How to make 2018 your best year

Self-awareness is the best thing to develop if you want a successful life that is full of fulfilment, happiness and achievement. Yet so many of us fall into the trap of not having the time to understand what our values, preferences and motives are. We go through life being completely unaware of why something does not feel quite right, even though our gut instinct gives us signs such as being bored, stressed, unproductive and lazy. We ignore these signs and just keep on going, following the same path, doing the same things and meeting the same people.

If you want 2018 to be different, to be better, for you to be in control, then it is important to first understand yourself by getting in tune with who you are.

 To help you with this process follow the eight quick and easy steps below:

1. Make sure you are sitting in a comfortable place, phone/s turned off and free from distractions. Keep a pen and paper beside you.
2. Close your eyes and imagine a wide rail track behind you. This is your timeline of 2017.
3. Travel back in your timeline to January 2017 - what things did you do that took too much time and energy? Who did you spend time with and felt drained after meeting them? Do the same for each month until you reach the present time.
4. When you reach the present time open your eyes and write down what things came up for you, which people stood out.
5. Close your eyes again and follow steps 1-3 but this time in step 3 instead of focusing on the things that took too much time and energy and people who drained you, focus on the things you did that made you happy, gave you a sense of achievement and made you feel good about yourself.  Which people did you meet or spend time and left you feeling energised afterwards?
6. When you reach the present time open your eyes and write down the things that came up for you, which people stood out.
7. Now you have a list of the things and people that had a negative impact on you and those that had a positive impact.
8. What does this tell you about yourself, what things do you want to continue doing and what things do you want to stop doing? Which people are you going to stop spending time with and which people are you going to spend more time with?