Reflections in, Resolutions out!
‘Cos there might just be a better way…
You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.
Benjamin Mee, We Bought a Zoo (2011)
The start of a new calendar year has arrived, and what better opportunity to get laser focused on our habits? And not just any habits.
We’re talking about habits that fiercely align with the kind of humans we want to be in 2023.
Self reflection, as we discovered through last month’s Mojospresso*, can be the ultimate ‘gateway habit’, creating a positive knock-on effect to your day-to-day mindset. It takes some serious courage, and it lays the foundations for any high performance operating system. After all, we can’t connect to our authenticity, our wildest dreams, or our greatest strengths unless we’re able to first accept where we’ve come from, and acknowledge where we’re at right now.
But if our focus at end of 2022 was all about retrospection, it’s now time to look forwards… Pens and journals at the ready!
We’ve started this process at Mojo HQ by identifying the kind of habits that best support our 2023 ‘to be’ lists, as well as the habits that get in the way of this. And we’ve done this through our take on the ‘ins and outs lists’ :
The brilliance of this ‘in vs out’ journalling activity — which we recommend trying for yourself — is that it can help ‘set the trend’ for the year by creating clarity and space for the kind of human you want to be. Remember: decisions, not conditions.
You can decide what’s in and what’s out of your life this year.
From a team lens (think: work colleagues, family, sports clubs, community groups, charity organisations and the like!), it can be helpful to pick a few ‘in’ highlights to make a start. Rome wasn’t built it a day, and ‘little + often’ consistency is one of the most effective ways to create a positive change.
If you need a little inspiration, here’s 5 of Mojo’s focus points for the month of January:
1. Owning Friday Mornings
The ultimate formula to win the morning and win the day, but also one we’re championing to make self-reflection a priority. This could look like a few pages of journalling, a coffee over a great podcast, or a review of the week to date.
2. Finding the good
Practising gratitude and finding joy in simple, everyday moments. (For more on this, head to our Mojospresso episode on Play).
3. Find the ‘greens and blues’
Looking for daily opportunities to move our bodies amongst nature. It’s science, it’s Mother Nature… It’s a no-brainer.
4. Breathe.
It’s hard to get inspired when we’re not inspiring (😅) to our full potential. Box breathing and other similar techniques can revolutionary on just about every health front — more on this to come.
5. Coffee chats
Getting those coffee dates in the diary to dial up curiosity and connection, knowing our greatest learnings often come from the back stories of others.
Finally, to take inspiration from the great (fictional) Benjamin Mee, sometimes we only need mere seconds of ‘insane courage’ to take that first step and start the practice of self-reflection. So, for the next 20 seconds, let’s turn things over to you:
Identify one habit that you’d like to improve this year (feel free to take inspiration from the above).
If you played along, you’ve just executed our ‘small steps, small sips’ approach to creating new habits. You’ve literally just clocked a small win, starting as you mean to go on.
So, until next time… Here’s to a year of insane courage, leaning in and daring to spend some time with ourselves each week. And here’s to winning the morning and winning the day, every Friday for the rest of the year 🙌
Self reflection is a unique and personal journey… but you don’t have to do it alone.
Wondering what a Mojospresso is, and where on earth you buy one?!
Well, it’s totally free for starters! Found on Spotify (or in exclusive video format via the Mojo Crowe app), Mojospresso is a caffeine-inspired shot of inspiration and perspective — created to help you on your personal leadership journey, with the goal to ‘win the morning, win the day.’ Episodes drop monthly, hosted by Mindset and Performance Coach Ben Crowe.
Originally published at https://mojocrowe.medium.com on January 6, 2023.
