How to Set a Yearly Theme for 2024 in 3 Steps!
Nov 20, 2019
Make 2024 the year you keep your Intentions by Creating a Theme for the new year that you will actually want to keep!
Setting a yearly theme is a great way to stay focused and intentional for the year ahead.
Before I started getting very intentional about creating the life I desire, I had a very hard time keeping any of my new year resolutions. Actually, I rarely kept them and year and year I often found myself in the same spot I was 12 months earlier.
It was not until I really changed my view on setting new year resolutions and shifted to "Setting Yearly Intentions" and "creating a Theme for the Year" that I was actually able to keep me new years resolutions and take intentional steps towards my life vision.
If you:
- struggle to keep you new year resolutions?
- hear the term ‘SMART goals’ or ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ and shudder a little inside?
- want to make some changes, but DREAD setting goals and honestly do not even really know where or how to start.
You are not alone.
It is said that about 92% of people set goals and never achieve them if they even bother to set any in the first place.
With a stat that high, do you not think it is time we start having alternative options when it comes to creating and achieving our personal goals?
One of the ways I have re-aligned my life and actually stuck to my goals was by setting yearly themes.
What Are Yearly Themes?
↠ Yearly Themes are an overarching word, words or phrase that sum up your focus for the year head.
↠ Themes of the new year are like a “mantra” or “guideline” to keep you aligned on the big picture while guiding you in your moment to moment decisions.
↠ Themes for the year are something that resonate with where you are in your life now and inline with where you want to go.
For example, in 2019 my theme was “Setting Foundations”. I was learning how to be a new mother, learning how to start an online business and wanting to manage and further educate myself on personal finances. By having this overarching theme, each choice I made day to day was filtered through my overall goal of setting these strong foundations.
Why you need to set a Theme for the New Year in 2023
Now before you start telling me that themes are too broad, are not SMART enough or will not produce results, let’s look as why people should adopt a theme setting mindset for 2023.
- A yearly theme acts as your North Star, guiding you towards your Life Vision and keeps you aligned with your core values.
- A new year's theme allows you to focus on WHO you are rather than WHAT you want.
- A yearly theme is more fluid than a SMART goal and allows you to fully embrace every day and get off the goal setting hamster wheel of categorizing your choices into ’good‘ and ‘bad’.
- A new year theme allows you to find peace and happiness in the present, while still aligning for the future.
3 Steps on How to Set a Theme for the New Year:
1. Think Big Picture
Let go of the ‘I want to lose 20 pounds by Judy’s wedding’ or ‘get that raise so I can buy that thing, that I don’t really need, but feel it will make me happy’ goals; and go deeper into what you really want in life.
How do you want to feel each day when you wake up? How do you want to show up for your family, your kids, your spouse, YOURSELF? How do you want to be spending your time? What is important to you in life? Do you want more love? Better health? More social connection? More spirituality? Happiness? Joy? Courage? Confidence? Gratitude?
2. Find your Starting Point by Briefly Reflecting on your Last Year
Briefly reflect on last year. Did life put you through the ringer? Was life just mediocre, living in a state of constant routine and monotony? Did it pass by in the blink of an eye and you have no idea where the time went? Or was it a great year and you want to keep that momentum?
Ask yourself, if I could change 1-2 things about last year what would it be? Would I spend more time with family? Be more present? Have better boundaries? Focus more on your health? Create more stability in my life? Improve communication? Focus on my hobbies and passions? Learn more about financial literacy?
3. Write out all the Words and Phrases which Resonate with you
And braindump them. All of them. Circle the top 5 that are aligned with your big picture for your yearly theme. Then take a step away. Come back to them in a day or two and see if they still resonate with you.
Pick the top one or two yearly themes that really feel right to you and your long term goals of who you want to be and how you want to show up each day. Write these themes somewhere you will see them and be reminded of them each day to guide your choices.
*Tip* I’m a big fan of writing them on a cue card or piece of paper and taping it to my bedside table so I see it every day and it reminds me of my overall direction for the year.
VOILA! You have just set a theme for the new year. Need some ideas for your theme of the year? Check out this post with over 150 yearly theme ideas!
What’s next you ask?
Well as much as I am a huge believer in the power of manifesting, I am also a realist who recognizes that our dreams will not come true without some elbow grease on our part. This is why I created a free goal setting worksheet that dives deeper into another way of setting life goals.
Interested in learning how to take your goal setting to the next level this decade? Don't know where to Start? Check out these freebies!
How to Set Intentions - a Free intention setting workbook
Discover Your Core Values - a Free Core Value Worksheet with a list of over 150 core values
Want to go deeper? Amplify Your Life with the following tools:
FREE INTENTION SETTING WORKBOOK
VISION BOARDING 101 – YOUR TOTAL GUIDE TO VISION BOARDING
INTENTIONAL LIVING 101- YOUR STEP by STEP GUIDE TO LIVING MORE INTENTIONALLY
Want to Dive Deeper Into Intentional Living?
Check out These Posts
Intentional Living for Beginners
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