Happy New Year All! One of the New year rituals I like to do is to reflect and learn from the past year, both in personal and professional fronts, be grateful for the accomplishments and think about how I can be better in the new year. Over the past few years, I have been giving a theme to each year. 2022 was a year of Clarity, 2023 was a year of Habit, and 2024 is a year of Focus.
In 2023, I took a 12 month habit challenge – commit to a habit each month, blog (will share my blog at another time) about my experience at the end of the month and how well I did it (1-5 stars). As I reflect upon 2023, this goal had one unexpected outcome and I am very grateful for that. Unexpectedly, this goal became an anchor for my life, kept me going in times of hardships and challenges and gave me hope. Here’s a summary of the habit challenge:
December 2022 – Logged my daily food intake in My fitness pal (did this as a test before I made a commitment for my 2023 habit challenge and this particular habit was a game changer)
January 2023 – Journal (5 star)
February 2023 – No browsing on the phone upon waking up (5 star)
March 2023 – Express Gratitude as a family (5 star)
April 2023 – Most important task (MIT) of the day (3 star)
May 2023 – 7000 steps a day (4 star)
June 2023 – 9000 steps a day (4 star)
July 2023 – 30 minutes of exercise a day (4 star)
August 2023 – Prayer/Meditation (3 star)
September 2023 – No desserts (4 star)
October 2023 – Read/Reflect (4 star)
November 2023 – None
December 2023 – Read/Reflect (4 star)
*5 Star –>96% consistent; 4 Star –>90% consistent; 3 Star –> 75% consistent; 2 Star –> 60% consistent; 1 Star ->50% consistent
There were many lessons learned from this challenge but would like to call out a few important ones (each of the below deserve its own article and hope to expand on these in the future):
Power of Writing
“Paper has more patience than people” – Anne Frank
I tried to take resolutions for the most part of my adult life. I was more successful with my resolutions last year than ever before and I attribute that to blogging my experience. One of the life lessons I learned at Amazon is the power of writing. The benefits of writing the Amazon way are well known. Amazon gave me a totally new perspective about writing. It not only helped me at work but also in my personal life and this challenge is yet another evidence.
Power of Habit
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.” – Aristotle
The habit challenge provided an anchor for my life. It kept me going in times of hardships and challenges.
Power of Reflection
“The unexamined life is not worth living” – Socrates
Even though I started doing this specific habit towards the end of the year, I quickly realized the power of jotting down what went well and what didn’t go well on a daily basis. It is super helpful to go back and look at the daily lessons learned.
Power of Accountability
“Accountability is the glue that ties commitment to the result” – Bob Proctor
Blogging kept me accountable. This was a key to meeting my goal 11 out of 12 months.
Power of Gratitude
“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance” – Eckhart Tolle
In a world of never ending desires, my hope is for me and my family to be grateful for what we have and hence the habit of daily gratitude. An added bonus is that this enables us to spend at least a few minutes to talk as a family amidst the daily grind and know about each others’ day.
Power of Focus
“One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.” – Tony Robbins
I came across in many places that it takes 30 days to form a habit. With my habit challenge, I learned the importance of various habits I tried to incorporate but what I learned the most was that it takes more than 30 days to form a habit. Even though some (more than the others) have been deeply ingrained in my head, I still need to consciously make a choice to do these on a daily basis. I need to focus on each goal for a longer period of time before it becomes a habit.
2024 Resolution
There is something exciting about a new year. It provides a fresh start and new beginnings. After a couple of weeks of downtime in December for holiday, the new year enables us to press the reset button. In many ways, it is similar to a fresh start every day in the morning but the new year is an opportunity to step back, think about the big picture and set the stage for the upcoming year.
2024 is going to be my year of focus. In a world of chaos, I am looking for ways to simplify my life. A quote from a book recommended by one of my mentors Ethan Evans, “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant”, resonated with me a lot: “Health, love, and your mission, in that order. Nothing else matters.”. Being a fan of SMART goals, I have two simple yet powerful goals this year in each of the three areas:
Health:
- 8000 steps a day
- Log my daily food intake in MFP
Love:
- Daily gratitude as a family during dinner
- Dedicate at least one hour each for my kids and husband every weekend on a family activity.
Mission:
- Identify the MIT of the day and get it done.
- Read for 30 minutes a day and blog about my learnings.
Cheers to 2024! What is your new year resolution? What are some ways that help you form habits? Would love to hear from you.
