Your new self 🎯

So now that you have decided upon your goals for the year ahead, as well as some targets for a little further out than that, it’s time to decide who the person is going to be that will achieve all of those great goals. This is your opportunity to create YOUR NEW SELF.

Now before we get started, this isn’t about creating the person that you believe other people want you to be. It’s 100% about being true to yourself and creating a vision for who you truly want to be n the future

If from the previous section your goals are true to yourself and in full alignment with your own personal compass then it should make this section easy. However, if it isn’t you may want to go back a section as you work through the various elements of creating YOUR NEW SELF.

As you will be able to see in your planner, there are five key elements to creating YOUR NEW SELF. These are as follows;

• VALUES

• STANDARDS

• HABITS

• MANTRAS

• ACTIONS

It is with these five elements that you will create the foundations of the student that is going to go on to create more success and fulfilment for themselves in the year ahead.

To help you understand why each of these are so important for you lets unpack each one individually…

“You are your own biggest project”

Aldous Huxley

VALUES

So lets start with values. Sometimes this is quite hard to understand as when do you ever really get asked “what are your core values”. Well the time has come, so to make it a little easier for you, below is the meaning of a persons VALUES…

Personal values are the things that are most important to us. They guide us on a daily basis and motivate our decisions.

This list will become a reference for you to look back on throughout the year. Maybe when you have a hard decision to make or times are hard as your schedule gets busy and deadlines loom. Your values will guide your destiny this year and if you become clear on them you will most definitely become a better version of yourself. An example of personal values are….

• Authenticity
• Boldness
• Kindness
• Discipline
• Confidence
• Compassion
• Creativity
• Curiosity
• Fairness
• Integrity
• Growth
• Happiness
• Honesty
• Knowledge
• Leadership
• Optimism
• Reputation
• Credibility
• Respect
• Success
• Status

To name a few…

You get the picture from the above at the level you are meant to be looking at here. However, don’t limit yourself to the above list. Take some time to really think about what your values are and let them become your guiding compass for the year ahead.

One final note on values…don’t limit yourself only to values that you think suit you or values within your “limitations”. Go into this exercise with a limitless mind. Have the belief that you can be capable of anything this year and set your values in that mindset.

So there it is, what’s most important to you? Get it wrote down in your planner now…

STANDARDS

Your standards is probably a little easier to understand as most of us at some point in our life time have been told how something “Isn’t up to standard” or asked you “I thought you had higher standards than that”. Your response then was probably to think silently in your head “f&%k off” to whoever asked you about standards…but please give us a little more opportunity to explain ourselves!

Within this section we are asking you to define a set of standards that you can look back on throughout this year. By setting these at the very start of the year this essentially provides you a set of rules that you plan to live by.

A little like your values it creates a clear picture of what you will and will not accept from yourself for the year ahead. So write down now what your most important standards for the year may be and make sure you refer back to these throughout the year as a reminder of what you expect from yourself to reach your goals.

If your struggling to think of some standards for yourself, below are some examples, however another way to do this is to look at the people you aspire to be and ask yourself “what standards and values do they hold themselves too?”

• To give 100% every day.
• To be on time for all lectures and deadlines.
• To maintain a positive mindset as much as possible.
• To be kind and courteous to others.

HABITS

“Drop by drop is the water pot filled”

Buddha

Now that you have your personal values set up and have decided on the standards that you will live by this year, it’s time to work on your habits.

Now there are two elements to this section to make it as effective as possible. Rather than just focusing on what new habits you are going to create and live by this year, the first and most important step here is to decide which of old habits you are going to remove.

Take the time now and think about four or five of your current habits that hold you back. This could be anything from not getting up early enough on a morning or eating takeaways too much. Remember this is personal to you so make sure these are habits of your own.

