[24] How to Start the New Year Right

Starting off the New Year right is so important! In this episode, I'll share tips on kicking off the new year and smashing those goals. I'm all about having my own back, embracing change, and crafting a game plan. My 4 step 'new year, new me' system will help you break down your big goals into achievable steps.

Links and Mentions
Book: Atomic Habits by James Clear

Transcript

[TRANSCRIPT]

0:00:00 - (Melissa): Welcome to my Life is a Saturday, the podcast that helps you live your best life by embracing a Saturday mindset. I'm your host, Melissa Janson, and each week I'll be sharing my experiences and interviewing guests who have learned how to.

0:00:13 - (Melissa): Make the most out of every day.

0:00:14 - (Melissa): From tips on how to develop a positive mindset to ideas for living a more fulfilling life, we'll cover it all. So get ready to let go of your worries, embrace your passions, and live life to the fullest. Ready to dive in?

0:00:27 - (Melissa): Let's go, you holy fucking hello. Welcome back to the podcast, and welcome to episode 24, the first episode of 2024. This is officially the first episode of season two of the my Life is Saturday podcast, and I'm your host, Melissa. We've been hanging out. I just feel like it's been a minute since I chatted with you and I'm so excited for today's topic and to talk to you about the new year. Starting the new year, right?

0:01:03 - (Melissa): There's so much chatter around the new year with a fresh start and a clean slate and audacious goals. And there's also the reverse side of that. There are people in the band camp of we're never going to change. Why set the goals? Why do the things? I don't like the new year. And although I can see that side, I always feel like the new year is a fresh start. It's a new beginning and just a new opportunity where you can feed off of the energy of other people who are excited for the winter coming to an end and who they can become. And what makes me really excited about it is I envision the person that I want to be and I get super inspired by it. And I'm like, yeah, this bitch, she works out, she eats healthy, and she enjoys her time playing puzzles, and she lives a life that she loves and she's always on a Saturday.

0:02:08 - (Melissa): And then January 1 2nd, 3rd. Super excited. So stoked. The new year is upon us. I woke up yesterday and was an old, lazy, social media scrolling troll. And today, with a Cinderella midnight strike, I'm going to become this pimped out, hot as fuck living her dream Saturday girl. And after the first week of January, we usually get a little bit like, you start kind of falling off. It's really easy to start a new habit for a few days and be 100% with it, but it's definitely difficult to continue that momentum all through January and into February and March. And that's where the memes come in about people falling off the wagon and the gyms will empty out after a couple of months in the beginning of the year.

0:03:05 - (Melissa): That drop in motivation and what I think deters people from starting fresh is the fact that we're trying to go from zero to 100 in becoming the person that we want to be. Instead of taking small little steps to get there, eating the elephant one bite at a time, we just go balls to the wall, all in. And I'm definitely guilty of it, too. So I want to talk about how to start the new year right? And how to make sure that those goals, that person that you want to become, that version of a Saturday that you want your life to be, is yours by the end of 2024. And I'm going to show you how to not lose the motivation to keep going.

0:03:54 - (Melissa): And I'm going to offer you a sweet treat to help you stay accountable to that. So without further ado, let's talk about the shit. Step one of becoming the person that you want to be at the end of 2024. Step one to starting this new year, right, is to reflect on the previous year before we can go forward, before we can really set ourselves up for success in accomplishing the goals and becoming the person and living the life that we want to live in 2024.

0:04:28 - (Melissa): We need to take a moment and reflect on what happened in the past year. As you go along any journey in life, it is really good to take a minute and look back at how far you've come. And that's what reflecting on the previous year is all about, is looking at how far you made it, what your accomplishments were, what your learning moments were, and thinking of how you showed up for yourself that year, what growth you had, how you created magic and Saturday vibes in your year.

0:05:05 - (Melissa): Just reflect. Think about how it was. And I know a lot of the times when we reflect, it can seem like we're more drawn to defining our year by the negative things that happened. But I want to really challenge you to look back for those happy moments, those moments that you felt at peace or in flow, those moments that you cared for yourself and stood up for yourself, and those moments that made you pause and be like, holy cow, this is my fucking life. How cool.

0:05:41 - (Melissa): Try to pick those moments out and reflect on them. It's important to reflect on not only your achievements, but also the lessons that you learned and spinning those hard times, those bad things and circumstances that happened in life, to being about a lesson can be really helpful. When I look back on this past year, on 2023, I think that it was the year for me of coming home, becoming me again. I've been feeling a little lost the past three years. And I really felt this year that, like, figured out Melissa and am no longer angry that there are parts of me that are gone and that I'm embracing the new me, which is also just me, more me, if any of that makes sense.

