The New Year is a powerful time to recommit to our greatest potential and to ourselves. Yet so often we get off track and wind up back where we started come mid-February. Sound familiar?

I found this to be true for me in so many ways throughout my life. Often I would wake up on New Years Day with a hangover, feeling crappy, and reflecting on how (once again) I didn’t lose that 30 pounds, I was still in a job that was sucking my soul, and my house was still, well, a mess. Urgh.

This drove me nuts, and what was more was that it made me feel awful inside. Disempowered. Ashamed that I couldn’t get it right. Like maybe, for me, change just wasn’t possible. Maybe I was destined for a lack-luster existence in a body I was ashamed of and that “living your dream” was only for a selected few.

Then something happened. 

By the grace of God/the Goddess I was introduced to new approaches and discovered new tools that turned my daydreaming into a epic conquest to bring to life the desires of my heart. 

I realized that transformation isn’t something that happens TO us out of the blue, it is something we ACTIVELY CREATE each day of our lives. 

On January 1st, 2014, I wrote my vision for the year ahead (which I will guide you in doing in just a moment). Everything my little fingers typed felt like a stretch, and to be honest, as I wrote it, it sounded like a lie. 

Some key elements included: leaving my full time job, creating my own website (which I had NO idea how to do), waking up without an alarm and getting started on a day of work devoted to what I love, to be slim, strong and to feel sexy, to meditate (for real this time), and to be help change the lives of women every day day. Myself being one of those women.

On January 1st of this year I ran downstairs and opened the top drawer of my desk. I pulled out the sealed letter that said “Open January 1st 2015!” As I sat there, my eyes eagerly scanning each line, and tears started running down my cheeks. The unthinkable had happened. My vision had become a reality. 

How did I do it?

To be honest, working with a coach was a huge part of it, also finding my community of friends who believed in this highest version of myself, as well as my insistence on saying my dreams out loud until I finally believed they were possible.

I also followed the following steps. Grab a pen and paper, and I will show you how to do the same…

Five Rituals to Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Come to Life

Step 1. Create a vision. To create your vision, write about (in present tense) all that you hope to be true by December 2015. Describe what you see, how you feel, and all that’s happened for you in 2015. In other words, if you could wave a magic wand and have everything you desire, what would it look like (realistic but a little bit of a stretch). Set the timer for at least 10 minutes and let it flow.

Step 2. Establish clear, timely, attainable goals. Now it’s time to get specific. Outline three to five goals based on your vision. You’ll want them to be attainable within the given time period, and you’ll want to be able to know exactly what it will look like if you reach them. Write these down now.

Step 3. Identify your Big MoFa (Your Big Motivating Factor). This is huge! So often we make goals but don’t identify why we want to reach them in the first place. Remind yourself about what reaching these goals will do for you. This is what will keep you motivated and inspired. Take a moment here to write out what reaching these goals will make possible for you, or why they are important. Bonus: write these on little notes and post them around your house or office!

Step 4. Make a plan. Now, let’s get this party started by creating a road map for reaching your goals! Having a plan for reaching your goals will help you take consistent ACTION – which is THE most important factor in creating results! Write it out: what are the first steps needed to accomplish Goal 1? Goal 2? Schedule these action steps into your calendar now.

Step 5. Get a support system in place. This means hiring a coach, partnering with a friend, or soliciting a group of people to help keep you accountable to your goals. Saying your dreams out loud has an incredible power to it, and having support will help you create the conditions for inevitable success. Go ahead and write down the names of at least two people who can help you stay accountable to your vision for 2015.

Great work! You now have a vision, goals, a Big MoFa, a clear plan, and the accountability to move forward with ease.

Now it’s your turn.

I challenge you to write down 3 big dreams you have for 2015 in the comments below. It is ok for it to feel like a stretch, let it be uncomfortable, let it be bold, but most of all let it be true. Let it be what your heart wants. Together we will hold a space for you and other women to make these dreams a reality.

Here’s to you and your glorious transformation in this New Year!

P.S. Here is the letter I wrote last year before creating my own coaching practice, before I loved my body, before the website, before the leap.