Your Best Year Starts in December

Most people think the new year starts in January. 

But if you want to give yourself space to make sure you’re setting the right goals… 

I suggest you start in December.

This is what I’ve done for the past 5 years. 

In December 2018, I decided to change my life. 

I quit alcohol… 

I made a career transition…

I started improving myself.

I didn’t want to wait until the New Year to join the, “new year, new me” crowd…

Because waiting until January never made a lot of sense. 

It felt forced to pick a goal on January 1st. 

It felt counterintuitive to make changes because you’re “supposed” to. 

Why wait to reflect on the past year and look ahead to the new one?

Why wait to think about burdens that no longer serve you? 

Why wait to start setting goals and lay the groundwork for a successful new year? 

Since reinventing myself in December 2018…

I’ve committed to doing the same exercises every year. 

By starting my year in December, I have an entire month to:

• Reflect, evaluate, and set goals for the year ahead. 

• Figure out what I want, and what I want to leave behind. 

• Give my ideas breathing room to change if they need to.

I’m sharing this with you now because when I look back at my past 5 Decembers…

5 years of reflecting, releasing, and resetting before January 1st…

The years that followed have been the best of my life. 

I found a career path that impacts people…

I got clearer on where I’m headed…

I’ve become the man I was meant to be.

And, now that it’s December, I wanted to share the exercises with you. 

Because maybe your best year starts this December, too. 

Reflect — Look Back to Plan Ahead 

The first thing I do is set aside time for self-reflection. 

And I mean honest self-reflection.

The tough stuff you’d rather not think about. 

I sit down with a pen and paper…

And I review everything that happened in the past year — both successes and setbacks.

I use these 5 questions as my guide: 

1. How did the past year go? 

2. What am I proud of?

3. What did I struggle with? 

4. What was really meaningful to me? 

5. What do I think was missing? 

These questions might feel intimidating to answer…

To open up and be vulnerable with your wants, needs, and desires.

To turn inward and discover what's true for you.

Give yourself permission to be brutally honest.

It will help you gain clarity in the year ahead.

Find time to set aside every week in December to reflect.

It could be 20 minutes during lunch…

Or 90 minutes every Saturday.

Writing out your answers makes them “real.” 

It gives you something tangible to reflect on and evaluate. 

And it pushes you out of your comfort zone in the process.

When I write out the answers to my questions…

I can physically see where I need to make changes in the new year. 

I can reflect on my past experiences that will inform my future decisions.

I can remove myself from what’s happened, making it easier to let go. 

Every time I pick up a pen to start this exercise, I know that the honesty is going to be hard to swallow. 

But I also know that once I’m done, I’m left with nothing but gold. 

Release — Let Go of the Past Year's Burdens

When I started doing well in business, I created a goal to buy a private jet. 

Because that’s what you do when you’re rich, right? 

Right… 

Or so I thought. 

Once I started reflecting on who I wanted to become, and what I wanted from life…

I remembered the things that are actually important to me…

Location Independence, Financial Freedom, and Self-Actualisation…

Not a private jet. 

So, I stopped wasting energy on a goal I didn’t care about anymore… 

I saved myself the time, stress, and effort of a misaligned purchase…

And I let it go. 

I’ve continued to let things go every December since. 

Now, when I reflect on what happened over the past year, both good and bad…

I spend a little extra time on the “bad.” 

It sounds counterintuitive, given what I just told you… but stay with me. 

At this stage, I return to these 2 questions from the list above:

1. What did I struggle with? 

2. What do I think was missing?

Let’s say after you complete the first exercise, you realise a lack of confidence is holding you back in some way and could use some work. 

Ask yourself:

• Are there people in my life that make me feel insecure? 

• Are there tasks or activities that make me doubt myself?

• Are there habits that perpetuate my lack of confidence?

If yes, then the next step is to identify the source. 

Name the people bringing you down…

Take stock of the tasks that make you feel less than…

Reflect on the habits you engage in that aren’t making you feel worthy…

And let all that shit go. 

Once you realise that something isn’t aligned anymore…

Stop giving it time and energy. 