0:06:38 - (Melissa): And the lessons that I learned this year were really impactful. And some of the most difficult things that I dealt with, the most emotionally taxing things that I dealt with from them, I learned that I am resilient and that I love deeply and that I would move mountains. And I think that those are really interesting and exciting things that I learned this year about myself and about the way that I am in life. So all of this to say, reflecting on the previous year is the first step.

0:07:21 - (Melissa): It is one of the most important steps in setting yourself up for success, to become that person in the next year. So take like 5 minutes, reflect, think about how this past year was. What were your wins, what were your accomplishments? What were the lessons that you learned? If there's something that you need help spinning, let's spin it so that it's supporting and expanding for you, it's supportive and expansive for you, and let's move on to step two.

0:07:56 - (Melissa): The second step to achieving all of the goals that you've set for yourself in 2024 and starting the new year off right is to set an intention and a personal goal. When you set an intention for the year, I like to do this with a word or theme and choose new goals for the year. You are setting yourself up for success. There's a lot to be said for personal and professional goals. And a lot of the times when we think about New Year's resolutions, we get stuck in, lose weight, be more fit, make more money, do more things, have more stuff.

0:08:38 - (Melissa): And it can be very capitalistic in the best way to say it. And that's kind of the opposite of enjoying life. I think that it's important that as you set your intention and your personal goals for this next year, to think of what it is that you want to get out of life. If you want to get a new job or make more money or lose weight or get fit, that's totally fine. But I challenge you to also pick a goal that is outside of that realm. Do more puzzles, read more books, lay in the grass every day.

0:09:18 - (Melissa): There was a meme that I saw and I sent it to my friend. It was very interesting. This person made their New Year's resolution to was it try a new pasta. And every time that they tried a new pasta, they would look up 1 second, I'm going to pause and look it up, and then I'm going to actually tell you what exactly it says because I thought it was pretty profound. Okay, I'm back. I found it. This is a meme or a clip from I don't know. I don't know if I'm going to date myself right now. What is a meme? It's just words. It looks like maybe it's from Tumblr or it's just words and it has a screen name, so I don't know where this came from, but I found it on Instagram. Anyways, are you ready?

0:10:05 - (Melissa): This person writes, every time I ask people if they do any New Year's resolutions, it's all, ooh, I don't like making them because I fail or oh, I couldn't keep up with that. And then they ask me and I tell them about the pasta quest. This person is eating as many different pasta shapes as possible in the space of a year. Pasta shapes. And they also did another one called fruit adventures. Every time they saw a fruit they had never eaten before, they get one, eat it, and read on Wikipedia article about it to learn about it.

0:10:44 - (Melissa): And like the person, I'm saying that as they're talking to people about their New Year's resolutions, they always go, oh, wait, I forgot that you could make fun ones. Look, make a fun New Year's resolution. Go on a pasta quest, try a new fruit, bake a new cake, learn something new. The point here is that you can hustle, you can grind, you can lose the weight. You can get the new job, you can earn more money, you can pay off debt, you can do all those things. But at the end of the day, those aren't the most full of life, the most lively.

0:11:28 - (Melissa): The thing I want to get to here is that they are not the things that make being a soul in a meat suit on a spinning rock in the middle of nothing and everything all at once juicy. Those aren't the things that are going to make it juicy. So I challenge you to do something that's going to put you in the present moment. This year I'm working more on puzzles and audiobooks. I upped my fiction game this last year, and so now this year I'm going to add in a couple of more.

0:11:59 - (Melissa): Outside of the normal genre of fiction, I've been reading fiction books and do more puzzles. Because what pairs better with a puzzle than an audiobook? You listen, you can zone out. You can do a puzzle. I love doing puzzles, so I'm going to do more puzzles. But pick something for you that makes you feel like life is juicy and makes you feel like, oh, hell yeah, this is sweet. This is why I'm on a spinning rock. This is something I absolutely love to do.

0:12:29 - (Melissa): This is something that's creative or interesting or fun. And if you need some help picking what random pasta quest or fun goal resolution that you're going to make this year, let me know. We'll help you. Goals you choose in step two. Whatever intention you set for the year, it's very important that you have a clear vision for how this looks. How does it look for your theme to show up? How does it look for you to achieve this goal? What exactly is the goal?

