New Year’s Eve is my favorite holiday. For me, the buzz that
starts around 3PM. I can almost feel the bustle of people making sure they get
off work early, as if they have an important guest to meet. The new year is a
gift to me; a chance to re-set, like the “start over” button in a game; like a
clean page in a notebook, ripe for creativity, commitment and change; like a quiet graduation from one phase to the
next.
The new year means reinvention, a call to action for new
dreams and a victory for surviving the year that just passed. It give
permission to leave behind the things that have been weighing you down. And at
midnight – poof! You get an entirely NEW YEAR all over again.
This is a rich and critical time to establish your goals. Here are some
questions to consider:
1. 2 Things you can do to develop a closer
relationship with God:
2. 3 habits you want to develop next year
3. One quality you want to develop next
year
4. The one skill you need to improve next
year
5. A short phrase that will be most useful
to you
6. The one habit you need to drop
7. The one distraction you must guard
against
8. The 3 most important goals
9. The 3 things you want to indulge in
10. One class you'd like to take
11. 3 things that were unexpected in 2011
12. 5 things that worked for you in last
year (habits or people or situations)
Here are additional questions to about
habits that you will need to develop to stay on track with your goals:
What one thing, if you accomplished it next year, would make the most
difference in all your other goals?
In the areas of work, family, community and health, what will you
contribute?
What is imperative that you complete?
What are you negotiable on?
What have you abandoned?
Who is going to be counting on you?
Who are you relying on?
I hope you enjoy the beauty and challenge of new beginnings.
There is a wonderful sense of excitement when we unwrap the gift of second
chances.
