New Year brings a bombardment of motivational quotes, encouragement to ‘smash 2019’, become the person we’ve always wanted to be and goals galore! Juice diet and daunting achievements for 2019? This is all P-R-E-S-S-U-R-E that we do not need!

Please do not succumb to feeling overwhelmed by the expectation the New Year can bring; pressure that comes from both society as well as ourselves!

It's actually just another day, just another week, just another month. You do not need to ‘become’ anything. And if you want to - you can do this on any day or week of the year!

Our single greatest objective through the work we do at The Vibrancy Hub is to provide people with the tools and knowledge to build their confidence to be and love their true self; as this is what leads to the happiest, most fulfilling and peaceful life. We LOVE this quote from Matt Haig:

“Don’t dream of a new you. Just dream of recovering the original one. Keep the child you were alive forever. Keep playing. Keep living. Keep being the miracle you already are”.

An amazing reminder of what is truly important in the quest for true happiness. At TVH we do however enjoy the wonderful opportunity New Year provides to encourage each other to kindly and gently create a world we're happy in - for ourselves! By all means revel in the optimistic, exciting sensation that being able to plan and design your life can bring.

We try to be grateful for the simple luxury of having the opportunity to plan, dream and create an idea of how we might spend our time ahead.

To plan is to imagine and explore how our future chapters might take shape. And whilst we must continually work towards experiencing life as much in the present moment as possible, the freedom of being able to plan is perhaps one of the most under valued luxuries of all.

As humans we are able to create, fuck-up, and re-create so many wonderful possibilities ahead of us! So dig out your notebook, diary or paper and let yourself get excited!

Design your best EVER year ahead!

Here are our Top Tips for planning and designing your most fulfilling and joy filled year ahead. (And if you only do two things from this list - do step 1 and step 8!)

1. Reflect on the last 12 months - honour the past and thank it for all it has taught you:

- Prompt yourself by going back through your diary, calendar, photos, social media

- Make a note of your highlights; the experiences and people that brought the most fulfilment and joy. This will be different for everybody, as we all value different things - as inspiration your list might include travel / experiences, accomplishments, skills developed, new places visited, new friends made or time spent in nature. Whatever it is that lights YOU up!

- Also note down the areas that were challenging - what did you overcome? What were the learnings and ways in which you grew and developed yourself? In what ways do you feel proud of yourself when reflecting?

- Spend some time acknowledging all that you experienced in just 12 little months!

DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! You deserve to reflect on how you spent your previous 12 months on wonderful planet earth - and we promise it will give you all the feels!I

f you are short on time, skip straight to Step 4

2. Pull out your Values:

- When investing time in any planning, remember to always align to your personal Values and safeguard them as much as possible! This way you know that the plans and choices you make are going to feel fulfilling, rather than falling into the trap of doing what we ‘think’ we should.

- Challenge yourself to think outside the box in order to bring these Values to life - we all know that if we ‘always do what we’ve always done’ not much is going to change. For example try to employ creative thinking, be brave and courageous, consider a new approach to working and be clear on your boundaries.

- If you haven’t been through the process of defining your personal core Values before, you might find a 121 coaching session with us hugely beneficial (perhaps even life changing!)

3. Next pull out your ‘Priority’ areas of life:

- Concentrate on the areas of your life that you want to focus on or feel most important to you.

- Choose around 4 key areas; again this will be different for everybody - as inspiration this may include relationships, health, career, personal development, adventure, giving back or creativity.

4. Bearing in mind steps 1 - 3, brainstorm the following prompts for your year ahead:

- What do I want to do more of?-

Who do I want to spend more time with? Which relationships do I want to nurture?

- Creating time and space - what could I do less of? Who could I see less of? What do I need to let go of? What boundaries do I need to put in place and how can I make this happen?

- Places I would like to visit or travel to - day trips, weekends and holidays

- Skills I would like to develop

- Topics to learn more about; nurture your curiosity - perhaps dedicate just 10 mins per day!

5. Month ahead:

- Take out your diary and book in some of the activities you know you want to do more of and makes you feel awesome!

6. Q1 (or beyond):

- Take your 2019 wall planner or calendar and pencil in big ticket items eg travels / trips / courses / workshops etc.

7. Moodboard:

- If you are a visual person, you might find it inspiring to bring to life your areas of focus through a visual mood board. Take a stack of magazines and find images / quotes that convey what it is you are planning, across all aspects of your life.

- Stick or pin the images / quotes onto a pinboard and play around until you are happy with the overall look and feel - you want to feel utterly inspired each time you look at this!

- A detailed ‘Dream Life Vision’ for the next 5-10 years, plus a breakdown of the areas into attainable next steps which we call a ‘Vibrant Living Plan’ can be extremely effective - if you need a hand, expert guidance and support through the process, you can learn all about this through our 121 coaching sessions.

8. Kindness Revolution not Resolutions:

- 80% of New Year’s Resolutions don’t work so don’t waste your time making them! This is because resolutions tend to be based on goals we think we ‘should’ be achieving, rather than ideas created by going through the process above to design individual, meaningful plans that reflect our core values and true self.

- Instead, perhaps make some simple promises or intentions to yourself - small and achievable daily actions that in time will become healthy habits.

- This could be anything from getting out of bed a bit earlier to drinking more water, using your commute to inspire your mind with books or podcasts, journalling, a regular gratitude practice, moving your body, trying meditation or quite simply a daily reminder to be kinder and gentler with yourself (yes please do this!)

9. Be organised - you deserve the chance to bring your dreams to life!

- Any brainstorming you have done and notes made, get them all into one place - whether that is a notebook / diary / laptop - so that it is easily accessible as a reference tool.

- Regularly take a look at your notes, to remind yourself what activities and people you want to prioritise throughout your week ahead.

- Diarise time once per month to sit down and enjoy going through your ideas so that you stay on track - this will realistically provide you with the opportunity to turn each week and month into the most enjoyable experience it can be - and voila!...2019 becomes a bloody goodie :-)