171 The Non 'New Year New You' Plan

New year, new you, NO WAY! You don't need a new you. You are fantastic just the way you are. New year, new you implies that who we are isn't enough. How about we switch this to "New Year, I'm Here!".

With the original phrase, you are putting all your eggs in the New Year basket and this puts you in the place where you need a fresh year to do something different. I simply don't believe in this way of planning.

The solution? Listen in to find out!

In this episode, you will learn the following:
1. Why the phrase "New Year, New You" can set you up for failure, and what to say instead.
2. How to make the most of a new year without overwhelming yourself with trying to become a "new you".
3. Discover a powerful planning process to help you prioritize and accomplish your goals throughout the year.

Ready to finally ditch overwhelm and learn how to gain control of your time no matter what life throws at you? DM me on Instagram the word "training" and I will send over my free training.

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FULL TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:00]
Right, friends, be honest with me. How many times have you heard or have you found yourself saying new Year, new you, or have you read it on someone's post trying to get you involved in some program or something like that? Today I want to tackle that exact phrase, tell you why I don't like it, and then introduce you to a new phrase that maybe we can all start saying. Instead, maybe we can create a movement around it. All right, let's go ahead and get started.

[00:00:28]
Welcome to the Work Life Harmony podcast. I'm your host, Megan Sumrell. I'm the creator of the top program and top planner, teaching all things time management, organization, and productivity for women. I'm also a mom and wife, and just like you juggling hashtag all the things while running multiple businesses and a family, guess what? You don't have to feel constantly overwhelmed, exhausted, and stressed out.

[00:00:49]
There is another way. When you have the right systems and tools to plan and manage your time, you can live a life of harmony. This is your show to learn from me and other amazing women how to master your time, planning and organization, to skyrocket your productivity so you can have Work Life Harmony. If you're ready to stop feeling overwhelmed, this is the show for you. And if you're new here, I'd love to get you started with my Work Life Harmony assessment.

[00:01:13]
All you have to do is DM me on Instagram at Megan Summer with the word Harmony, and my team will send it right over.

[00:01:22]
And hey, welcome back to work life. Harmony. So here we are at the start of a new year. I recently did an episode on why I don't like New Year's resolutions. Well, today I want to call out a specific thing that drives me nuts.

[00:01:35]
And it's something I want you to catch yourself if you are thinking this or if you are saying it to others. And it is the phrase new Year, new you. I will admit, years ago I used to embrace that a little bit, right? Like, first start new year. I have come to remove that phrase from my vocabulary.

[00:01:55]
And today I want to share with you a couple of reasons why I think that mentality and that phraseology can really set you up for failure. And then I want to give you maybe a different name, a different phrase that we can embrace and what that subtle difference is. All right, so first, let's just call this out. New year, new you. Friends.

[00:02:15]
You don't need a new you. I'm going to repeat that. You don't need a new you. You are fantastic just the way you are. Now, does that mean that maybe there aren't you things you want to try or some things you want to do differently or some things you want to finish or maybe set some gold or whatever?

[00:02:37]
Of course not. But you don't need a new you. And when we use that phrase new Year, new You, I feel like what it's kind of subtly and subconsciously saying is that the you you are today isn't good enough. And I don't like that. So that's one very kind of more subtle subconscious reason why I really don't like the phrase new Year, new you, because it implies that who we are isn't enough today.

[00:03:09]
So let's first recognize we don't need a new you. Maybe we want to start some new stuff. Maybe we want to finish some things. Maybe we want to change things up. But who you are is fantastic right now.

[00:03:22]
A couple of other things that happen when we use this phrase of new Year, new you is we tend to kind of put all our eggs into one basket. What do I mean by that? Well, we sit there and I see this happening in Q four. All through the last three months of the year, people are wasting 90 whole days of getting into action by going, I'm just going to wait to the new year, new year, new me, new Year. I'm going to start it in the new year.

[00:03:48]
So we waste all this precious time, especially at the end of the previous year, not doing something because we're waiting for that new year. And it's like we build up all of this energy and excitement around, all these things are going to happen, but we have to wait till it's the new year. So we're putting all our eggs into this New year basket, and we're missing so much opportunity to start things whenever we feel like it. Now, I recently just went through this exact same thing I have had on my list for a long time, that my kind of dream was that I wanted to start taking cello lessons. I've never played the cello.