Free up space for things that are more aligned with your goals…

Refocus your mind on what you truly care about, instead of what the Status Quo tells you to care about… 

And anything that falls outside of those boundaries? 

Let it go. 

Release yourself from it. 

Wake up tomorrow, burden and bullshit-free. 

Reset — Prepare for a New Beginning

When you find and release the things that aren’t serving you anymore… 

And you have the courage to ditch whatever’s holding you back…

A brand-new path will open up in front of you. 

One that encourages you to let go of things and follow the future you want. 

A chance to start fresh, reset, and ask yourself, “Where am I headed?” 

This step is about setting clear intentions… 

But don’t be fooled. 

It’s not as easy as writing out a few things you might like to do.

It’s not about adding “private jets” to your list, just to release that idea next December.

Your goals need to be: 

• Clear.

• Achievable.

• A balance of ambition and realism. 

It can be difficult to keep your goals in line with all three criteria…

Which is why I use the following 6 Pillars to help inform my goals:

1. Health & Wellness

2. Family & Relationships

3. Business & Career

4. Finance & Wealth

5. Learning & Development

6. Lifestyle & Location

Then, I answer the following questions for each Pillar: 

• How important is this Pillar to me, and why?

• What does “good” look like to me in this area, and why?

• What personal goals or aspirations do I have in this area, and why?

• How often do I want to spend dedicated time in this area, and why?

• How will I feel when I am experiencing this area optimally in your life, and why?

By answering these questions, I stay aligned with my values and focused on the long term.

It keeps me centred between ambitious and realistic, so I’m able to see what’s actually achievable.

Laying the Groundwork 

One of the best things about starting your year in December?

You get to see if your new goals are a right fit for you. 

Because if they aren’t, you don’t have to wait another year to let them go... 

Or turn around in February and admit it was the wrong goal to start with.

So, once you’ve drafted out your goals…

You can test them out in real-time…

And start laying the groundwork for success. 

What do I mean? 

Well, let’s say your goal is to run a marathon in the new year. 

To achieve your goal, you might have to: 

• Quit drinking. 

• Eat healthier.

• Run every single day. 

So, before you book your spot in next year’s marathon…

Before you assume you can (and want) to do it… 

Give it a shot right now. 

Start running every day… 

Create a gym routine…

Start eating better…

And, as you’re testing out your goal, one of two things will happen. 

You’ll either be excited about making this an attainable goal…

Or you’ll find out you fucking hate running and happily let that goal go.

That’s the beauty of testing out your goals in December before feeling “pressured” to get a move on after New Years… 

You have time to see if your new goals are:

• Enjoyable.

• Sustainable.

• In line with who you want to become. 

And, regardless of which category you fall into…

Whether you tackle the new goal with confidence, or you let it go ahead of time...

You stay aligned with your values. 

And when you set up a goal that you know will work for you… 

That’s the fastest track to success.

Start Your Year Now

Most people think that “goal-setting” and “January 1st” go hand-in-hand. 

But for me, December is the month of opportunities.

And it can be for you, too, if you use the framework I’ve been using since 2018.

1. Reflect — Take a personal inventory of everything that happened this past year. 

2. Release — Let go of everything that isn’t serving you anymore. 

3. Reset — Draft goals for the new year and give yourself time to test them out. 

Despite what people say, you don’t have to wait until January 1st to change your life. 

You can create your dream life right now…

All you have to do is commit… 

Practice self-reflection and be honest with yourself… 

Start these exercises now, in December…

And show up for yourself the other 364 days of the year. 

Don’t wait to join the, “new year, new me” crowd. 

Make this year your best year. 

Because the best years start in December. 

Stay awesome, stay powerful. 

P.S: What immediately comes to mind when you reflect on 2023? What do you want to change?

P.S: Whenever you’re ready, here are a few things you might be interested in:

1. Advice On Starting Your Business: A powerful Youtube video where I answered a reader’s question on how to start a successful business.

2. 'How I Quit Alcohol' Podcast: One of my favourite interviews I’ve ever done. If you’re interested in learning how I came from rock bottom to create a life I’m proud of, you’ll want to listen.

3. Follow me on Instagram: Get bite-sized video content and behind-the-scenes of my nomad entrepreneur life

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