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There's one thing most people miss when setting up their goals for the coming year. And because of this little oversight, so many new years resolutions that started out as cheerful balloons dancing towards the sky become like coins slipping our grasp and clattering to the ground. That means that New Years resolutions can become frustrating and apathy-inducing, and cause you to live so far beneath your potential.Well, lucky for you, there's a solution that will help you start off the new year strong and accomplish way more than you had imagined. It's this new year planning secret every great entrepreneur knows.

As we transition into the new year - heck, a whole brand spankin' new decade - we wanted to bring you a personal message about how we close out one year and transition into the next with as much strength and intention as possible.  We think this will be really helpful to you as you’re building a life and business you love and taking control of your destiny.

In this episode, we share our most important lessons from last year and how we’re using that as a foundation for success in the new decade.

The Clean Slate of a New Year

Ever since I was a kid, I loved waking up to freshly fallen snow.  The world was covered in white with no tracks, disruptions, or flaws. It was a fresh, clean slate.

That’s how I feel about the new year. It's this clean slate that creates an expectancy, like anything is possible.  It’s a new beginning, a new start, and new goals.

Purpose Instead of Resolutions for the New Year

But instead of getting caught up in the buzz of new year's resolutions that usually are broken and fail within the first 24 hours of the new year, how do you stay in abundance and the right mindset?

How do you set your intentions and purpose for the new year so you’ll succeed? 

Start with this New Year Planning Secret Every Great Entrepreneur Knows

Don't start by listing goals.

First, honor last year's successes.

Why?

It's way easier to win again at a bigger thing when you're already winning.

As Dan Sullivan coaches, this process helps you to stay positive by looking backward at how far you’ve come. It's like pulling back the slingshot to give maximum thrust and force to the rock you're shooting.

How do you do that?

Whether last year was a triumph that exceeded all of your goals, or whether you are still reaching for goals that you haven’t yet mastered, honor and value last year. The big and small triumphs along your journey have given you strength, lessons, and chiseled your character. They've laid the foundation for everything you can and will create in the future.

This gives you a sense of closure, meaning and purpose about last year.

And then, last year becomes a foundation that propels you into the new year as a better, stronger, kinder, wiser, and more successful person.

Since this life is one long story, this is how you finish well in the middle of the journey.

Our Year End Reflection Tradition

In the Marshall house, part of our ritual and tradition at the end of every year is to reflect on the last year, gain insight, and then get clear on the next year.

Start With Gratitude

It’s critical to start with gratitude.  Gratitude paves the way to focus on the good stuff and invites more of it into your life, because you’re in the right mindset to receive more.

Take Inventory of Last Year

Then, we take inventory and write down all of our major life moments over the last year.

Accomplishments, wins, defining moments, big decisions, new things we started, things we ended. High-quality conversations, enriching relationships, leaps of faith, answered prayers.

We open our calendars, emails, text feed, facebook, and notes to help us really remember everything.

It's a journey down memory lane that's so invigorating because of the focus on what was good. And before we know it,