Once you have identified your worst habits…now it is time to do the more positive stuff! Now it is time to select what your core habits for the year ahead will be. These are going to be the foundation of your future daily actions and committing to them is sure to guarantee you more success and fulfilment in your future studies. Once again to help you if you are struggling to think of some good habits for the year ahead, here are some that we put to great affect when we were on our own study journey…

• Waking up early.
• Have a digital detox on a morning or evening.
• Create a morning workout/exercise routine.
• Keep a daily journal.
• Practice gratitude daily.
• Choose three goals to prioritize daily (Your Focused Few).
• Consume motivational content.
• Ensure you have relaxation time daily.
• Stay organised and clean with your workspaces.
• Be more social regularly.
• Make sure to get enough sleep and rest.

Now get to work and write down the old habits your going to remove as well as the new and empowering habits that you are going to create during the year ahead.

MANTRAS

This one is quite a quick one. For those of you who don’t know what a mantra (or affirmation as they are sometimes known) is…

A word, phrase or sound that is repeated to aid in concentration or a statement or slogan that is repeated frequently to create purpose.

Your mantras will become your three slogans for the year ahead (you can add more, but three is normally enough). But before we dive into that let us just tell you about the power of mantras and why they start with “I am”…

Although seeming very insignificant, the two words I and am paired together at the beginning of a sentence have a profound effect on us psychologically. This is because when you begin any sentence with “I am” what follows is a statement of creation. Whatever you follow I am with, you have the power to choose and become. However, this can of course be used in a negative way so you have to be careful…

For many of us (and me included during my early years at university) I would regularly say “I am not good enough” or “I am a failure”. A little word of advice…definitely do not use these as your mantras! These are just as powerful because they still have “I AM” at the start of the sentence, however they work in the totally opposite direction that we want you to go in.

For those of you struggling to think of what your mantras for the year ahead could be, here are a few common mantras that people use to improve their confidence, wellbeing and growth.

• My positive thoughts will guide me to new heights.
• I will have a great day because it is my choice.
• I am not afraid to be wrong.
• I am worthy of success.
• Knowledge and intellect is a practice, and I have patience.
• My potential is limitless and I choose where to spend my energy.
• I am confidence.
• I will be better than I was yesterday.
• I am my only competition. Comparison to others is the thief of joy.

So take a couple of minutes now to write down your mantras that will set the tone for each and every day on your new wellbeing and growth journey.

ACTIONS

Onto the final section of YOUR NEW SELF…your future actions. Now this one is a little bit similar to defining your habits, however in this instance you will determine the five key actions that you are going to take this year to ensure you execute on YOUR VALUES, YOUR STANDARDS and YOUR HABITS.

So take two minutes here to review all of the above sections in your planner and ask yourself what actions am I going to take this year to ensure I remain aligned with my values, maintain my standards and continually work on my new an empowering habits.

An example of this would be that if one of your values is to be more disciplined and then one of your new standards is to be on time for all of your lectures and deadlines, one of your actions might be to ensure that you refer to and use your Semester Student Planner at least twice daily. This is the type of action that can help you stay true to your new values and standards.

One of the actions I had to implement when on my own study journey was to create an hour by hour plan each and every day. Because without that my time management was disgraceful and I most definitely could keep true to my values of being knowledgeable.

So what will your core actions be? Write them down and complete say hello to YOUR NEW SELF.

Bringing it all Together…

When you put these all together you create an extremely clear picture of the person you plan to be this year which will allow you to reach your goals much easier. You can now use this part of your planner to refer back to at any point during this year to remind yourself of the values and standards that you plan to live by, and the habits & actions that will help you to reach your full potential.

When we look back in history at those with clear values and who lived by their standards, those are the people that we admire the most. These are people like Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Ghandi and Greta Thunberg (Love her or hate her!).

Now we are not saying that you are going to become like these people overnight, however employing the same certainty over your values and standards whilst creating habits and actions to commit to these you will be sure to create a path with YOUR NEW SELF that will go on to to great things in your own area of influence.

Welcome to YOUR NEW SELF, it’s a pleasure to meet you…