[00:04:23]
I do have a musical background, but I've always wanted to learn how to play it. Well, at the time I'm recording this. It's actually here at the end of December, but you're going to be listening to this in January. And it was very tempting for me at the start of December to say, all right, I'm going to do that in January. I'm going to get that process started in January.

[00:04:40]
And I had to catch myself and say, no, you can start it right now. So I actually found the teacher, rented the instrument, and started cello lessons at the beginning of December. I would have missed an entire month opportunity if I had been stuck on that New year, new you, right? And then third, by coming into this New year mentality as well, it puts a lot of pressure to start all of these new things because you think you need to be a new person all at once. And they see it all the time where people start in January, like, okay, well, now I'm going to do this for my health, and I'm going to do this around the house and I'm going to do this for myself.

[00:05:19]
I'm going to start this and I'm going to finish this. And it's like all of a sudden we've just opened the fire hydrant. Where instead what is more sustainable and more realistic and sets us up for a much better chance of success is when we are introducing changes and things regularly throughout the year as the time permits. So those are just a couple of reasons why I really want you to try not to get caught up in the height of New Year new you, all right? You're fantastic just the way you are.

[00:05:55]
So what is the solution then? Because it is fun sometimes to capitalize on that feeling of a fresh start. There's a reason why people always say, okay, I'm going to start this new thing on a Monday or I'm going to start it at the beginning of the month or I'm going to start it in the new Year. Right? But we don't need to do that.

[00:06:13]
Every time we do that we have missed opportunities. But kind of back to my cello example, right? So the solution instead is how about instead of there's a solution I'm going to offer. Instead of saying New Year, New You, why don't we just at the start of the year say New Year, I'm here and it's no different than any other day. Every day we can just wake up and say I'm here.

[00:06:43]
And every day we have the choice of how we're going to spend our time. Right? And the best way that I know to get out of putting all of our eggs into this New Year basket is to do regular more what I call that higher level strategic planning. These are the top two levels of planning that I teach and that is namely our quarterly planning and our annual planning. All right?

[00:07:14]
So when we have a set quarterly planning process that we come at at the start of every quarter where we are reviewing our goals, we are reviewing those things on our dream list, on our wish list, where we are reviewing the realities of what current constraints we have on our time. We are regularly all year long creating the opportunity for us to start new things, finish things, maybe let go of things, introduce new things. Instead of waiting until this new year, we get to show up every quarter and even every month and say I'm here and I am ready to make really thoughtful decisions about how I want to plan and prioritize my time. Now, in order to be successful with this, we do have to have systems and routines in place where we are regularly adjusting our plans. We are tweaking maybe what our goal dates are and things like that.

[00:08:18]
And those are all things that I cover inside of my top program and plan of Paluza. But you do not have to be a part of those programs to take pause for thought right now at the start of this new year and ask yourself, are you putting way too much pressure on the start of this year? Are you putting all your eggs into the new year, new you basket? And if so, I give you permission. And I hope you give yourself permission to say, you know what?

[00:08:44]
It's just another day. It's just another week. It's just another month. It is a new year, and I am here just as I was here yesterday, and I will be here tomorrow. And every day, you have the right to decide that today is the right day to start on something new.

[00:09:04]
All right? So if you want to learn a little bit more about how to get started with planning the right way, even if you are in a ridiculously unpredictable stage of life, I have a new free training. I would invite you to come listen to you. All you need to do is come over on Instagram and just DM me at Megan Sumrell and just DM the word training, and I will get you a link to that free training right away. So I hope you guys have a fantastic week.

[00:09:36]
And remember, it's just a new year. You're here getting on top of all things time management, organization, and productivity doesn't have to stop just because this episode is over. If you want one tap access to all of my training and current top podcasts, go to the App Store or Google Play and download the Pink B apps. One word. The The Pink Bee.

[00:09:59]
It is jampacked with simple yet powerful tips and strategies to get you out of overwhelm and into harmony. And if you have a question you want me to COVID on a future episode, go to itunes and ask your question in the podcast review section. And while you're there, don't forget to leave a five star review.