How to change your life in 2013

This year seems be the one for which everyone has been waiting: the year to change your life. Everyone is saying, “This will be my year”, and, “This will be a great year”. Even I will be relocating interstate to Bris-vegas with my family, so it’s a big year for us too.

You’ll have noticed that at the beginning of each year the ads start on TV, telling you how you can change your life. Lose weight, eat right, exercise, join a gym, buy exercise equipment. Personally, I find these ads a bit offensive as they target people at a very vulnerable time. You are called to action! How to change your life in a way that will work for you, though, is what can get tricky.

Each year under all the celebrations and parties, sometimes without even realising it, people re-evaluate the year just passed. That is the spirit of New Year’s Eve: a time of recollection about what happened, what didn’t happen and what you would like to change for the next year. This is why the ads come at a vulnerable time. People are already feeling regret or disappointment at not reaching certain goals.

The start of a new year can be so disappointing or disillusioning for some people that they stop making resolutions all together, which I find very sad. They give up because they think things never change, or they keep making the same resolutions every year and they never come true. So when they receive that call to action, they don’t even think about how to achieve lasting change. New Year’s, for them, is just another day that means nothing.

There is still time to put YOUR call to action in for this year though, and change your life. The feeling and energy of New Year’s is still with us, and available for you to cultivate your goals, dreams and desires for 2013.

What action plan would you make for this year? Here are a few tips to get you started:

• If you have been disappointed in the past, avoid resolutions like “lose weight”, “stop smoking” or “eat better”.  Instead, go for goals such as: “I’ll make lifestyle changes that focus on being healthy”, “I’ll discover the causes of my addictions” and “I’ll create discipline for myself”.

•  Make a 2- or 3- or 5- year plan to keep you focused and on track. Often, good-sized goals take time to create. You need to plan that time, both so you know what to expect and so you don’t get disappointed.

• Think about how you would like your life to change and create an action plan to get it happening. If you want more friends, than make an effort to meet up with groups of friends and friends of friends, and go out to social events more. If you want more success at work, look into extra courses you can do to jazz up your CV.

• Don’t give up or give in! Everyone has the same right to be happy, content and to have a great life. If you haven’t had a great 2012, that doesn’t decide your future.  You need to take responsibility for your life and for steering it in the right direction.

Life is short; ask any 80-year-old. They will tell you that they still feel 21 in their mind, and it feels like just yesterday that their kids were little and they were younger. Wasting year after year of your life is what leads to discontent, depression and life dissatisfaction. Don’t let that happen to you: regain control of your life today.