New Year, New Start
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Who doesn’t love a fresh start? A chance to make right what went wrong. To erase the slate of whatever drama and trauma has been plaguing you and to try again, this time promising yourself to avoid the previous mistakes made. Planning to make the smart decisions needed to kickstart the happiness, health, wealth and love that you just know are waiting for you on the other side is what this time of year is all about. To trash and/or come to grips with the past and get started on living the vision board life you so carefully curated with your girlfriends last week is often the light on your troubled horizon.
Some of us are constantly starting over. We’re going to get back on our diet tomorrow. We’re heading back to the gym next week. This weekend, we’re going to start drinking a gallon of water a day. For real this time. But the New Years’ restart is a whole different beast. The start of a new year is a golden opportunity to start it ALL over. It’s the cleanest of clean slates. Twelve shiny new months in which to reinvent and improve your lot. It’s no different for us here at RACA. As we enter our 10th year in the blogosphere we are committed to a new start as well. But no do-over, personal or professional, can be successful without a few ground rules. Check our top 3.
Take Stock. You cannot begin any restart without assessing where you currently stand. And that means being taking stock of where you are on your journey, your motivation to change/improve and the work that you have or haven’t been putting in to get to where it is you want to be.
For example: Are your finances jacked? Why? Be honest. Did you spend when you should have saved? Did you pass up on gigs that you should have taken? Do you know you need guidance when it comes to your money but, out of fear, shame, laziness, failed to seek it out? No matter how you got into the your current situation, there’s no getting out of it if you continue to lie to yourself and refuse to see things for how they truly are.
Whatever the issues are that you want to tackle in 2018, you have to be brutally honest about what they are are and why/how they came to be. Anything less and the only person you’ll be cheating out of a chance to get right and do better is you.
Make A Plan. By day I’m a producer and project manager at an ad agency. Projects under my purview don’t make it out the gate until a concrete plan is in place (the who, what, where, when, why and how much) and all stakeholders are clear on what is expected of them and when. The plan is recorded, tracked and all involved are held accountable for their part. Anything less is unacceptable. Without a blueprint in place, nothing happens. This same attention to putting a plan in place is needed for our personal goals.
Folks are prone to making grand pronouncements at New Years. “I’m going to increase my credit score by 150 points by June!” “I’m going to wake up at 4am, meditate and workout every day!” None of that means jack without a detailed plan and accountability measures in place to back it up. Want to lose that lst 10 lbs? Cool. HOW are you going to do it? Modifying your diet? Ok. What specifically will change? More veggies? Great. How much will those veggies cost? You getting the drift here? It may be cliche but it’s true. Failing to plan means you are planning to fail. Take some time to write out your grand plan so you are clear on how you will achieve your goals.
Execute. I woke up this morning, reached for my phone and was promptly dragged by a stranger on Twitter: 
Listen. I am the QUEEN of planning. None cyan test. I literally do this for a living. Yet, when it comes to the actual execution of said plans, well… I could use some help. I tend to analyze ’til I’m paralyzed. I tweak until it’s perfect. I decide it’s too late in the day to start will kick it off tomorrow instead. But as the wise Twitter denizen above said, oftentimes I’m avoiding the magic key to my dreams, doing the work.
How many of you have project plans, self improvement plans, business plans, etc gathering dust on your whiteboard? Or sitting in the To Do folder of your Google drive? Well now is the time folks. Pull those plans out and DO THE WORK. Transfer those funds. Get up and go for that run. Finish the homework of that class you’re taking. And ask a friend to help hold you accountable. Record your progress. Re-assess periodically and tweak your methods as needed.
Anyone can make a plan, but only the truly dedicated can make those plans come to fruition.
What are your refresh, restart plans for 2018? How are you going to make those plans come to life? Share your tip and trick with me nuh?!
