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I wrote yesterday about the book Living Forward by Michael Hyatt, where he shows you how to write a Life Plan for the coming year.

When creating a Life Plan for 2019, I realized that, looking back at my Life Plan for 2018, I was most successful in those areas where I had good habits, such as doing language study on a daily basis.   For those areas where I lacked both passion and progress, like dealing with personal finances, I realized I had no daily infrastructure, also known as a habit, to keep me inspired towards my goal (the passion part) and/or keep giving me incremental wins that would help me reach it (the progress part).   Of course, these two relate to each other:   it’s hard to make progress in an area if your heart just isn’t it, or you have fear holding you back (one of the psychological sources of procrastination).   Likewise, it’s hard to feel excited about an area where you have so little to show for it.

So how to build both passion and process in the areas of life you want to focus on in the New Year?

I came across some journals at a site called HabitNest.com–in the areas that I wanted to focus on in the New Year:

• The Fat Loss and Nutrition Sidekick Journal
• The Meditation Sidekick Journal
• The Morning Routine Sidekick Journal

Each of these journal focuses on one area (as you can see from the title), and gives you a 66-day program to jump start and maintain a habit in the area of your choice.   I decided to order them all, and I can tell I like their approach right from the start.

Of course, the progress part comes from you actually doing the work of filling in the journal.   But the passion part comes supplied from them, in the form of

• information (like about nutrition in the “Fat Loss and Nutrition Sidekick Journal”)
• daily challenges to focus on one specific goal or task
• daily inspirational quotes
• strategies for successfully creating and implementing activities that establish your habit
• accountability through tracking your progress–even days when you “fall off the wagon” and don’t accomplish what you set out to do

This last one is important–many people set up a rigid, perfectionist ideal of what they should do and the first moment their unrealistic plan runs into “reality”, they head for the hills in defeat.   No, these journals make the “getting back on the wagon” part an essential part of the experience.    Also, they teach you the wisdom of choosing small steps towards achieving your big dreams, and not loading too much on yourself at any one time–especially the first week!

I can’t give a testimonial yet on their effectiveness, because I just got them yesterday.   But I wanted to pass on this recommendation to visit habitnest.com and check out their journals.   If you want to make progress towards your goals in 2019, start by building habits that reinforce and inspire that progress–it’s the approach they take at Habit Nest and one that I really appreciate–especially at the beginning of the year.

Don’t just make a list of New Year’s Resolutions–make only a few, but stick to them!   Do this by hiring a sidekick, namely the Sidekick Journal series.   I’ll let you know at the end of 66 days what my experience was, so stay tuned!

Have a happy and prosperous New Year!    Guarantee it for yourself by bringing new habits to bear in your life that will be the “wind beneath your wings” as you fly towards goals in 2019!

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