Hi Friends,

If you’re anything like me, New Year’s Day is full of (some) hope and (a lot of) shame & spiraling.

As I traded cocktails for cough medicine last night (I can’t seem to escape my holiday Covid tradition), I woke up mid morning feeling already behind for the year and I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one. My natural tendency with most things, goal setting included, is to take an all or nothing approach (hellllo perfectionism 👋) .

This is a snapshot of my timeline over the past few weeks:

• mid-December: I start thinking about the next year with a LOT of ideas of what I want to do and accomplish and tell myself that I’ll use “all of my holiday downtime” to start the new year “with a plan.”

• the last two weeks of December: absolutely no down time to dream up the new year between closing out work, travel, time away from home & routine, family and friend gatherings and, as seems to be my tradition, some type of illness - Covid being the virus of choice these past few years

• January 1st: panic as it’s now the new year and I don’t have specific goals or a fully fleshed out plan!

Sound familiar? Resolution culture is truly a perfectionist’s worst nightmare.

But I’m ending today a lot more hopeful than stressed about 2024 and that’s not because I hunkered down in my office today and “figured it all out.” It’s because I realized that I have the knowledge to shift how I approach this new year, the community to drive accountability in forging a different way of self-development & growth and the confidence that this week specifically is the perfect time to start together rather than feel behind.

This ‘different way’ to develop and stretch yourself is actually the same methodology I use with my clients when casting vision and building out accountability, just with a New Years twist. And guess what? It doesn’t involve shackling yourself to binary New Year’s resolutions and it certainly doesn’t need to be in place for January 1st.

In case you haven’t heard, creating annual outcomes-based goals doesn’t serve the best interest of most people - personally I’ve found I either accomplish the resolution (i.e. running a 5k) and immediately wonder “what’s next?” without proper celebration OR I fall short of a goal because something comes up unplanned and shame takes the driver’s seat.

Neither version serve me.

Now let me be clear - there is absolutely a time & a place for quantifiable goals, without them businesses wouldn’t grow and athletes wouldn’t break records.

BUT tying your self worth and personal development to outcomes alone (like a race, a weight, a # of books read, a job title, etc.) is an unsustainable way to live a soul aligned life.

So I invite you to swap out your ‘shoulds’ and traditional outcome based resolutions with curiorisity about what will really serve you best this year and join me this week to Jumpstart Your January - a free 4 part self-discovery and 2024 intention setting challenge I’ll be leading and participating alongside you with a mix of journal prompts, workbook exercises and live workshops - all delivered to your inbox over the next week!

So let’s preview what this challenge is all about…

Clarify 💡

As weird as it might sound, to get clear and intentional on where it makes sense to focus energy this year, I actually recommend zooming out before you zoom in and start with next New Years Eve: December 31st, 2024.

Set a timer for 10 minutes, grab a pen and paper and journal:

This first step of imagining and putting pen to paper on what your reality may look like just 364 days from now allows you to unlock possibility and start to play with what a growth year would look like for you.

When I did this exercise just hours ago, some specific outcomes come up when I visualize this next year ahead (a new home, a specific revenue milestone for my business, etc) but, by writing and reflecting on what I would be most proud of, more emotive adjectives (secure, abundant, joyous) come to the surface than a specific plan.

For you, you might have a more clear list of things that you believe would bring you a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment.

No matter how loose or defined the outcomes are from this journal exercise, I invite you to break through your own bullsh*t by summarizing each aspect of your life described in the journal exercise into a bullet point and ask yourself, WHY until you have a clear, authentic answer - for example:

• celebrates NYE on a beach

  • why? The beach is my happy place

    • why? The salt and warm climate relaxes and recharges me - the perfect way to celebrate and start off a new year

• owns a home

  • why? I really want a backyard and more space to get another puppy by 2025

    • realization I actually don’t need to OWN a home for those conditions to be met- I’m going to dig into whether home ownership is just for more space OR serves other financial goals

  This exercise enables you to break through society influenced goals (typically more ego-driven i.e. body weight, title, salary, etc) and into what you really desire. For example, even though I know home ownership is a financial goal for my husband and I in the next few years, through assessing the why for it - right now, it’s just to get more space - specifically outside. So, unless other financial goals influence decision on home ownership, my intention for 2024 can shift from the binary “own a home” to living in a home with more space and a backyard.

This is just one quick first step to plugging into your subconscious and what’s most important to your authentic self. If you’d like a workbook to guide you through this Part 1 and the rest of this series, join the challenge.

Connect 🤝

So how do you connect this specific vision for what your life looks like on next New Year’s Eve to actionable things you can focus on in 2024? Part 2 of Jumpstart Your January walks you through a life audit. This is a humbling yet important exercise of assessing the gap between your vision for what’s to come and where you sit in your current reality - when it comes to your relationships & community, your health and career.

In Part 3 of the challenge, it’s time to get focused - I’ll lead you through a live workshop to exemplify how to focus and be intentional in one life area, career, by specifically defining what you want, what’s needed to make desired change and resources that exist to help you make a plan actionable.

Confidently Communicate 🗣️

In Part 4 of Jumpstart Your January, we’ll bring it all together so that within a week - you’ll be clear on your intentions for 2024, your focus area for this first quarter and be equipped with daily practices and visualizations to keep you on track in a way that nurtures instead of shames.

I’m building this challenge as much for myself as for you so please join me!

Hope to see you in the challenge!

This week…

Until next Sunday!

Jess Storiale