Today I deleted all my unread emails, all wishlists, and all todo lists from this year. Because next year – tomorrow – I want to wake up with a clean slate.
I’m choosing to focus on next year’s intentions that I designed in the beginning of this month and have practiced daily since. They have become an integral part of my system for living life well with fewer better things.
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” – James Clear, author Atomic Habits
I’ve shared my intentions both here and on LinkedIn over the past few weeks. And over time I’ve reduced them down to three very simple statements:
Growing deeper relationships
Improving wellbeing and fitness
Creating positive impact
They are interconnected and sourced from my ambition to live an extraordinary life with meaning, purpose, and happiness on my own terms.
Deeper and meaningful relationships and conversations are a basic need for expanding our minds and wellbeing. Living in temporary solitude to get to know yourself is valuable, but in the end of the day, we’re social animals.
My idea of wellness and fitness expands beyond physical, although that’s where it began. A healthy mind in a healthy body with a healthy soul gives energy to everything else in life, from relationships to financial success.
Creating positive impact is about giving back to the world, about adding more value than we extract. It’s about discovering, developing, and sharing our gifts to move humanity forward.
“The purpose of life is to discover your gift; the work of life is to develop it; and the meaning of life is to give your gift away.” – David Viscott
Thanks to the Internet, there are no barriers to accessing tools or audience. Everything is available to everyone; it’s how we use our limited resources – time, attention, and creative energy – that will define the outcome.
We all have 24 hours per day, about 16 hours per day after sleep, that we can and should organize in the most productive way. Thinking differently about the day can change the outcome significantly.
But the challenge with the Internet, and apps specifically, is that they are designed like slot machines, wanting quarters – our time and attention while zapping our creative energy – in exchange for a short emotional rouse.
“Directing your attention toward the most important object of your choosing—and then sustaining that attention—is the most consequential decision we will make throughout the day. We are what we pay attention to.” – Chris Bailey, author Hyperfocus
Attention can be scattered or focused, sometimes even hyperfocused. Being neurodiverse I’m experiencing both daily, and have had to work hard to hyperfocus my attention on the fewer better things – my intentions.
Fueling our creative energy is critical to coming up with new ways of seeing, being, and solving problems. But the trick is really to experiment, to let the doing be our thinking and then actively reflect and respond to the results.
Everything else is abundant and mostly free which I think we underestimate the power of. Once you have a well-designed daily schedule to get the most out of your time, attention, and creative energy – consistency will do the rest.
I’ve broken down my intentions into daily habits to make them a reality. The goal in my mind is to execute my schedule well every day without thinking about the year-end outcome. It’s the daily job that’s the real reward.
If you honor the process and learn and adjust you’ll be able to go far beyond your yearly goals. Thinking only long-term will allow for just good enough, but committing to your intentions every day will reach greatness.
My daily schedule for next year is simple: