I stumbled upon the idea of a 'theme' at the beginning of '23 and liked it. Rather than setting new goals, I decided to find my theme.
After spending a month reflecting on the previous year, I resonated with 'Newness' as one of the themes. As the time went by, I realised 'Newness' and other themes acted as a strong guiding principles, helping me become a better version of myself. I certainly failed a fair few times to stick with it, but I still consider it a great success and would highly recommend trying it.
Few examples of how it helped:
- Published more posts on my blog! In the past, I often hesitated and overthought before hitting the Publish button on my blog. This year, I challenged myself by asking, "Is hitting the Publish button a new way? Am I living the old way by not publishing this post?" The answer was yes, and I hit the button. Although my soft goal was to publish 12 posts (one per month), I managed to publish 9. Oh wait…! 10, including this one!
- Learned to drive. Even though I knew how to drive, I'd always find excuses to stick with my scooter. The fear of driving was real. So, I started asking myself, "What would the newer version of me do? Grab the 2-wheeler keys or the 4-wheeler keys?" It took me a while, but eventually, I found myself reaching for the car keys more often.
There are many instances at work or in personal life (documented in private journal), where I let my theme guide the decision. I haven't regretted any of them.
If you’re failing at resolution, try theming your year. Try something new.