New Year, New Goals! But do they have to be?

Hi there!

Happy New Year! A little morbid thought that crosses my mind following this greeting is "What if it isn't happy?" Haha it's a glimpse into a bit of my pessimistic-emo side. But overall, I've learned to counter this thought with a little bit of hope, by thinking of this greeting as not a declaration and more of an intention.

"Happy new year" is a greeting that could be a prayer of hope that indeed the year ahead will be mostly happy!

Traditionally, most people get into the year by setting new intentions and goals for what they want to do in the coming days. I do too. However, over the past two years I've found myself thinking "do the intentions or goals have to be new?" I'm not trying to be contrarian, it's a genuine question that has led to a mindset shift for me in approaching the beginning of the year.

I have never been the best at creating new resolves for each year. I was always clear on doing what is working and keeping at it (very frustrating for my dad haha). So, allowing myself to be free of the pressure to create "new" goals brought with it a calmer entry into a new season. Calm, for me, begets creativity.

My goal since 2023 has been MASTERY. A constant repetition of the same thing with the same level of attention to detail. It is about the discipline to show up and do the same thing over and over again.

For some this is akin to "madness", for me this has been the most natural alignment of passion, purpose and practice.

This past year 2025, I built a lot-professionally and personally. I run a private therapy practice and I wanted to build my professional portfolio, expand my client list and invest in my expertise. I had to break down preset ideas about self employment, success and failure, and self promotion. All this has been building up since I realised I had to create the space for me to share the message on mental health that I had. And all of this barely scratches the surface of the work I have to do.

Therefore, part of my mastery journey involves smaller details that you might consider the "goals" of the new year.

My goals this year are about breaking down, reframing, building new and putting into practice. This is how I embody change.

So here's my plan for the year so far:

Carry what worked well.

This is a great starting point for two reasons-

• You start on a positive by highlighting the wins you've had and;

• It stops you from the idea of "starting from scratch"

When I think of what worked well I think about what I did and how I felt. I carry execution and the sensation forward.

What could be better?

This is an evaluation question that invites me to think about areas of improvement. I start my sentence as "It would be even better if..." This opens me up to think of opportunities and solutions instead of getting lost in the failure.

I like to allow myself to create many hypothetical solutions and then I'll narrow down to the most possible based on my reality (time, life demands, practicability).

Get to action

This is the practical bit of the work. You could write all of these things down but if you never actually start doing something then they'll just be theoretical plans.

My resounding lesson from last year was that I didn't have to wait for everything to align perfectly to get started on the plans I have.

Focusing on you

What worked well for you that can be carried forward into this year?

Thinking about areas that didn't go too well, how could they be better?

How, when and where would you like to start on your plans?

New Year Gift

I've created a Simple Guide to help you plan for the new year. Grab your copy!