Here’s to a new year and a new you, SHOLDIT® LifeSTYLERs.
We know this is very Oprah like, but it’s time to be the best you. That means it’s time to stop comparing and being your own worst enemy.
To help you on your journey of awesomeness, we gathered some tips from entrepreneurs, life coaches and other industry experts to help you on your positive path to kick off 2016.
Here’s what we found.
1. Be true to yourself and own it.
It’s a big, bad scary world out there. We know it, you know it. Being different isn’t always easy. (Hence the Kermit the Frog song about “Being Green.”)
There’s a reason some of the most famous people of all time have quotes about being true to yourself.
Some of our favorites:
- Aristotle: “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
- E.E. Cummings: “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
- Ben Franklin: "There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one's self."
- As writer Marissa Håkansson put it, “being true to yourself is a life-long practice that requires commitment and re-commitment, moment to moment, as you grow and evolve.”
2. Have a vision. Then set goals for the life you really want.
It doesn’t just happen. You have to make it happen, as blogger Keely Clark wrote in her essay about being a mother of four.
Executive coach and serial entrepreneur Stever Robbins gave Fast Company a list of how to set the right goals. Here are some of the highlights:
- Stop setting the goals for the wrong reasons
- Choose a goal to create a journey by asking yourself:
- How do I want to spend my time?
- What daily activities make we want to leap out of bed?
- What do I want to learn?
- Who do I want to hang out with, talk with and collaborate with?
3. Clear the clutter and help others.
Even WebMD will tell you a cluttered home makes it hard to de-stress and de-compress. Less stuff = less stress. Pick what is meaningful and get rid of the rest.
Donate to a local charity like AMVETS, which helps American veterans or go on Freecycle.org, a network that connects people who want things for free to people who want to donate. We also like this list of 101 Places Your Clutter Can Do Good by MissMinimalist.
4. Believe in yourself.
Now, we aren’t asking you to jump without a safety net, especially when it comes to business. But there’s an old saying, no risk, no reward for a reason.
Jon Burgstone, a professor at University of California, Berkeley, wrote a piece for Inc. magazine about “5 Ways to Feel More Confident.” He says it’s about cultivating relationships with other people who have similar interests, proactively managing fear, celebrating the positive moments, listening to others, and seeking and finding external validation.
5. Know when to quit and be okay with it.
"We tend to think of 'quitting' as a bad thing, but the fact is, the things that used to fit well into your life may not be honoring who you are now," says Marla Tomazin, who has been an image consultant for 25 years after earlier experience in the fashion industry. "It's very important to live on purpose, not by accident. So instead of piling even more responsibilities onto your plate in the form of overly ambitious New Year's resolutions, resolve to become a quitter in 2016."
6. It’s also okay to say “no.”
Say that two letter word means you are setting some boundaries. It’s okay to minimize your schedule and create some white space. It is okay to decline going to dinner with a friend or tell a relative this isn’t going to work.
As Camille Preston, the CEO of AIM Leadership wrote for Fortune, “For most of us, saying no is exceedingly difficult.”
Her advice: “Learn to say no to the people, situations, and commitments that do not move you toward your goal, that distract you, or that you simply do not enjoy. Be purposeful in your actions—learn to say no! It’s a powerful little word with a huge impact.”
7. Remove the words, “Just,” “I think,” and “I’m sorry” from your vocabulary.
As Slate recently wrote, Tami Reiss came up with a “Just Not Sorry” web extension, a free Gmail plug-in that removes these words from your email. Another bonus, there are quotes from women like Tara Sophia Mohr, author and women’s leadership expert who has her MBA from Stanford University and has publicly discussed the ways women undermine themselves with their words.
Most importantly, don’t forget to laugh.
Life is short.