How to Avoid the Mistakes of 2015

by Melissa Nixon for Courageous Life Academy

I absolutely love the start of a new year! But with it also comes some serious reflection of what did or didn’t happen in the year before. With all the hype of moving into something new, there may also come a twinge of disappointment for the things you set out to accomplish but didn’t. The book. The business. The career change. Or disappointment for the things hoped for but didn’t happen. The promotion. The marriage. Or the baby. Maybe someone you counted on didn’t follow through like you wanted and it left a bad taste in your mouth.

If we aren’t careful, we can allow what didn’t happen in 2015 to put a damper on the hope we have towards the year ahead! It’s easy to lose sight of our goals when they seem so hard to achieve in the first place, right? Wrong!

Over the next few weeks, I’ll show you how to “Own 2016” and keep moving forward!

Regardless of what did or didn’t happen last year, don’t stop there or even slow down! If you find yourself, ready to coast through the year ahead because of disappointment or lack of progress, here are 4 key steps to help you let go and move forward

1. Turn Your Thoughts into Action

The most important thing you can do to let go of what didn’t happen is to turn your thoughts into action. Purposeful action with intentional follow-through. Don’t wallow in regret, disappointment, or excuses. Instead, make a decision to hit the restart button and move forward.

2. Forgive Yourself

Sometimes there are years when we accomplish not only what we set out to do but more. Then there are years that we know we could have done much more. At those times, we become our worst critics. I once heard Brene Brown say, “Why would we say things to ourselves that we would not even say to our kids or others?” Give yourself some grace and make a decision to keep moving forward.

3. Forgive Others

It’s easy to harbor resentment towards people who disappointed us. We can easily say we have a right to feel a certain way because they didn’t follow through on what they said they would do. Or they proved themselves to be differently than who you thought they were. The biggest hinderance to not achieving what you desire in 2016 is by holding onto to how others wronged you in 2015. Let it go! Even if it means you have to let them go.

4. Set a new goal and keep trying 

Any successful person you know or follow has gone through your same experiences or something similar. But guess what? They didn’t give up. They hit the restart button time and time again. Don’t regret where you are 3 years from now because you decided to throw in the towel 3 years earlier.

Courageous Life Questions:

1. What thought can you turn into an action this week?
2. What specifically do you need to forgive yourself for and let go?
3. Who do you need to forgive from last year?
4. What new goals will you recalibrate and try again?

Source: Courageous Life Academy