NEW YEAR, NEW MOTTO: DISCOVERING YOUR GUIDING PHRASE FOR 2024
You’ve probably set plenty of New Year’s resolutions before. If you’re like most people, every January 1st comes with a lot of promises to ourselves that we often don’t keep. So last year at Magnolia Wellness, we mixed it up and said No Thank You to setting the typical resolutions, and 2023 has been an incredible year! So now, we thought we’d fill you in on exactly what we did to shake things up.
For 2023, we decided to set a motto that would guide and shape our everyday lives. The motto we chose was Turn Fear into Fascination. The original intention was to remind ourselves to approach challenges and new opportunities with a mindset of fascination and growth, but honestly—it did so much more than that!
Our 2023 motto transformed the entire team at Magnolia Wellness.
We shifted fear of the unknown into a fascination with discovering new possibilities.
We encouraged one another to approach our work with a sense of wonder and curiosity, which opened the doors to a whole new level of creativity.
We explored new ideas together instead of fearing change.
We listened to one another more deeply and found joy in understanding each other’s unique perspectives.
We stopped being afraid of making mistakes and started viewing everything as an experiment that can be improved on and changed at any time.
All in all it was a very good year for us! And as we’re reflecting on what went well while making a plan for next year, we’ve decided to do it again! Except this year our motto is only one word . . .
ELATION.
Do you have a motto for 2024?
Why You Might Want to Do a New Year Motto Instead of a New Year’s Resolution
Creating a motto is like having a personalized mantra that echoes the things you want to achieve in the new year. Unlike resolutions, which are often extremely specific and easy to forget about, a motto is broad and versatile. And when you use it to shape your everyday life, it’s practically impossible to forget!
A New Year Motto is like a compass that guides you in everything you do.
Instead of trying to stay laser focused on one big goal this year, what if you focused on how you want to feel? You can still brainstorm resolutions, but instead of making those the goal, we highly recommend asking yourself how you would feel if you accomplished those things?
This desired feeling is your motto and it can help guide your actions throughout the year.
Then forget all about the resolutions and shift your perspective from traditional goal setting to what emotion you want to channel. This is the most important part—once you know what feeling you want to embody, align as many of your choices that you possibly can with that emotion.
Personalizing Your Own New Year Motto
To create a personalized motto for 2024, start by thinking about your best days. Now use your imagination to visualize the most perfect day . . . even if you’ve never experienced it before.
How do you feel on your very best day? How would you feel on a perfect day?
List 3 positive emotions that come to mind. Then choose one of those words or use them to spark a phrase that will drive you through your year. It can be whatever you want as long as it’s easy for you to remember and encapsulates your goals, aspirations, and values.
If you’re struggling to come up with ideas for your 2024 motto, take inspiration from family, your favorite books, or motivational quotes. A great inspiration phrase can help set the tone for the new year, and give you a framework for how you want to live your life.
Here’s a list of positive emotions to get the ball rolling:
Joy
Love
Gratitude
Happiness
Excitement
Contentment
Serenity
Hope
Inspiration
Peace
Amusement
Elation
Optimism
Satisfaction
Bliss
Empathy
Wonder
Pride
Delight
Enthusiasm
Awe
Appreciation
Fulfillment
Compassion
Confidence
Tips for Making Your New Year Motto Stick
Having a New Year Motto is great, but the hard part is follow-through. Here's the trick: once you have discovered your guiding phrase, make it stick by displaying it in a place you encounter frequently, like a laptop screensaver, phone wallpaper, or in the front cover of your journal.
You can use your motto as a theme for a vision board, but just make sure you put your vision board where you actually look at it everyday. Frame it. Hang it on your wall. You may even want to make a small vision board bookmark that you tuck into your paper planner reminding you of your motto on a daily basis.
If it helps you to stay accountable, share your guiding phrase with friends, family, or online communities for a little extra reinforcement.
Act the way you want to feel.
—Danielle Laporte
With a personalized motto, you’re well on your way to living a more fulfilling, intentional, and purposeful life in 2024. As we embark on a fresh chapter, it's crucial to remember that everything unfolds in due time. There is no need for urgency when we align ourselves with the natural rhythms of life. Let your new motto serve as a powerful framework to guide your intentions. And trust the process. Just like the seasons, growth and transformation take time.
We hope you find time to appreciate all the beauty big and small that surrounds each and every one of us everyday. We hope you pause and find those little glimmers of magic that only reveal themselves when you’re present in the moment. And we hope your New Year Motto helps you tune into and experience the small joys in everyday life.
Happy New Year from all of us at Magnolia Wellness. May this be your best one yet! 🥂