While we will learn from a year that pushed us towards normalcy, start 2023 with a resolve to look ahead and take concrete steps to make this the best year for you.
Clear your energy zone. To invite positivity, the clutter on your office table or home desk is blocking prosperity. Clutter can make us feel disorganised, overwhelmed, anxious and lower our efficiency. Whether it is your home or office, clearing the path and letting some fresh air come in is going to benefit you in releasing your stress and inviting positive energy.
Declutter your brain. While we’re on the topic of clutter, decluttering your brain is the biggest step you need to take. This means that any unnecessary baggage that you are carrying from the previous year or years needs to now disappear into the past. Overthinking, not being able to make a list for your tasks will increase cortisol levels, leading to chronic anxiety. Make a list of things that are important for you in 2023 including work, relationships, items you need or do not need. And then, just ruthlessly act on what you don’t need, in releasing it. You will be surprised that within a few weeks, your freshness levels will be so much higher and your home and work relationships will start becoming progressively better.
Practice kindness. A smile for the watchman, a compliment for a teammate, some flowers for the spouse, a chocolate as much for your child as the girl who works in the house. Random acts of kindness will make your heart sing. Everyone is fighting their own battles and just because your path is difficult doesn’t mean theirs is not. Touching someone and making them feel uplifted takes very little. Even if you are not in the habit of doing this, put the effort in. When you start seeing the responses of people who you do it for over a few weeks, you will realise that you are getting the positive energy right back and smiling more. Ultimately, you are not doing it for them, you are doing it for you. But in the process, you yourself will start feeling more fulfilled as a person.
Read. Not the reports, presentations or social media news. Pick up a book and read a page every single day. It will enrich you in ways that you cannot imagine. Don’t read more than a page because that page will stay with you and you will realise that you will be able to even quote from it a few weeks later at a conference or a gathering. Sounding knowledgeable really means gaining the knowledge one step at a time. Every day.
Move the creaky bones. It’s very easy to say that you exercise four days a week but just five to seven minutes of neck, ankle, wrist and shoulder rotations twice a day will give you more agility and mental alertness than an hour’s workout in the gym. This is because it is these areas that get impacted when you are sitting and concentrating on something. Your back muscles go into spasm, your calves begin to lose circulation and your wrists get overloaded with phone and laptop usage. Strengthening them by these rotations will ensure that these joints last you longer, and you will also reduce any unexplained pains as well as increase sprightliness.
The steps are simple and small. But each one done every day is what ensures that your quality of life becomes better, bigger and more successful. Isn’t that finally the purpose of starting a new year with hope? Wishing you all a very joyous and blessed 2023.