January 2023, The Year of the One Percent’s

The year was 1989 and we were in a motel somewhere in country Victoria, I don’t remember where exactly. My entire family had fallen asleep and it was just me sitting in front of the television as the countdown to the New Year began. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6… and the closer we got to zero I found myself getting sadder and sadder. As we edged into a new decade, all I could keep thinking was, “there will never be another 80’s year, and it will only be the 90’s. I don’t know why but I really found it upsetting.
Besides being a very sentimental person, I think the little Lili that was sitting in front of that television screen was experiencing her first significant sense of time and loss. I really started to understand that I will never get that time back again and that really stirred something inside of me.
With all the advances we have made in science and technology, eluding time has not been one of them – yet. We may live longer lives, but eventually we will all pass on one day. And even though we all understand that, we still get lost in the noise of everyday life and can find years pass by and wonder what happened to those years.
I still can’t get my head around the fact that we are already at the start of another New Year around the sun; and we all know what the New Year usually entails. Yup you guessed it, New Year’s resolutions. It is a time to reflect and make a contract with yourself of how you are going to resolve to do this or that over the course of the following year. But let’s face it, how often do you stick to your New Year’s resolution, let alone remember them?

As great as the practice is, I’ll be honest; I’ve always found it as a token gesture. If you want to invite in the ‘New Year, New Me’, then you will need to take the time to stop, reflect, evaluate and design your life. And when I say your life, I’m meaning all the key pillars of your life, not just work, relationships, friends. I have a ritual with all my new coaching clients, where I ask them to complete the ‘Wheel of Life’, and without fail, it has been one of the most eye-opening and beautiful practices for my clients. So this January 2023, I invite all my readers to start their own Wheel of Life reflection.
Obviously as I coach, I highly recommend this practice is down with the support of a coach, as there is so much more to it than simply going through the motion of doing the practice, but for the sake of getting your head into the space of deeper reflection and fulfillment focused, here’s what you can try at home.
Create three columns on a blank canvas.
In the first column write down the following basic pillars of life; Family & Friends, Career, Money, Fun & Recreation, Personal Development, Significant Other/Romance, Physical Environment, Health.
In the second column I want you to reflect on each pillar and evaluate what number you would give that pillar currently from 1 to 10 based on how fulfilled you feel in each respective column.
In the third column, I want you to go back to each pillar and think about what number between 1 to 10 you would like for each pillar; what does fulfillment (at this stage of your life) look like for each pillar.
Now pick three pillars that really resonated with you and you are deeply drawn to for growth in the immediate future. Looking at where you are at and where you want to get to with each of these pillars, start designing what small steps you can take to get closer to achieving that fulfillment.
And remember committing to 1% change each day is far more achievable and sustainable than committing to 20% every day!
Here’s to a New Year, New Me!