolling into a new year or not. This can be fitting at any point in your life or in your year. One of the big things that tends to be an underlying factor when people struggle, no matter what they're struggling with, is a lack of control. When we feel like we are out of control, it doesn't bode well for our physical, our emotional, or our mental health. So regaining some of that control, taking responsibility for your life and feeling like you have an active role, like you can play an active part in creating a different outcome, can be a game changer when it comes to making change, when it comes to feeling better. So this is a good way to regain some of that control and feel like, again, you're playing an actual active role in your life instead of just letting life happen to you. My biggest tip for this, one of my favorite things to do when I'm goal setting is to pick a theme for the year. So again, we're rolling into 2021 right now. But you can do this at any point or you can reevaluate an old theme and change it at any point. That's the beauty of these kinds of pieces of goal setting that people miss. So picking a theme, a word, a phrase, a quote, an affirmation, something that you can easily remember at the drop of a hat that will help you set the intention for your year ahead can be a huge game changer. So this might be a word like warmth or space or peace, or this might be a phrase like doing it for me or putting myself first, or a complete affirmation like I am safe and I'm working on me. It doesn't matter essentially what it is. I'm a huge fan of a word or a short phrase because it's so easy to recall at any moment. You can write it down everywhere. You can keep reminders. So I like shorter things, but you do what works for you. And I do this all the time with my clients or the people I'm coaching. And because when we feel like we have a bigger purpose, we tend to make decisions based on that purpose. So if your theme is warmth or peace, every decision essentially in your life is going to be governed by that word, by that value. Now, are there going to be things in life that happen or that you have to do that don't bring you peace? Of course. But for. For the most part, when you're deciding if you're gonna go to lunch with that person who kind of drives you nuts or if you're gonna take on that extra side hustle project or you're gonna do that thing with your family, whatever it is, does it bring you peace? And it's an easy way when you pick a theme for your life, for your year to run the decisions through, right? You run the decisions that you're about to make and your options through through the filter of does this bring me peace or is this helping me focus on me? Or whatever your theme is, you run it through that filter and you can quickly get a gut check feeling of if this is going to be a good decision or not. A lot of times we make decisions on the fly. We just make them because they present themselves or we make them because we have to, but we don't run them through any kind of filter. And so creating some kind of theme for your year is going to help you, for lack of better word, govern your decision making. But it's going to give you a filter to run them through so that you can decide if they're actually good for you and your well being and your year ahead. Remember, the more out of control that we feel, the less likely it is or the harder it will be to make decisions or make changes in the future. When we feel out of control, we don't feel like we're playing an active role. So we don't make decisions or we don't do things that are going to pull us out of whatever struggle we're in. So having a theme for 2021 or wherever you're at in your life will just give you a sense of direction. You don't even have to set goals. Goals. Although I'm a huge fan of goal setting and we know that New Year's resolutions are so popular this time of year. So if you want to do that, that's fine. But at minimum, you don't even have to set goals. Just pick a theme and that's going to give you, like I said, that filter to decide if making this decision or doing this thing or taking on this project or fostering this relationship, if it's to going going to bring you that warmth or peace or prioritizing yourself or whatever your theme is, if it's going to do that for you. So you don't even have to set goals this year if that's too much. I know 2020 was a bear. So if you're struggling, if you're in a tough spot, you don't even have to worry about setting all those New Year's resolutions. Just pick a theme for your year and run with it. I do it every year. I have my clients do it, and it can be a huge game changer. And it also takes the pressure off of feeling like they have to set goals. Instead, they have a theme and then we set goals as we go around that theme. Instead of setting goals and figuring out how to push through when the times get tough or how to make decisions, we pick the theme and the goals are derived from that theme of their year, of their life. Regain some control. If you're feeling like you've lost any of it, pick a theme, let me know what it is in the comments, and I will see you in 2020.
