It’s the start of a New Year and we’ve already made it through January (many of us alcohol free). We’ve passed ‘Blue Monday’ which is apparently meant to be the most depressing day of the year and February ‘the month of love’ is upon us. Hooray! Many New Year Resolutions have already been broken and some of us are lacking the motivation we felt on the 1st January to stick to our goals. So, how can we get back, or keep on track, in order to make this year, a year full of success? I have devised my own action plan for how I intend to have my best year yet and have shared with you below!

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Have A Plan

Okay, so now you’ve started being kinder to yourself you need to think about what your plan is for the year ahead. What do you want to achieve this year? What are your goals? Do you want to lose weight, exercise more, learn something new, create a more successful business or simply save more money for that fabulous holiday you’ve dreamed about?

Whatever it is you want to achieve this year, write it down. Writing down your goals in black and white and referring back to them will help keep you focussed. However, simply writing a shopping list of desires about what you want from this year is not, in itself, going to get you there. You need to have a plan.

Once you have written down your goals, whatever they may be, think about the steps you will need to get you to where you need to be. Are there any changes you can make to your life to make it easier to achieve success? What is holding you back? If time feels like the enemy then think hard about how you can create more time and how much of it are you actually wasting doing things you don’t necessarily need to do.

My goal this year is to grow my personal branding photography business. How though am I going to do that?  Having the time to do it has been a constant battle with a young family so I have just chosen to put my youngest son into nursery for an extra day a week to give me more time to work on my business. I have effectively ‘bought myself time’. Sometimes we have to spend money to make money. It’s also simply not enough these days to sit back and wait for business to come to you. You have to be out there getting it, reminding everyone that you exist. So for me, marketing my business will be key this year.

Sometimes the goals we have seem so big we wonder how we will achieve them. One thing I have learned is that the key to getting to where you need to be is to break things down. Within your big goal, create a timeline of smaller goals that are the stepping stones to where you ultimately want to end up, keep focussed and enjoy the feeling of ticking them off as you reach each mini milestone. You may not achieve all of them but if you achieve some of them then you are making progress and it is certainly better than not having any at all. As the famous saying goes ‘Fail to plan, plan to fail’….

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Keep Motivated!

It’s very easy to feel motivated and enthusiastic when we start something like a new diet, exercise or project but keeping motivated is key to your success. We are, after all, creatures of habit and it is very easy to go back to old ways or feel like giving up if there is a bump in the road or things get tough or feel like they are taking too long. You may well have the desire and interest to do something but the motivation to keep at it is lacking.

As a classic example, I bought an exercise bike because I wanted to get fit but after two weeks of enthusiastic power pedalling whilst watching my favourite TV show every morning, the bike ended up with washing on it in the laundry room…Sound familiar? My excuse is that I don’t have time because I am busy doing other things and here in lies the real truth… I simply lost the motivation and started making excuses.

The reality is I started it without any real goal in mind and didn’t plan how I was going to incorporate the exercise into my daily routine, so when things got busy I simply gave up. Which is why having a plan and setting realistic goals is so important to keeping motived. If you find yourself lacking motivation then think deeply about why this is. Is it because you’ve lost your way, you’re too tired, too busy, too impatient, you fear failure or are low in self esteem? Whatever the reason may be, take a step back and think about what it is you need to change to get yourself back on track. Question ‘Why is this not working and what can I change?’. Take another look at the goals you set on your plan and see if they need a new direction to get you energised. It may be something as simple as going to bed an hour earlier at night so you feel more energetic the next day and ready to take things on. Lack of sleep is a killer for motivation in any area of your life after all.

If you want to improve your life you need to awaken your motivation and enthusiasm. Find a friend or family member who can help motivate you when you are feeling low or lacking in enthusiasm. Sometimes a good positive chat is all we need to get us focussed again. There are also motivational audio books that you can listen to (many as free downloads) when things get tough.

Finally, every morning as your day is beginning, spend a moment to visualise your end goal. Think about what it looks like and how it feels and then think about what you can do that day to make that goal a little more in reach.

