To close out this year with a clear vision of the intentions and goals you want to set for 2021, we tapped Poppy Jamie, founder of Happy Not Perfect, to share simple ways to kick off the new year with a positive mindset. We’ll let the mindfulness expert take it from here.
“Use these tips as a roadmap to set yourself up for more happiness, love, and fulfillment. It’s all about managing your mindset, reframing your focus, prioritizing movement, and repeating this process. Read on for my achievable list:
1. Change Your Morning Routine
ENERGY FLOWS WHERE FOCUS GOES. What do you want to energize this year? A better job, relationship, health, home? Anything is possible IF you are willing to focus on what you want and take action toward it.
Activity: Spend the first 10 minutes of your day deciding where you want to focus your energy. Not on Instagram.
2. Download Happy Not Perfect
OK, I’m biased as it’s my app, but it truly works and is based on centuries of science and research. It’s an app that turns cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) into a daily game for a healthier mindset. Challenge yourself to spend every day in January completing a Happiness Workout on the Happy Not Perfect app. In the five-minute brain workout, you will BURN away worries, write a grateful diary, set goals, AND focus on self-compassion—seven neuroscience-backed steps completed in five minutes.
Activity: Download Happy Not Perfect for iPhone/Android.
Forget about signing up for a gym membership you might not even use post-January. Turn on Kourt’s beast mode playlist and MOVE your body every morning for a hit of feel-good endorphins. Even if you start off in a bad mood, still give it a try—I promise you after one or two songs, you’ll be feeling it.”
Activity: Turn on Kourt’s beast mode playlist and shake it out.
We can’t create what we want if we don’t know what we want. Write a list of 10 goals to manifest and put it in a place you look at regularly, like on the fridge or wardrobe, so you can keep your goals in sight.
Activity: Write down 10 goals you wish to manifest this year and stick it on your mirror/wardrobe/fridge.
Write a list of boundaries you will not tolerate being crossed this year and stick them on your mirror. Protect your energy for the projects and people who deserve it. It’s a finite resource—share wisely.
Activity: Write a list of things you will not tolerate this year.
Our destiny is based on the decisions we make … and we make decisions based on what we value most. Write a list of things you most value in life. Love? Contribution? Success? Adventure? Make these your screensaver, and the next time you’re asked to make a decision, look at your values and see if it aligns. Getting into the habit of making decisions based on whether they align with your values will cause a lot less stress and create a much more harmonious life.
Activity: Decide your top 10 values and save as your screensaver.
Let’s not take the last decade’s clutter and complications into 2021. By minimizing small decisions, we save our brainpower for the big ones. My tip is to start with something like your wardrobe. Think of how many successful people you see with a signature “uniform.” Follow suit: downsize and simplify.
Activity: Get spring cleaning … what clutter can you get rid of this year?
Prioritize your sleep like your life depends on it … because it does. If you haven’t read the book Why We Sleep, put it on your list for January! It’s full of research that shows sleep is the best medicine for our physical health, mental health, and future health. Start the habit of jumping into bed a little earlier—maybe with a journal, but never with your phone.
Activity: Set a “get into bed” reminder so you can start getting the zzzz’s.
While you are reading this, get out your phone and set a daily alarm to remind yourself to have a moment of self-appreciation. It’s so easy for us to forget to appreciate ourselves, and this year is not going to be one where we forget. You, my friend, are beautifully unique and on an amazing journey that is ONLY going to get better.
Activity: Set a “self-appreciation reminder” on your phone.”
Born and raised in England, Poppy Jamie started her career while studying at the London School of Economics. It was while forging her media career that the modern pressures of life and social media ‘perfection’ began to compromise her happiness and left her feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and burnt out. In using her platform to discuss these issues, she received hundreds of messages from viewers sharing in her pressures, and in 2014, the idea of Happy Not Perfect was born. Poppy built her mental wellness ecosystem with the aim of empowering users to cultivate sustainable happiness and understand their mental health better.
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