There is little as exhilarating as a new start, and no time more indicative of a new start than a new year, (especially for my fellow self-growth junkies). As 2023 rolls in, it feels like the world was buzzing with the kind of energy that we’d been missing in 2021 and 2022. It feels like we are finally emerging on the other side of COVID, fresh and full of possibility. My dream for you this 2023 is to find your North Star, your guiding purpose.

Finding my North Star helped me create the life I knew I was destined for. It all started with a decision to ditch the guilt (and New Year Resolutions) to find a new, more wholesome way to welcome in the new year. I’m excited to share the holistic process I’ve crafted through these years (and trial and error) to help you do the same.

Why I ditched New Year Resolutions

Goal Setting – one of the most interesting concepts for me as a Gut Health Coach, especially when I so often see myself and clients get excited about setting goals, yet struggle to follow through with them. After some research, I realized that it wasn’t just those in my circle. These statistics show it’s almost everyone.

• 23% quit in the first week, and only 36% make it past the first month.
• 9% successfully keep their New Year’s resolutions.
• 35% of people attribute losing motivation as the top reason for giving up, followed by being too busy (19%) and changing their goals and priorities (18%)

Just a few years ago, I was overworked, stressed out, and a very sick employee striving to be CEO of my own company. My sickness was bearable. So bearable I lived with it, slowly progressing for years until my body and soul shouted so loudly I couldn’t ignore it anymore.

It was coming to the end of the year, and instead of feeling excited about the new year, I felt… guilty. As I reflected on my New Year Resolutions from last year, I realized how few of them I had achieved and how many were the same ones as all the years prior. My eyes welled up at how overwhelmed I felt. It felt like I was carrying all the pressure to achieve all these great things while everyone was getting excited to have their New Year, New Me experience. If I had to spend one more New Year’s Eve detailing to other people all the grandiose plans I had for the New Year (many of which weren’t my own but ones I thought should be there) with them all smiling amicably knowing I’d fail most of them – I was going to EXPLODE.

Not for another second.

I took a big breath and asked myself: WHY am I doing this to myself? This New Year Resolution Setting system was clearly not serving me. I teach people how to change and take back control of their lives. I’ll be damned if I let an outdated system tell me how to feel about mine. So that year, I ditched New Year’s Resolutions. I found my North Star and committed to 1% promises instead. Fast forward to years later, and I had healed my health, envisioned the life of my dreams, and became the person fit to live the life I had longed for. Better yet – I get to teach others to do the same.

Find your North Star

Your North Star is your guiding light. The values, vision, and truth that ultimately guides you. Having a clear vision of where you’re going helps you decipher what goals are even worth pursuing in the first place. It allows us to walk down paths aligned with what we ultimately want. It’s worth taking some time to figure out your North Star. This could be your mission or what you truly value and want in this short life we’re leading.

Effective ways to do this are through journaling, meditation, or being guided by a professional. Choose a way that works for you because having a personal mission statement is an invaluable tool that’ll guide you for the rest of your life.

Martha Beck says, “Identifying your own North Star is a deep psychological and spiritual art. Getting there is more like following a recipe.” Here is my recipe for making strides toward my North Star. But first, the very thing I did to find my North Star.

Work Backwards

Think of the saying: “The days are long, but the years are short,” or the Bill Gates Quote: “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” Rather than overestimating what we can do in one year, why not allow our imaginations to play with the life we want in 5 – 10 years and work backward from there? Set out some time on a Sunday morning to dream. There’s nothing off-limits. Dream of where you’d like to live, what you’d like to be doing with your time, and who you would like to be with. Dream it in as much detail as possible and bring that dream to life by writing it down or finding images to represent it.

You’ve now got a good idea of where you want to be; now try to identify why this is important to you. Who is it serving? What is the big overarching ultimate goal?

North Star Words

Your North Star is fixed, but every year is a different path and journey on our way there. Once you have taken the time to create and refine your personal mission statement, we get to summarise that mission statement into what I call: North Star Words. This is not the entire statement but your guiding words for this leg of your journey. These are words that remind me of our deeply personal and important mission. It could be a mantra that encapsulates it or a few words to keep you aligned. If you’re choosing some words, I like to make sure I include these 4 elements:

1. A skill you’ll need to become while on your journey to your North Star. Words like: Dedicated, motivated, and resilient have come up for me in previous years.
2. The personality trait that’ll most serve you this year. Words like: Confident, creative, or positive might spark some ideas.
3. The “why” reminder: a word that’ll remind you why you’re doing what you’re doing, especially on those tough days. Words like: Freedom, expansion, loving relationships, or belonging might resonate with you.
4. Lastly, a clear reminder about the dream and/or passion that underlies your mission. Words like: Service, peace, or legacy might inspire you.