0:13:02 - (Melissa): Having a clear vision is going to help us make sure that we're on track later. Help keep us motivated through January. Help us not forget about our goal like 15 days in, 20 days in, fall off the wagon, disappear into nothingness, fall off the face of the earth. So pick a goal, have a clear vision, and that's it. Okay. Step three, develop a positive mindset and embrace change. This step I love because one, a positive mindset, a growth centered mindset is going to do you so much good in so many areas of life, especially starting a new habit and going after a new goal. When you have a mindset of I can, I can learn that, I can do that, I can overcome that.

0:13:59 - (Melissa): You set yourself up for action and follow through, and action and follow through lead to succeeding at our goals. The I can attitude, having the growth mindset is also going to be your superpower in facing challenges. It's the resilience that you're going to need to get off the couch and go do the workout. It's the resilience that you're going to need to know that even though something didn't work out today, it can work out tomorrow.

0:14:33 - (Melissa): That every bite that you're taking to eat the elephant is making a difference and an impact. The attitude of your mind is what's going to be the make or break. So when we're thinking about wanting to set ourselves up and get, start off the new year right and become the person or live the life or have the thing that feels like a Saturday, we know that the path from where we are now to where it is that we want to be is huge.

0:15:05 - (Melissa): It's long. It's going to take work. It's going to take us healing and learning and growing, expanding, moving up to the next step is going to take leaving parts of ourselves behind. It's going to take growth and because it's going to take all of those things, it's many times on the journey going to be easier to pack up your bag, ditch the goal, not go for it, fall back to being the person that you've always been or that old version of you, and you're going to fall off the wagon. If you have a growth mindset that you can do it, that you can create it, that you can, you will remind yourself of that in those times. You will have that to fall back on. You will build resilience, you will make progress, and you will ultimately get to your goal.

0:16:07 - (Melissa): One of the greatest things that I learned in the last year was how to laugh at things that go wrong, how to say, oh, that's good for the plot and keep moving on. My ability to overcome setbacks with laughter and to just say, oh, that's good for the plot and move on has been something that I've learned over time because I started to realize that the way that I respond to things that don't go right or things that don't go the way that I think that they should, or I have an obstacle I have to overcome on my road to where it is that I want to go, I'm able to move on, and it makes it more motivating and it has kind of become a game like, okay, well, what's the next thing?

0:16:58 - (Melissa): What's the next thing that I'm going to have to overcome? And it makes me feel like I'm like playing Mario with my own life. If I know that continuing down this road is going to get me to where it is that I want to go, and instead of being paralyzed by the challenges that I face and all of the fears that I have, I can take action and move the needle forward and take one bite at a time and become the person that it is that I want to be.

0:17:35 - (Melissa): Creating a positive mindset and embracing change as a natural part of growth is step three, last step, step four. This is one of my absolute favorites. While you're starting the new year off right and you are getting to the place it is that you want to be, you're becoming that person. You got to create an action plan and break your goal down. All right, this is the nitty gritty of starting the new year off right.

0:18:13 - (Melissa): Creating an action plan for achieving the goals that you've set is going to be key factor in your success. It's great that you want to lose 70 pounds or start listening to puzzles. Listening to puzzles. Listening to audiobooks while you do puzzles. But so what? We all can have a goal that we don't know how we're going to get to. So you need to create an action plan. We need to break this goal down into achievable steps. We have that big elephant we're eating. We need to decide where it is we're going to start so that we have a clear path to the way that we want to go.

0:18:57 - (Melissa): This is where we're not going from zero to 100. This is where we're going from zero to zero one. We are taking this big task, your big, huge goal, and we're saying, what is the first actionable step I could take? And then what is the next? And what is the next? A lot of times when you have a really big goal, it's good to reverse engineer it. And when you have a goal that has a quantifiable number, you can reverse engineer it way easier.

0:19:35 - (Melissa): I'll give you an example of reverse engineering. It is exactly how it sounds. You're just going to build the house, which is the goal from the roof down. So we're going to start with, what is your overall goal? For me, I want to do more puzzles and listen to audiobooks. Okay, let's say I want to do a puzzle a month. That's how we're going to quantify it. So I want to do twelve puzzles and listen to twelve audiobooks this year.

