7 Coaching Questions to Clarify Your New Year’s Resolutions

Hi friends,

As you consider your new year’s resolutions, I thought I’d share with you some personal questions I asked myself this year. Perhaps this will offer you a new and helpful perspective. Before creating new resolutions, I think it’s important to reflect on your last year. What was it like? What can you let go of? What could you embrace more of?

This past year for me was incredibly full and busy. I didn’t get to meditate as much or deeply as I wanted. I had moved several times and traveled extensively towards the end of the year. This wasn’t easy while managing my own business. The nature of the work we offer is deeply meaningful, but it can also be complex and require a lot of detailed attention.

This year I knew I needed a breather. It’s time to slow down, create more space and have more personal retreat for meditation and writing. At the top of my list: simplicity and work-life balance. This included more time for leisure and loved ones.

New years offer us an opportunity to step back. More than creating a list of goals, it’s a time to take a wide and high view of your own life. Sometimes we need to take our nose off the daily grind stone and look farther up. It’s important to make sure you’re headed in the right direction.

Most people don’t follow through on their resolutions. I think there’s several reasons for this:

1. Their goals are unrealistic
2. They aren’t spiritually connected to what they want to create
3. They haven’t taken time to reflect on their past experience

Here are some questions I asked myself that helped me define what’s important and what may be holding me back. This week I’ve taken the time to meditate on them as well as journal about them in my morning pages. I hope you find them helpful in clarifying your own resolutions this year.

1. What do you want to experience in your lifetime?
2. What would you want to experience this year?
3. What could block you from receiving what you want to experience?
4. What kind of qualities/states of being would you need to embody?
5. How do you want to feel on a daily basis?
6. What is your ONE priority this year? What’s an affirmation or mantra that would support that? (for example: I am focused. I am balanced)
7. What is ONE goal or action that would be realistic for you to achieve daily?

Think about creating sustainable, daily lifestyle choices rather than knocking off a list of goals you’re unlikely to achieve. If you want to lose 10 pounds, commit to walking 20 minutes a day. Also, it helps to connect to a meaningful reason to realize what you want to experience. For example, saying to yourself, “I want to lose 10 pounds because I want to be healthy and live a long life with my loved ones.” Think about this reason before you overeat or skip the gym, and you’ll find it easier to achieve your intention.

If you’ve decided that meditation is at the top of your list, as many people do, here are a few questions you can ask yourself:

What would support me in my meditation practice? (for example, create a sacred space each morning or tell a good friend)

What could I do realistically every morning? (even 5 minutes is a start!)

A meditation practice is generally at the top of people’s list. If you need help getting started, you can receive our free meditation toolkit here. It includes the first day of our 21 Day course, Meditation for Relaxation.

Meditating on what you want to create is an optimal way to realize your true intentions.

May you have clarity, energy and prosperity this year and beyond!