PLAN WITH ME: New Year Intentions 2021 (Interactive Session)
/Plan with me in today's interactive session to set new year intentions for 2021! Grab your pen and paper (or journal), and plan with me while we reflect on lessons learnt from 2020... and what intentions we want for the new year ahead in 2021.
I'll give you journal prompts and questions to reflect on, and I'll cue when you can press pause in order to spend time thinking and setting your 2021 intentions. So set aside about half-hour where you'll be undisturbed for this 2021 New Year intention setting interactive session, and plan with me!
No time for this 13-minute video? Use the timestamps to get to the parts you’re interested in, or follow the journal prompts in the transcript below!
LINKS IN VIDEO:
○ Create healthy habits that stick: https://youtu.be/Y7BXjQ5xkUo
○ Why motivation alone will fail you: https://youtu.be/RoBRg2yh4hk
○ If you enjoyed this, you might like my monthly emails where I send 5 mind + body tips to help you stress less yet accomplish more: http://enlightenedspoon.com/5things
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro
00:51 How the Interactive Session Is Set Up
01:34 Opening Meditation
04:30: 2020 Reflection: 1st Journal Prompt
04:40: 2020 Reflection: 2nd Journal Prompt
04:56 2020 Reflection: 3rd Journal Prompt
05:06 2020 Reflection: 4th Journal Prompt
05:13 2020 Reflection: 5th Journal Prompt
05:18 Your 2020 in Review
05:38 4 Pillars to Setting 2021 Intentions
06:56 2021 Intention: 1st Journal Prompt
07:16 2021 Intention: 2nd Journal Prompt
07:46 2021 Intention: 3rd Journal Prompt
08:24 2021 Intention: 4th Journal Prompt
08:44 2021 Intention: 5th Journal Prompt
9:24 Take Action: Making Your 2021 Plan
12:55 What’s Next?
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TRANSCRIPT
In this video, we’re not only going to set some new year intentions for 2021, but we’ll also do a little review of how 2020 went. Even if it sucked, there’s always something we can learn and grow from. Putting whatever lessons we’ve learned into making the new year a better one. It’s an interactive session, so you’ll set your 2021 intentions along with me. Go grab a pen and a notebook or your journal, and we’ll get started.
It’s probably best to set aside around a half-hour and find a quiet space where you won’t be distracted while you reflect on the last year, and set intentions for the next. Of course this also means put your phone away and turn off all notifications so you can really focus on this.
How This Interactive Session Works:
We’ll start first with reflecting on 2020 before setting 2021 intentions. I’ll be giving you some journal prompts along the way - questions or statements for you to reflect and think on, and then I’ll indicate when you can press pause on this video as you’re reflecting, writing and setting your intentions. Whenever you’re ready for the next prompt, just hit that play button again.
Opening Meditation:
Before we begin, let’s do a short little meditation, just a couple of minutes to clear the mind, connect with your heart space and drop down into this ‘more feeling space’. So it’s rooted in your authentic self, and what you truly want to move towards in the new year.
So if you’re ready, wherever you are, getting comfy.
Let’s start with reflecting on the year that was 2020.
2020 REFLECTIONS:
Your first journal prompt is
1. Describe your 2020 in one word.
If one word is too difficult, use 2 or 3 words.
2. Pick out 3 Highlights of 2020.
This could be anything you’ve accomplished, feel proud of yourself for having done or stayed consistent with. It doesn’t have to be big - even making your bed daily this last year is an achievement to celebrate.
3. Pick out 3 Challenges of 2020.
Was there anything you struggled with in particular this year? What were the main difficulties you had?
4. Pick 3 things you did well in, in 2020 that you’d like to continue with in 2021
5. Pick 3 things you feel could be improved on in 2021.
YOUR 2020 IN REVIEW:
How was your 2020 in review? Do share in the comments below what some of the highlights or challenges were, and what you’d like to continue with or perhaps improve on moving into the new year? You might help give someone else some inspiration in setting their 2021 intentions too.
If you’re enjoying this interactive session, do hit like and subscribe to this channel too, for more like this!
2021 INTENTIONS:
Now let’s look ahead to 2021. When it comes to setting intentions, I like to think of it in 4 pillars: the first 3 pillars are what I always talk about here on this channel:
What are the things that nourish your mind - everything to do with your mental wellbeing.
What are the things that nourish your body - your physical health.
What are the things that nourish your soul - your emotional wellbeing, including the relationships in your life whether that’s with others, or with yourself.
So it’s how you’re feeding the mind, body, soul elements of life
And the 4th pillar I talk about less on my channel, but when it comes to living a good life, is another important component and that’s to do with money and work - how you put a roof over your head, so to speak. How you earn a living.
Since we spend such a large part of our days on the work that we do - on a broader level, this is ideally something we want to stay motivated in and keep improving on. And if we’re not as motivated by our work, career or how we earn money, then this is a great time for reflecting on what else we’d rather be doing with our precious time.
How Do Your Highlights + Challenges Fit Into These 4 Pillars?
So have a look through the 3 things from 2020 you’d like to continue doing and the 3 things you’d like to improve on, and perhaps you could start to see where they might already fit into some of these 4 pillars.
