394: Setting the Foundation for An Extraordinary New Year and Beyond

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“We can attain almost anything we want—but not instantly. If we’re methodical, if we’re persistent, and if we take small, deliberate steps, we can arrive there. The going may be slow at first, but the advantage of those actions, compounded over time, can lead to stunning results.” —Doris Clark, author of The Long Game: How to Be A Better Long-Term Thinker in a Short Term World

Five years. Seven years. A decade. Time is on our side so long as we put in the proper foundation to support the progress that will eventually lead to the outcome we intend.

“The whole point of playing the long game is understanding the ridiculous goals are ridiculous right now—not forever . . . it might take five years, or ten, or twenty. But that time will pass away.”

Just as each season has a purpose to enable Mother Nature’s flora and fauna to rest, rejuvenate, grow, shine and celebrate, so too is the journey our own progress must traverse in order to experience the outcomes we seek. Winter finds us resting, assessing, nourishing and gaining clarity with the pause, but that doesn’t mean we remain there. So long as we understand the purpose for the length of time it will take, we then can rest in quiet confidence that we are heading in the direction that will lead us eventually where we have pointed ourselves.

Every day will not be winter, and in knowing that, we can then savor winter’s opportunity which is why I would like to bring today’s episode to you as we are now just three days away from winter’s beginning.

The opportunity to know what components a solid foundation contains will ensure that down the road, an everyday ordinary to others, we will experience the extraordinary that in previous days we had dreamed about madly about would be our reality. 🙂

Let’s take a look.

1. Envision your ideal lifestyle

“The more you can live the life that feels right, instead of the one you feel is expected from you, the happier you’ll be.” —Cory Allen, author of Brave New You

Be as concrete as possible in certain areas (living in a home that is mine with an affordable mortgage payment for my peace of mind) and more conceptual (to feel an abiding contentment in my everydays) in other areas.

Take the time to write out the where and how you want to live. If it helps, during the Week Between the Years or Time Between the Years (the last week of each calendar year), create a vision journal containing cut-out images of your ideal lifestyle. I still have the one I created back in 2010, and I refer to it regularly. A few things have changed, but not much. Now fifteen years later, I am closer to realizing my intentions set forth than the person I was back in 2010 would have ever actually known to be possible. Yes, it take time, but if you are a visual person, the vision board/journal does help to keep your focus.

~Explore these posts/episodes about how to savor the final week of the year: episode #297: 10 Ideas for Making the Most of “Between the Years” and How I Spend the Time that is “Between the Years” (2019)

2. Prioritize ‘white space’ regularly in your day/week/months

Another way of describing this time is find oasis time as Dorie Clark shares in her book. A time that is entirely free of demands, “a small break and ability to rest”.

If you haven’t established regular oasis moments in your routine, make it a priority to make space for them. Clark shares the guiding question to ask yourself is “What must I do to make this happen?” Essentially, you have to start becoming clear about your priorities, smarter and more efficient about how you work, and courageous enough to say no even to things that aren’t horrible or entirely unhelpful, but simply don’t support your priorities as you have now decided upon will be your focus.

Having an oasis time creates space. Space to just be rather than do or to think. Andy Puddicombe reminds, “It is the silence that provides the clarity and the precision . . . creativity arises from stillness and when there’s too many thoughts in our mind, that creates confusion. It’s actually the silence around those thoughts that creates the clarity. That creates the focus.”

Perhaps you are reading/listening to this post/episode and saying, but I don’t know what my priorities are at the moment. This demonstrates with even more why creating regular white space needs to be a priority, so that you can find the space to become clear about what is of value to you and why and then how to proceed forward.

~Be sure to listen to the audio version of this episode as I share examples of what white space or ‘oasis’ time might look like.

3. Audit your bank of knowledge and pinpoint an area to strengthen

Once you have your priorities and ideal lifestyle clarified, examine what skills you need to be successful in reaching this outcome. If you aren’t currently living your ideal lifestyle, it is understood that something still needs to be learned and put into practice. This is not something to berate yourself over because being a forever learner is a wise way to live as it is curiosity that keeps our mind active, opens up doors of opportunity to connect and socially stay involved as well as feed well our being and sense of productivity regardless of our age. Just as we talked about in the previous episode (#393) regarding rewiring our minds – it is possible, but it will take conscious effort, regular and consistent repetition, thus determination, but we are all the better for it if we do so.

