As I publish this blog, it is just two days before 2024 ends and 2025 begins. I hope you have had fabulous festivities at this time of the year, no matter how you celebrate. A new year brings a blank canvas, a fresh start, and the possibility of great things to appear for you. Just don’t forget to honour the year that is leaving. I want to encourage you, at this time, to implement the three L’s.
As I was walking out onto the fabulous new St Kilda Pier, recently completed after many years of construction, it was a stunning day. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the view of the water, the yachts, and the city skyline in the background was mesmerising. I walked past a man sitting on a bench, enjoying the beautiful day and the wonderful view. Maybe he was even reflecting on the three L’s.
So, what are the three L’s? The three L’s is the process to take the nuggets from 2024 and allow them to help you be more alive in 2025. The first L is ‘Learn’, the second L is ‘Let go’, and the third L is ‘Launch’. It is a tragedy that so many people say, I can’t wait for this year to be over, next year will be better. My question is, will it? How will it be better? Why will it be better? What does better look like? Simply waiting for the year to end and then hoping, by some miracle, the new year will be better is a little like hoping you will wake up tomorrow with a six pack, a blissful relationship, and a million dollars in the bank, when today you are overweight, alone, and broke.
If this is how you normally approach a new year, then I want to encourage you to try something that may actually increase your chances of having those things you want, without hoping for a genie in a bottle to grant you three wishes. You don’t need three wishes, you just need the three L’s. You need to learn from 2024, you need to let go of the things that are not serving you, and you need to launch into 2025 with a plan, and a commitment to follow that plan and do whatever you need to do to make it a year you will be proud of.
Learn. There is a wonderful saying that, things don’t happen to you, they happen for you. As you reflect on 2024, there may be things that happened, things you did, or things you didn’t do, that cause pain for you to think about. If, however, you truly believed that things happen for you, then there is something to learn from each and every experience you can use, and then make 2025 a better year. Find your spot, whether that is on a bench looking at the view, or in your home, to write down everything that will provide an opportunity to learn from.
Yes, it may be uncomfortable, but it will also be transformational. Write down all of the adverse situations, poor choices, mistakes, and conflicts. Write down all of the great things, the achievements, and the fabulous interactions. Then reflect on what you can learn from each of them. What can you learn from the poor choices to ensure you don’t repeat them? What can you learn from the great things, so they happen again and again? Let me tell you, I have a long list of things I am committed to learning from in 2024. How about you?
Let Go. As uncomfortable as the reflecting and learning stage is, I believe the letting go phase can be even more challenging. My biggest challenge in life is that I love hanging onto my flaws, my faults, my poor choices, and beating myself up for far too long. It does no good, and it will prevent any change in 2025, unless you and I choose to let go of all the stuff that is not serving us. I know this from painful experience. People suggest that letting go is a hard thing to do. If that is the case, imagine you have just picked up a hot cup of coffee and your fingers are now burning. What would you do? Would you keep holding it as your fingers start to blister with heat and pain, or would you put it on the table and let it go? It’s an easy thing to do, right? So, why don’t you do the same with other things that you are hanging onto that are burning your heart?
Launch. I will keep this one brief. If you have done the first two steps, you will find this one easier. Think about how you want things to be and write it down. Find a mentor, if you need to, and create an action plan. Then, simply launch into a realistic and consistent action process, with regular review and reflection times, to make 2025 your best year yet.
In my amazing podcast this week with Van Marinos, called Start with exercise, we discuss how many challenges and new beginnings can be much easier to manage when we start moving our bodies. Maybe that is your first step in 2025. As we see out 2024, please don’t waste it. It is full of gems that are incredibly valuable if you can learn from them, let go what needs to be let go of, and launch into 2025 with joy and clarity. Apply the three L’s today.