Let’s start with describing what you’d like your 2021 to be in one word.
1. Describe your 2021 in one word.
If one word is too difficult, use 2 or 3 words.
This could be a theme you’re working on in your life - eg. “patience”, “gratitude”, “self-love”. What are some qualities you’d like to embody more of in 2021?
2. How would you like to nourish your mind in 2021?
If you reflect on your one word for 2021, what are some of the things you can do to nourish your mental wellbeing so you can move towards that theme?
For eg. would you like to create more time and space in your day so you can focus on meditating, journaling, or any other activity that allows you to move towards embodying more of that theme in your life? Or do you want to read more books or listen to podcasts on the subject?
3. How would you like to nourish your body in 2021?
This could be anything from a physical health perspective, from the food you eat to the movement practices you do for physical fitness. And rather than focusing on the outcome, eg. “I want to get 6-pack abs”, focus on the feeling you want to embody, eg. “I want to feel strong, fit and confident in my own skin”.
If it’s helpful, tie it back to your one word or theme for 2021.
4. How would you like to nourish your soul in 2021?
For your emotional wellbeing… where are you at with your relationships… Whether that’s spending more time with family, friends, or with yourself, including any self-care rituals you’d like to include more of.
If it’s helpful, tie it back to your one word or theme for 2021.
5. What would you like your work-life to look like in 2021?
With where you are now at work or how you earn a living, are you happy with it? And if you’re happy with it, perhaps there’s a personal project you’d like to do alongside work you’d like to dedicate a bit more time to this year. Write it down!
If you’re not happy with how you’re currently earning a living, how would you like it to change or improve? After setting this intention, you might like to reflect a little deeper on what you can do to change or improve this?
For now, just bullet point ideas could be helpful as thought starters. But the idea is to turn these into action points later.
TAKE ACTION!
Now that we’ve written down all of our intentions, it’s really important to make a plan of how you’re going to take action. This is usually where most new year resolutions fail and don’t amount to anything come February or March. We need to take your intentions and turn them into specific, measurable goals, ideally creating systems so that it becomes second nature like brushing your teeth. Check out this previous video I did on how to create healthy habits and stick to them.
I like chunking goals down into time blocks, so if you split the year into quarters: January - March, April - June, July - September, October - December, you could give yourself targets to hit by the end of each quarter. As a Producer at heart, I know that things don’t get done when there’s no deadline to hit.
2021 PLANNING:
Go back to points 2 - 5, and write down at least one thing you’ll commit to doing to get you closer to each intention, and this can be your goal for the first quarter from January - March. Start small and keep it simple!
For example if “self love” was your 2021 word or theme, for question 2 - to nourish your mind to embody more self-love, you could commit to doing 5-minutes of positive affirmation meditations in the morning right after you brush your teeth.
For nourishing physical health, you could commit to making at least one meal from scratch every week. Start small so you’re more likely to do it.
For nourishing emotional health, you could commit to a face mask or a bath once a week as your self-care ritual, to spend a bit of time treating yourself. And really turn this into your little pampering ritual.
For what you want your work-life to look like, you could commit to drawing firmer boundaries between work-life and home-life. Not answering work emails at the weekend, for example. And recognising that this is also an act of self-love.
MAKE YOUR PLAN:
So: write down at least one thing you’ll commit to doing to get you closer to each intention, and this can be your goal for the first quarter from January - March. Remember to start small and keep it simple!
This is something you might like to come back to and revisit every month, every week, or every day… just to check in with how you are doing. Regularly tracking habits and reflecting on how you’re doing can be a good way to check in with yourself. All you need is just 10 minutes either at the end of the week or at the weekend to reflect on how you did, or what needs to change to keep you on track.
And then also recognise that none of this is set in stone. If you decide whatever action you committed to doing isn’t really working out, it’s perfectly OK to pivot, but do something else that’s going to bring you closer to that one word or theme you want to embody more of in 2021.
This is just the first step in living a more deliberate, intentional life by design. Nothing changes if nothing changes and sometimes we just need to do things differently or try something different and see how that might shift where we are right now to where we want to be. If we never try something new, or set intentions or goals to move towards, we can’t complain about feeling stuck.
And then it’s also important to keep checking in with those goals periodically to determine how we’re doing and what needs to change if we’re not hitting those goals.
What’s Your Commitment? Share It!
So… what are YOUR 2021 intentions and what is the first small step you’ll commit to on the mind, body, soul or work/ personal project front? Share it in the comments below coz when we make our intentions known, we’re more likely to be held accountable to them too. Share this with a friend, so you really make your intentions public.
If you enjoyed this interactive session, let me know below if you’d like more interactive journal prompt sessions like this. You might wanna get on my email list where I send out 5 mind + body tips every month.. They’re 5 good things in the mind, body, soul area similar to the stuff I talk about in my videos to help you stress less yet accomplish more. I’ll put that link in description below.
All through January I’ll be giving you more short yoga videos to flow through your busy life with more grace, ease and flow so don’t forget to smash like and subscribe to my channel, and I’ll see you in the next one!