Consciously examine what skills you will need to learn. Some may take quite a bit of time, but that is part of the long-game approach, and it all begins with a single step followed by the next step, the next and so on and so forth. Now explore where and how you can learn that skill from a trusted expert that will ensure you gain the quality learning experience you need. Invest in the class, enroll in the program, carve out the necessary time. Remember, you are prioritizing what is needed to create your ideal lifestyle that honors your priorities.

Part of my own journey has been learn to the French language well enough, so that someday (I have a specific deadline year in my journal as having a precise deadline is also part of eventually reaching your desired outcome) I can live part-time in France in the countryside. I knew this would be a multi-year learning process, but to me it is worth it both in time and money, so I am sticking with it. That skill – the French language – was what I knew I was deficient in and also knew it had to be a part of eventually feeling confident enough to fulfill my intention, something I had the power to change.

4. Design an everyday life you love because that is where you will reside most of your days

“In the land of the quick fix it may seem radical, but to learn anything significant, to make any lasting change in yourself, you must be willing to spend most of your time on the plateau, to keep practicing/[working] even when it seems you are getting nowhere.” —George Leonard, Aikido master

At the core of living a simply luxurious life is designing everydays you love to live, and knowing what that looks like as life is always changing.

The reality of life is that the everydays are really every single day. It is our mindset as to how we approach them that determines their value. So when we shift how we view our everydays and begin to value and see all that they have to offer when we live consciously savoring all that is contained within them, we begin to thoroughly enjoy waking up each morning whether it is the beginning of the work week or the start of a weekend. Why? Because we have taken responsibility for the life we are living. We make difficult choices about the work we do, where we live, how we live, who we spend and share our time with, how we engage, how we care for ourselves, etc. The list goes on and all of the myriad of components that are part of our daily lives has been and will continue to be the focus of TSLL content.

Below are a few posts to get you started on how to focus on what you can that will change the quality of your everydays and thus enable you to not only enjoy the journey but eventually arrive with patience at the place you intended.

How to ‘Tune Up’ Your Everyday: 8 Everyday Life Items to Invest in for an Awesome Day

20 Simple Luxuries to Welcome into Your Everyday

The Long Game and Why Designing Our Everydays Thoughtfully Makes the Journey a Joy and Our Desired Success Most Certain

5. Become an expert in the skill of savoring and appreciation

Clark talks about the phenomenon of ‘shifting baseline syndrome’. It’s an ecological term, but it can apply to our own life journey as well. Essentially, we forget what our old life used to look and feel like. In other words, we forget that much of what we have or how we are living now are details and dreams we had earlier in our lives and ached to be able to experience. Part of this phenomenon has to do with lack of awareness and another part has to do with undervaluing appreciation and instead being in the habit is always wanting.

It’s not a bad thing to desire to improve and to grow, but when we take for granted what we have, we relinquish a powerful boost of life enjoyment and thus contentment erodes.

Instead, take a moment to reflect on something that when you see it or hear it, you are prompted to recall your old life and how far you have now come along your journey. This doesn’t have to be a negative thing in your past, simply a chapter in your life that is now closed and you have moved forward into something more fulfilling and enriching. When you take this moment to reflect, give a nod of gratitude to appreciate all that you did and where you are now. And instead of wishing for more in this moment, savor what you have instead. Extend gratitude for all that nourishes what you are now able to do that once in your past you would have only dreamed about.

~In TSLL’s Contentment Masterclass, both of these skills – savoring and appreciation are explored – taught and practiced as they are at the core of living a life of contentment. Learn more about the class here.

6. Set the intention to be resilient

“Becoming a long-term thinker requires a substratum of resilience, because it’s rare that anything works out the first time or in the way you envisioned it.”

At the foundation of residing in a quiet confidence that we will reach the long-term outcome we set for ourselves is resilience. Things will twist and turn, rejection will happen, likely more than once, delays are inevitable, but with clarity about what we value and how we want to live our life, knowing our inner compass and what energizes us, we will weather these temporary setbacks and momentary lulls with self-assurance that staying the course we have chosen to be on will eventually lead us where we set out to arrive.

Whether your vision of what will transpire in the new year has to do with health or your career, your personal life or your travel dreams, each of the steps shared today will provide the foundation of assurance that if you persist, all the while staying present in your everydays, savoring them fully and consciously, at some point in the future, maybe not in the new year, maybe in two or three or even ten years time, you will meet with success what you set to bring to pass.