This might look like just repeating the words you’ve chosen: Dedicated. Confident. Freedom. Service. Or you can string them together as a 2023 motto: Motivated and creative to form loving relationships and inspire peace. Once you’ve got them, make sure they’re visible as a screen saver, an alarm name on your phone, or written on your vision board or bathroom mirror.

The Pareto Principle

The Pareto Principle is something I learned about from James Clear in his book Atomic Habits. You might know it as the 80/20 rule. The adaption of the principle as it applies to this scenario is that 20% of our effort produces 80% of our desired outcomes. That means 80% of our time and effort is dedicated to the stuff and fluff that’s producing minimal impact. This essentially means we’re focusing on the wrong things. We need to focus on the correct 20% to help produce the 80% we are after. When making New Year’s Resolutions like “eat healthier” or “lose weight,” we’re focusing on the 80% instead of the 20%. 20% would instead be the tiny habits we take toward sustainably eating healthier or finally releasing that weight.

What to do instead

Instead of being overwhelmed by the mountain ahead of us – we are instead going to focus on the very next step. Instead of seeing the person we want to be in 10 years, we will lovingly acknowledge where we are now and identify how to be slightly better. Because little by little, a little makes a lot. Realize that incremental steps forward will get you to your goal far quicker than massive leaps. The thought of those massive leaps often overwhelms us with their sheer enormity. Most of the time, that high shot leaves us sprinting the marathon and exhausting ourselves too soon OR scaring us out of never taking that first step. Stop letting the space between where you are and where you want to be paralyze you instead of inspire you.

Now we know where we are going, and all this year is about is intentionally taking the first steps in the right direction.

The 1% Promise:

The 1% promise is about committing to 1% incremental improvements daily. You don’t need to achieve it all today or even this year. You only need to be 1% better than yesterday or last week.

This idea will hopefully help release that pressure to transform and allow the idea of simultaneously being a masterpiece AND a work of art to come through. Here is how these 1% promises might look:

• I ate poorly yesterday; today, I will focus on just getting in one healthy meal or snack.
• I want to get fitter; I will start walking once a week.
• I want to read more, but I don’t have the time; I’ll commit to listening to an audiobook on my way to work on Mondays.

Tips to keep your 1% promises

1% promises are only effective if you keep track of where you’re growing from. Here’s how I keep those 1% promises to myself and continually move closer and closer to my North Star.

• Write down the habits you’re working on. This will help you remember all the areas you’re working on making those incremental improvements.
• Keep Track: Having a daily journal or check-in helps remind me what my 1% for that day is while preventing stagnation in any areas of my life. Clients at the Gut Health Agency have an easy app to check off their wins for the day!
• Keep what works and discard the rest: There will be habits that don’t work for you no matter what you try. Nothing works for everyone! Celebrate uncovering this truth about yourself and move on by letting go of that habit.
• BONUS: Have an accountability buddy. This could be a friend, a colleague, a team member, or a coach. Set regular meet-ups that can become a fun time to keep each other accountable and update each other on your wins en route to your North Star.

An important reminder:

Remember that no one can tell you what’s truly important to you. YOU get to choose your North Star, and you decide who you want to become on this journey. That means absolute freedom to adapt and redirect as you become clearer on your life’s mission.

Sometimes there are factors beyond our control hindering our progress. Ego, inner children, or trauma stored in the body can make it nearly impossible to move forward. Just like my body told me it wouldn’t be ignored any longer, our traumas often whisper until they scream. These are powerful enough to come up in the form of illness and dis-ease. But instead of scaring you, I want to empower you.

Subconscious Healing

Here at the Gut Health Agency, we harness the power of subconscious healing to listen to those whispers before they become screams or to heal your screaming inner world to directly impact the outer world. It’s becoming more apparent how connected our mind, body, and spirit are, and we take a holistic approach to ensure we teach you how to heal yourself from the inside out.

If you think you might be hearing inner whispers, I suggest using tools like meditations, affirmations, and Orpheus Mind subconscious therapy to begin working inside out.

I truly hope this year will be everything you’ve dreamed of. If you’re not willing to leave that up to chance, our signature program is the right place for you.

Happy New Year Loves
Chelsea
xx