I know everyone is thinking “woo hoo, 2020 is finally over!” but now what?

Well now the hard work begins to set intentions and do the work to become the best version of yourself!

So many of us are quick to want to jump into the next year in the hopes that it will be better than the last.

The problem with this is that if you do nothing to realize and appreciate what you’ve just experienced, chances are the next year is going to be pretty much the same.

Hopefully you were doing work on yourself in 2020 when you were socially distancing and staying close to home.

I had much more time to reflect on my life and what was important to me. I am thankful for the time I had, particularly at the beginning of the year when I was healing from a failed relationship and trying to find my identity professionally after experiencing a major setback.

I challenge you to do what I did – which was setting intentions throughout the new year of things to help me become a better, stronger person and rebuild my life.

My good friend Chris is the one who suggested I do this years ago during another tough time in my life, and it worked then and now to help me manifest what I wanted.

Setting intentions is a great way to increase your likelihood of manifesting what you want. There is tremendous power in taking time to tap into what you want from your life and then declaring that to the universe.

Note that I did not use the word “resolution” intentionally, and I also want to stress that you do not have to set intentions only at the beginning of the year. You can do this at any point during the year. You can also veer off course and change or refine these goals. You are a work in progress, nothing is set in stone and you should change your goals as you change!

When you write down your intentions, try and be as specific as possible. The universe loves specific requests. Dive into the details of the things, people, places and experiences you want to manifest in your life.

Also, try to complete any unfinished business in your life before creating this list so you are as focused as possible and have a clean slate.

Here are some questions to think about as you set your intentions to help create the next version of you:

  • Who do you want to be?
  • What do you want your life to look like next year? In five years?
  • What have you been putting off because you’ve been too busy or you need specialized help?
  • What are some of your bad habits/shortcomings?
  • What criticism do you hear from trusted friends and business colleagues? How can you address it?
  • What do you want to accomplish in the short- and long-term?
  • What is something that you have always wanted to do but have been too scared/busy to do it?
  • What does success look like to you?
  • How has the pandemic changed your business/life?
  • How do you want to be remembered?

I suggest that you write down your intentions – either type or write them out – I have mine in the notes section of my iPhone. It makes it easy to refer back and refine them.

In order to make your intentions as powerful as possible, put your focus on – who you want to be – rather than – what you want to get. The more connected you are to your intentions, the more likely they are to manifest.

In every difficult situation we face there is always an opportunity for growth.

Try to reframe everything tough that happened in 2020 (and I know there was a lot of it for many of us), and see it as a learning experience that made you stronger and wiser.

Remember that you have within yourself the power to change your life, learn from all of your mistakes and missteps, and become the best version of yourself! Making lists like this can help you prioritize what you want and how to get there.