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Don’t Compare Yourself To Others

Sometimes when we are feeling disheartened about our own journey in life we find ourselves looking at the lives of others and making comparisons. ‘They are so lucky because…they have a bigger house, more money, are madly in love, are more attractive, are more popular, funnier…” and so the list goes on.  It’s very easy to make assumptions about other peoples lives, their relationships and their levels of happiness based on the snapshot you have from them. Perhaps you are right, perhaps they do have a good life and are happy and if so, good for them or maybe you are wrong and what you see is just a portrayed image. The point is, either way, comparing yourself to others you perceive to have a better life than you is a negative use of your energy.

There will always be people in life who have more money and more success, but you cannot change that and neither should you feel bitter or jealous about it. Their journey in life is their own and so instead of wishing you were them, start focussing on you and how you can be the best version of yourself.

A friend of mine, Polly Alexandre, is an inspirational woman who has moved from being a highly sought after and incredibly successful photographer into a hugely successful business and life coach for creative entrepreneurs. During conversation recently, she revealed that one of the secrets of her success was that she never compared herself to others. She focussed only on her own journey, her own hunger for success. She was not envious of others or questioned why they had what they had but simply looked at what she could do to be the absolute best version of herself possible. She has great levels of self belief and does not quit no matter what life throws at her. This is the attitude you need to have if you want to win in life.

If you do choose to look to others however, do it positively. Look at people who inspire you for their achievements and rather than compare yourself to them negatively, ask yourself how can you learn from their journey and how you can apply some of that learning to your own life. After all, nobody in the world can do a better job of being you, than you!

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Dress for Success!

This may seem like an old cliché but how you dress can have a huge impact on how you feel about yourself and how others see you. I am a mother to 3 young children myself so I am not suggesting you need to wear a suit and stilettos on the school run (unless, of course, you are dropping them off on the way to work!) but wearing clothes that look good, fit well and are fresh and up-to-date as often as practical can not only make you feel great but also educates others about who you are as a person.

It is said that successful people maintain an impeccable image because they know that their image is part of their brand. It doesn’t mean that you have to spend a fortune on designer clothes but choosing clothes that take your appearance up a notch, will definitely help you look and feel the part. Even if you are not there yet when it comes to your goals, there is no time like the present to create an image of the person you want to be in life and start dressing for where you want to go.

The best way to smarten up your look is to go through you wardrobe and throw out anything that no longer fits, is out of fashion, torn or out of shape.  You are better to have a smaller amount of great looking clothes than a large selection of clothes that no longer do anything for you. If you find it a struggle to know what still works for you, invite a trusted family member or friend over and have some fun trying on your outfits in front of them, asking them for a yes or no vote. Hopefully you will end up with a streamlined but great selection of clothes as a result.

Another option is to hire a stylist to help get you looking your best if you need a little help and direction from an expert. Lynne Meek, a personal stylist and owner of Styling Matters believes it will undoubtedly be a positive, confidence building and even life changing experience. Your only regret might be that you didn’t do it sooner!

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Appreciate What You Have

In a competitive, busy world that seems constantly full of violence, death, war and poverty it is worth taking time to appreciate all the positive things you have in your life right now. Having aspirations, goals and desires for the future is hugely important but even more important is appreciating the things you have today and the people in your life who make it special.

Being focussed on an end goal is great but it’s also important to enjoy the journey you are taking to get you there. When you are focussed on what you want, it is easy to forget what you have. Even when times have been difficult for me in life, I am always humbled by the thought of others less fortunate, which often helps pull me out of feeling sorry for myself and appreciate that as long as I have my health, my children, a roof over my head and people who love me, I am pretty blessed.

Being successful in life can be measured in many ways and will be different to many people. To one person it will be owning an empire, to another it will be simply to put food in their children’s mouths. There are many people who work extremely hard in this world for very little and yet still they appreciate what they have because to them life is not about money, nice clothes and big houses. It is about the love they have for their families and friends and the appreciation that they have their health and are able to work to provide for their loved ones.

So, don’t measure your success this year by that of others. Make your idea of success as big or as small as you want, think to the top of the steps or reach for the stars. Most importantly though is to live your life with purpose, build great relationships, look after your health and look after your emotional well-being by developing a positive mind set. If you can do that, then in my opinion, you are already a winner…