How to write your personal New Year Manifesto

This time of year brings with it a glut of thoughts about change. From New Year Resolutions to promotions for (allegedly) life-changing programmes, it can be easy to get caught up in the narrative. That you need to carve out a new version of yourself by identifying the things that aren’t right with you – it’s leading with the assumption that, quite simply, you aren’t good enough! I want us to start this new journey around the sun with a different perspective, and to work together to create your personal New Year Manifesto.

 

I’ve written before on this blog about my hesitancy about New Year Resolutions. I am not against the desire to make changes per se, as a coach, that would be a bizarre belief to hold. However, I am uncomfortable with the “deficit model” of the culture of New Year Resolutions; the removal of things, or the assumption that what you have right now isn’t what you deserve. So, as part of our plan to create a New Year Manifesto, I want us to lean a little more into what makes you, you!

 

Before we consider how that works, let’s take a pause and consider what a Manifesto is. If you are politically inclined, you may have heard about them from each political party’s plan every time an election is on the horizon. But you may not have considered how this concept can be used for you! If you aren’t on board with the idea of a manifesto, why not have a play with the language; you could call it your mission, your aim, vision, motive, or declaration; all of these are centred around your key values (want to find out what they are, they check out my values blog here). Ultimately it is a way of making clear what you want for yourself for now and in the future.

 

You may have already worked on something similar in the past – maybe your previous resolutions or goals. Before you move forward, let’s start with understanding where you have come from. Regardless of how successful you were with those goals, do they still ring true now? Is the outcome something you still desire? Then build on those to create your Manifesto!

You want to write this down – imagine writing it to an audience that needs to be clear on what you want, how it’s going to happen and when. You may choose to hold yourself accountable by sharing this with someone. At the very least, write it to your future self!

 

So what will your personal Manifesto contain?

The structures of manifestos are roughly the same; they will be influenced by your intention (such as personal vs professional), but I want you to include each of the following areas:

 

1. What positive beliefs do you want to hold about yourself (write as if)
2. How you will know that these will show up in your life through your actions?
3. What do you need to keep doing, or reduce doing, to make this happen?

 

 

Here are some trigger statements and concepts that I want to share, to help you consider what you want. These are the concepts and ideas that arose when I started working on mine, are any of these relevant to you?

 

• Let’s make this year the one we walk away from compliance and conformity. To own our differences as strengths not deficits
• Let’s identify how our preferences, aspirations, knowledge, passions, and experiences bring value to others- both personally and professionally.
• To use this knowledge to ask for what we need and expand on to help us create a career to enjoy.
• Unapologetically name what motivates you and use that information to expand around where that motivation can come from.

 

 

Mine is just beginning, and maybe one day I will share it with you. In the meantime, why don’t you take the take to develop your own? Once it’s done, make sure you keep it somewhere you can view and reflect on regularly! If you would like, come over to Creating Careers to Enjoy to share what your personal manifesto looks like!