0:20:03 - (Melissa): How am I going to build that house? That's the roof. And then we break it down. To do twelve puzzles and twelve audiobooks, I would need to do one a month. Okay, great. Now, if I do one a month, how am I going to make sure that I get it done every month? And then you go down further than that. Okay. To get it done every month, I'm going to do it the first weekend of every month. And then you're going to break it down even more on the first weekend of every month. How am I going to remember to do it?

0:20:35 - (Melissa): And as you break your goal down and create your action plan, those steps that are going to take you to where it is that you want to go, I challenge you to go deeper, to ask yourself, okay, but what now? Especially if it's like building something into your routine to become the person you want to be, you need to learn how to create habits that last. And habits that last are not ones that we decide on Sunday night, that we're going to start Monday morning, and we're going to become perfect at it.

0:21:09 - (Melissa): It takes planning and it takes consistent action. And when we think of consistent action, I'm not talking every single day. Great. You do want to floss your teeth every single day. But if you haven't been flossing your teeth consistently except for right before the dentist for the last 32 years, then guess what? You are not going to wake up tomorrow and be flossing your teeth every fucking day. Every day with no training of yourself to be able to do that. Hell, no.

0:21:40 - (Melissa): Consistency in that case is flossing once a week, one time a week for the month of January for the first month, and then building it up in the second month. We're going to be flossing our teeth two times a week or we're going to be going to the gym two times a week, or we're going to be putting aside an hour to just write because we want to write a book. So we're just going to set aside an hour every week and then build it into your schedule.

0:22:15 - (Melissa): Make it little progress at a. What? What is the book called? It's by James clear. It's called. Oh my gosh, some of you are yelling at me right now. I just read it this year. God damn it. 1 second. I gotta look it up. Oh, I know it. Atomic habits came to me. Good job, brain. Atomic habits. He talks about running a marathon. And you aren't going to just decide that you want to run a marathon and get up off the couch and then run a marathon. You got to train for it.

0:22:53 - (Melissa): And to create the habit to train for it, you got to break it down. And he breaks things down to just 2 minutes. If I have this goal, what can I do in under 2 minutes that's going to move me forward? So in the example of the marathon, it's the first week you put on your shoes. Ain't no pressure, baby. You don't got to go run. You don't got to go run 3 miles or for 30 minutes or even walk to the mailbox. All you got to do for this week to get you one step closer to running that marathon is put on your goddamn shoes.

0:23:27 - (Melissa): How simple. So start with your two minute thing. What could you get done in 2 minutes that's going to get you closer? Sure, some of you may be like, yo, Melissa, putting on your shoes is not getting you any closer to running a marathon, but it is. You're training yourself to put on your shoes to prepare yourself to go on a run. And then the next week maybe you do put on your shoes and walk to the mailbox because you added something. That's two more minutes.

0:23:57 - (Melissa): And maybe the next week you're like, well, I can put on my shoes, I can walk to the mailbox, and I can walk around the block. See, with repeated action is going to become a habit. And how fucking easy is it to put on your shoes after you've been doing that for a while? Doesn't seem like it's just going to be as easy to walk to the mailbox. And then, I mean, when you're at the mailbox, you might as well walk around the block, right?

0:24:21 - (Melissa): It's giving yourself the small wins and the opportunity to be fucking good at something. Yo, bitch, I put on my shoes. I did my two minute habit today. You're building positive reinforcement and you're like hyping yourself up, making yourself proud. You're making progress towards your goal. So we're going to take that big ass goal and we're going to create an action plan and break that goal down teeny tiny into those small little two minute sections.

0:24:49 - (Melissa): Maybe it's a task. Maybe you want to start a podcast in the new year. Oh my gosh. Reach out to me, dm me, send me an email. I would love to help you with that. But if you want to start a podcast this year, cool. Don't allow your podcast idea to be in impostor syndrome purgatory because you're so afraid you don't even know what to do to start. Break it down. If you want to have a podcast, what do you got to do?

0:25:15 - (Melissa): Pick a name. What's something you could do in just 2 minutes? You could write down five names. You could write down a little blurb about who your audience might be. You can write down the ideas that you have for episodes or topics. You could write down if you want it to be an interview style or a solo style. Or if you want to, I don't know, it's a true crime podcast. Or it's just you and your friends getting stoned, or it's you playing video games and talking about whatever or reading. Am I the asshole on Reddit?

