It’s pretty much impossible to head into a new year without getting that itch to reevaluate your life and consider what you’d like to change in the upcoming year.

And yet, we’ve all heard ad nauseam (and experienced firsthand) how New Year’s resolutions never seem to stick.

So do you set resolutions anyway, knowing in the back of your mind that they never tend to last more than a few weeks? Or do you give up setting resolutions altogether, even though there are some things you’d really like to change in the new year?

We believe there’s a better approach.

So how can you make the changes you want to make in your life, without setting New Year’s resolutions that are bound to fail?

That’s exactly the question we’re answering in this brand new side chat!

We’re talking about:

It’s about 25 minutes, which is the perfect length for your commute, a walk, or a break from the office. You can either play it right here on the page or download and save it for later.

{Press play to listen now or download by clicking the arrow in the top right corner.}

And after you’ve listened, we want to hear from you! We’re asking you to share your “theme” for 2017, in the comments below.

MORE GOOD STUFF TO HELP WITH THIS

Here are some past blogs we mentioned during this conversation that will give you more examples of how to use this New Year’s practice:

The truth about my 2015: Kristen

The truth about my 2015: Rachel

Everything I stopped feeling guilty for in 2016

What I’m doing to follow my passion more in 2017

NEVER HEARD OF SIDE CHATS?

As you can imagine when two best friends run a business together, there’s SO MUCH MORE good stuff — insights, revelations, struggles — that we’re talking about behind the scenes than what you’re reading in blog posts.

Our random back-and-forth conversations — while we’re supposed to be “working,” while we’re eating tacos, while we’re chilling in sweatpants on the couch — aren’t planned at all, and that’s why they’re good … anything can and does come up.

We always find ourselves having these good conversations and thinking, “It’d be cool if people could listen in to this, fly-on-the-wall style.”

So, we decided to just press “record” and start sharing with you.

We’re calling these “Clarity on Fire Side Chats,” and there’s no big plan for them. When inspiration hits, which is usually at random, we’ll press record and share another with you. The freer it flows, the better it usually is, anyway!

Want to catch up on previous Side Chats? Check out the archive.

Enjoy!

Much Love,

Kristen + Rachel

P.S. If you want 2017 to be the year you figure your life out …

We’re re-opening enrollment for our Passion Plan Virtual Experience program in just a few weeks. It’s a 4-week online course where we guide you, step-by-step, through figuring out your passion and applying it to your life and career so you can finally live the kind of life you want, starting this year! Enrollment will open at the end of this month. Join our VIP list to make sure you get access to the significantly lower early bird price!

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  1. I actually (before hearing this) made “resolutions”. But I love the idea of a theme for the year! I took a spiritual gifts test at church and one of my strongest gifts was discernment. This year one of my “resolutions” was to really home and practice this gift until the point that I trusted it. After hearing this, I decided to make discernment my 2017 theme because it actually embodies all of the other goals that I set in regard to my spirituality, family, money, wellness, and relationships.

    1. Daria, that sounds like a really cool test! It’s awesome that one of your biggest gifts is discernment. It must have been validating to hear that! It sounds like your challenge for 2017 is going to be *trusting* that you have excellent intuition and judgment, and that your decisions are sound. That’s a really great theme! Congrats on zeroing in on it. 🙂

  2. Ladies,

    I always look forward to this. I’ve done a “word of the year” for the past 3 or 4 years now. It’s sooo much better. I love your idea of discernment – when I first hear that word I think of logic, but it’s great that you recognize emotional discernment is just as important (if not more important).

    My word this year is Attention. I choose to bring my attention to the good in my day-to-day life, and refocus that attention whenever I catch my mind starting to wander. Yoga has been a great mental practice for this. To get there, I want to fill myself with affirmations and more positive influences. Thanks so much for being one of them 😉

    1. That’s a really great theme, Leah! And man, it can be a challenging one to practice (it should probably be my secondary word for 2017, now that I think about it!). But what we pay attention to is SO important, because what we look for is what we end up getting. Changing your point of focus to a more positive, hopeful, and expectant place is going to do wonders for you this year!

  3. What a rad idea! I’ve been thinking about this year and prior to listening to the blog, had gone in to auto-pilot with coming up with some new years resolutions, the same old script..be healthy…go to the gym more…travel more…etc etc. While these are all great things I was not really feeling that inspired about them and they felt like things I ‘should’ be doing.
    So, in an attempt to be more real and purposeful about this year I’ve had a think about the themes that I’d like to align myself with. The values/themes that feel right are self acceptance and expression. Here goes!

    1. It’s so easy to go into auto-pilot resolution setting around New Year’s time, so you’re definitely not alone in that! But I really love that this Side Chat has made you think differently and more intentionally about what you really want in 2017. Self-acceptance and expression are such great themes! And they will definitely play into each other. The more you express yourself, the more vulnerable you may feel, which will be a perfect opportunity to practice self-acceptance. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

  4. My word for this year is “intentionality.” I want to be present and “aware” of the decisions that I am making. I want to ensure that my decisions reflect my goals and not the temporary feelings of the moment.

  5. The word I want to focus on this year is “fearlessness.” I’ve stayed in a stagnant job for too long because it’s comfortable…I’ve searched for jobs for a long time but want to make a much bigger effort to change my situation this year. My husband and I have come to the realization that we need to move away to find more career opportunities and we’re going to take a financial hit on our housing temporarily, which is scary, but we need to power through because in the long run we think (hope) it will be the right decision. Change is scary, especially for Thrivers like us who appreciate comfort, but we need to confront it and not shy away just because it’s hard.

    1. Hey Molly! The sentiment behind the word “fearless” is really admirable — your desire to extend yourself beyond your comfort zone, even though it’s really scary. But … might I suggest something like “courage” instead of fearlessness? Honestly, it’s not normal to expect yourself to have NO fear! It’s only human to be afraid a LOT of the time. So when we set “fearlessness” as an expectation for ourselves, it can almost be like we’re setting ourselves up for a goal that’s unattainable. I’ve always liked the definition courage: Not the absence of fear, but the recognition that something is more important than fear. But hey, if you like the word “fearless,” then use it! It’s just a word, after all. Those are just my two cents! 😉

  6. It’s funny, your words remind me of mine from a couple of years ago. I dont know if you’ve ever seen 30 Rock with Tina Fey, but there is Tina Fey – clearly smart and capable but always scrambling to overcome some crazy obstacles – and Alec Baldwin – who seems more slow, relaxed, confident, and somehow always manages to scoot around the same obstacles, barely noticing. I wanted less Tina Fey and more Alec Baldwin (in this context only, of course. I love Tina Fey).

    1. This is a hilarious (and accurate) analogy, Louise! More Jack, less Liz. 😉 I loved 30 Rock, so I totally get it! I’d call that the difference between grounded and at ease vs. scattered and anxious. It’s a good theme for the year!

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