Learn from the Lessons of the Past

We all make mistakes.

If you are anything like me, you made a whole bunch that you just want to leave behind in the old year. But before you close the door on them for good, imagine if you could learn from them and avoid repeating them. And to be fair, you probably did a few things that worked out too. So why not acknowledge and apply all this newfound wisdom? If you did this every year, your life would be pretty spectacular!

These are a few easy steps to applying the lessons of the past to the present. Pay attention to the ones that connect to you and put aside the rest.

Take a few days to review the last year. What did you learn, both positive and negative? What mistakes did you make? What were your biggest wins?

Focus on the easy lifestyle tweaks. Maybe you procrastinate too much or consistently show up to work late. What are the changes you want to make in the coming year?

Identify those behaviors that support your success. Perhaps you made your spouse feel loved and lost a few pounds. Those are behaviors that you might want to repeat.

Create new habits. Choose habits that will counteract your less-effective behaviors and ensure your positive behaviors occur more frequently. For example, if you tend to procrastinate, take immediate action when you know something needs to be done. Visualize how amazing it will feel to complete the task.

Monitor yourself. If you’re not careful, you’ll quickly slip back into your old patterns of behavior. Change is challenging, and you can expect to face much internal resistance. Avoid being too hard on yourself when you slip. Just vow to redouble your efforts in the future!

Celebrate your successes. When you apply what you’ve learned from last year, you can expect some great things to happen. Appreciate them and be proud of yourself. This is the best way to ensure good things keep happening. Reinforce your behavior by feeling good about yourself.

You’ve faced some tough times in the past. Take advantage of those challenges! You’ve had some good times, too. Repeat them in the future. Your past is the key to your future. Take what you’ve learned and leverage that experience going forward