0:25:53 - (Melissa): You could decide all of those things in 2 minutes and just write them down. No pressure. You change your mind, be 2 minutes closer to being a bitch with a podcast. Does that make sense? So, for step four in starting the new year off right, becoming the person that you want to be, going after that big goal, you're going to create an action plan and you're going to break the goal down there it is. That's how we're going to start off the new year, right?

0:26:20 - (Melissa): That's the four step program to ultimate success in becoming who you want to be and living your life like a motherfucking Saturday in 2024. 1st, you're going to stop, reflect on the previous year. Then step two, you're going to set intentions and personal goals. Pick a theme, pick what it is that you want to achieve. I challenge you to pick something that's fun, go on a pasta quest. Step three, develop a positive mindset and be ready to embrace change.

0:26:51 - (Melissa): Get comfy with being uncomfy. It is the one way that you're going to get to where you want to go. And then step four, create an action plan and break that goal down two minute chunks. Babe, how are we going to get you a little bit closer in a baby step? We're not going from zero to 100 anymore. You absolutely got this. I know that you are listening to this and you're feeling hyped and I want you to come back to it when you're not feeling so hyped because those feelings are going to come.

0:27:24 - (Melissa): But reminding yourself of your theme, of your why. Why it is that you want these things to happen, why it is that you're wanting to make this change. Why it is that 2024 is your motherfucking year and just get it, baby. I'm just really excited to see your goals and I invite you to share your goals on social media or through the dms. Send me an email. I would love to connect and support you and help you through 2024.

0:28:00 - (Melissa): I'm very curious what it is that you want to do and what is your fun goal? What is that fun pasta quest that you're going to make for this year? Thank you for tuning into another episode of my Life is Saturday podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode and this whole starting off the new year right goal setting Rambelief episode number 24. Can you share it with your friends? This year with the my Life with Saturday podcast, we're coming in with consistency.

0:28:32 - (Melissa): You'll be hearing a solo episode followed by an interview every other week for the rest of the year. And on top of showing up consistently with the podcast, we're here to build a community. This year, the theme for my life is Saturday podcast is my life is Saturday Community. We're going to do that by creating some space online where we can all hang out. I'm not sure what it looks like yet, but I'm really excited to dive into that this year and we're going to be coming at you with some merch.

0:29:02 - (Melissa): We're going to be building a brand. I want that my life is a Saturday idea to hit more people, to impact more lives. Because after all, we are on a spinning rock in the middle of nothing and everything all at once. I have a passion for helping you develop a life that you truly love. And I also have a passion for creating a life that I really fucking love. And it sounds like I would really fucking love helping you find a life that you really fucking love. So if you want to get in on that, please share this episode with a friend.

0:29:34 - (Melissa): Follow along on Instagram at my life is a Saturday and I'm just so fucking stoked for this year. It's just going to be so good. And thanks for being here. Now remember, if it's on your heart, it's there for a reason. The vision is yours because you can see it. You have everything inside of you already right now to make the life of your dreams a reality. I'm here for you. I absolutely adore you. Thanks for tuning in.

0:30:02 - (Melissa): Bye.

0:30:04 - (Melissa): Thanks for tuning in to my life is a Saturday. I hope you enjoyed this episode and are feeling inspired to live your best life. If you liked what you heard, please subscribe, leave a review and share it with your friends. You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook at my life is a Saturday for more fun and inspiration. Remember, life is short, so let's make the most out of every day.

0:30:29 - (Melissa): Holy fucking hello. Welcome back to another episode of my life is Saturday podcast. And welcome to the very first episode of 2024. I am ecstatic that we're here and that we're showing up and that we're doing the thing. And I hope that you had the best holiday season and you are ready just to work with that new year energy, the beginning of a new year. There's always so much hype around goals and goal setting and resolutions and do I do the resolutions? Do I not do the resolutions? Am I just setting myself up for failure? What should I focus on? What do I want to do in the new year?

0:31:08 - (Melissa): And it can be extremely overwhelming, especially if you hang out in the online space and you see people like, I'm doing a resolution, I'm not doing resolutions. These are my crazy, wild, audacious goals of the year. These are the things I don't set goals because they never work out for me. It can be so much back and forth. It can be so much chatter in your own mind when you're thinking, oh, fuck, for this next year. What is it that I want to do? It can be overwhelming, and I'm here to tell you it doesn't have to be today. We are going to have a new year pep talk. I'm going to give you some tangible, actionable tips to help you bring in the new year. Right? And we're going to start this shit off on the right foot because it's 2024, babe.

0:31:55 - (Melissa): Let's get it.