Making New Year’s resolutions is a common tradition. NPR (National Public Radio) even created a resolution planner called a Life Kit to provide “practical and inspiring ways to grow in 2023.” Experts give advice about everything from falling in love to training a dog or starting therapy.
Garry O’Neal, Jr. is a Baltimorean, business owner and podcast host of “The See.Plan.Do Show.” He is passionate about mindset and business coaching. O’Neal is also a certified life coach who knows that sometimes people need help to manifest their heartfelt desires and goals. The expert explained that crafting a strategy to address them always boil down to a person’s mindset, so he leads from this starting point.
“The benefits of life coaching, mindset coaching, is understanding the reality that we can do what we want to do,” O’Neal said. “And a lot of times, unfortunately, in men and women, we don’t believe this simple fact. We don’t believe that we can get the job that we want. We don’t believe that we can pursue our goals. We don’t believe that we can do in essence what we want, when clearly, we see people doing what they want all the time.”
Developing a new path is important for individuals who have experienced a setback or challenge in 2022 because “we are our habits,” according to O’Neal. He added that “how you do one thing is how you do all things.”
He further explained that becoming a better person entails establishing new positive habits to create a positive result. But the first thing O’Neal recommends when it comes to resetting in preparation for 2023 is taking a moment to breathe. Realize that we have had a lot of things to undergo within the last year, including still dealing with COVID-19. Utilizing a blackboard or journal was a recommended method for an individual to review and document what a person wanted to achieve in 2022.
“What went well? What are some areas that you need to adjust to help you move forward? Now that we’re moving into a new year, what are your goals? Also, what are your commitments to those goals?” O’Neal asked. “A lot of people nowadays will start off the year with vision boards and vision boards are amazing. I even have vision boards which are called motivational mapping or mindset mapping because it’s really about seeing a vision, but a vision board is not enough. It’s going to reward you immediately in putting it together, but if there’s no subsequent action behind it, then it’s just going to be a cute collage that finds its way in the trash or closet.”
O’Neal added that planning how to move forward in 2023 entails shedding yourself of any past thinking, focusing more on the future, and being very specific about setting goals. Asking yourself what you are willing to do to commit to performance and execution of a goal is important.
The key to mindset coaching stems from the coach’s ability to ask a client to write questions to create an atmosphere of change. O’Neal believes that people have been conditioned to believe that we do not need help but grown people can benefit from having mentors and individuals to hold them accountable while efforts to improve are being made.
“When you have an accountability partner, you have someone that can openly be able to assist you in what you said you wanted to do, not what we think you should do. So, if I pick commitment, and I say, ‘Hey, I am committed on doing these things,’ you have a person there that can openly address you and confront you. Sometimes we feel like confrontation is negative. Confrontation doesn’t mean, ‘Hey, meet me outside. It simply means that we’re addressing something that’s wrong. Your behavior is conflicting with what you said you wanted to do,” O’Neal explained. “Having an accountability partner allows you to have someone that can help push you where you need to go. Iron sharpens iron.”
While looking forward to the new year, O’Neal reminded that we are amazing beings who have the capacity to create the reality that we want.
“What I leave people with as we’re looking for the great reset of 2023 is to look what you’ve overcome in 2022. And moving forward in 2023, you can start the journey of simply making a commitment that you’re going to reset,” O’Neal said. Find O’Neal’s podcast via https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-see-plan-do-show/id1500830090. His website is https://lifecoachgarryonealjr.com/.
