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3 Tips For Making The Second Half Of The Year Ten Times Better Than The First

We’re 6 months into the year. It’s time for a pep talk…

It was my birthday this week.

What’s struck me more than ever this year is that my birthday marks the halfway point of the year, and so I’ve since come to think of this as ‘half-time’.

In sport, the talk that a coach will give his team at half-time is very different from the one they would have gotten going into the first half of the game.

When starting out we ask, “What’s going to make this year better than the last?”.

Now we’re midway in, we need to adjust course based on what’s now happened and where we are in the plan.

When you look back and ask yourself if you’ve achieved the things you wanted to have achieved by this stage in the year, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with the urge to want to write off the rest of the year before you’ve even begun playing the second half.

I know I’ve been a little frustrated at myself at there being a few things I’ve wanted to get done that I’m yet to get to.

There are certain projects that I still haven’t been able to start, and I have to accept the reality that I may have been overly ambitious with a few things.

But here’s the thing…

At the end of June, there are six months left in the year.

184 days to play with.

184 days to be productive, to be efficient, to go out and love, to have adventure, to do new things, to build an amazing life, to work towards your goals…

And this is time that we all share in, right now, that we all have in the palms of our hands.

If we focus on frustration from not having achieved what we wanted to have achieved by this point, we’re never likely to achieve what we have the potential to achieve throughout the second half of the game.

To combat this, I’ve looked at three areas of focus to help in making the next 6 months what I want them to be personally for me. I hope in sharing them they will serve you in doing likewise…

1) Know your weaknesses

–What are the biggest weaknesses that you need to combat?

For me it’s: distraction, the feeling of overwhelm, losing touch with those I love, not sticking to daily habits, and not re-focusing on goals every day.

Awareness of our weaknesses allows us to bring attention to them and see the pitfalls that we would otherwise drive into if we weren’t able to anticipate them.

2) Know what drives you

The quickest way to lost motivation is to lose the connection you have with the reason for why you’re doing something.

We’ve all had days where we’ve felt incredibly productive. What was the difference? It’s likely that our focus was in a different place – set on something that drove us in an extraordinary way, and gave us the zest to go out and conquer in whatever it is we went on to do.

–How can you bring that feeling back into your every day life over the course of the next 6 months?

3) Renew your goals

The need to feel creative and that we’re making progress can lead us to coming up with new sets of goals, before ever having rounded off our last.

I recently heard someone say that…

“It’s better to go back to old resolutions than to keep creating new ones.”

And I think this is so true.

Coming up with new goals gives us the feeling that we’re being creative and that we’re evolving, when sometimes the biggest point of leverage we have is in going back to a set of goals that we’ve long since abandoned and taking them on with a new rigour, energy and determination.

–What goals / habits have you lost touch with? (that if you could get back, would really make the difference in your life)

(Photo: Angie Torres)
(If we really go for it, we can make magic happen. Photo: Angie Torres)

We can all make this into the most incredible year of our lives.

I hope you’re excited. Here’s to the rest of the year!

###

Question of the day: What is your #1 goal / area of focus for the rest of 2013?

Let me know in the comments!

***

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109 Replies to “3 Tips For Making The Second Half Of The Year Ten Times Better Than The First”

  • Happy Birthday!! My birthday was bittersweet as well everyone remembered it and some how made sure I celebrated but I also had a slight melt down because I am nowhere near where I thought I would be so my goal is on my next birthday no matter what the year has or has brought I will make the best and I still want to learn to do a handstand.

  • I am actually very proud of myself because I have set myself certain goals this year and so far I have been achieving most of them or I am making the steps needed to get there. So, if this is the point to review, I can be pretty happy with where I am.
    I have achieved my education goals (just completed my Psychology degree as of last week) and I have been making a name for myself in my job I have been doing on the side, now I have contacts and people in the company wanting me to relocate to bigger roles because I am outperforming my peers (despite being a full time uni student).

    My #1 goal for this year was to become a more relaxed person, as I can also get overwhelmed and have been known to stress way more than necessary. I am yet to achieve this, but I am going overseas to Europe and New York (I leave on Wednesday!) and I hope this big, scary situation will give me some perspective. I need to develop some more confidence in myself so I can relax knowing I can handle almost anything when I am focused on it.

    My other goals like meeting new people, having a relationship, etc. have also gone quite well. I’m now actually attracting guys (and had a decent 3 month relationship), though this could be better, as now I am getting the guy, but he’s not the guy I deserve. However, I am definitely making steps to change this. I found some time when my friend and I are in London which coincides with a Women’s Weekend and I have signed us both up!

    My goal of getting fitter has been pretty neglected. That’s another area that needs working on, and now I have to change gyms because a trainer there has asked me out and is way too clingy. Ughhh, I liked that gym.

  • My birthday is near the end of May and I tend to do the same thing every year. Every birthday I think oh no I’m older and half the year is gone and I haven’t done everything I had on planned doing. Normally what happens after thinking this is I will go and do something impulsive and permanent to make myself fell like I’ve accomplished or changed something in my life. This never really worked because ended up feeling the same way on my next birthday.
    So I was stuck in this cycle until this birthday when something different happened. I was inspired by two things a psychology book (not self-help) and the video on 5 things we can learn from Gatsby. The tip from that video that really stuck with me was having plan in place for your daily life.
    So this year I made list of everything that wanted accomplish during the summer season. I figured if I keep myself on shorter time frame I wouldn’t have a chance to procrastinate.
    I organized and color coded the list by how difficult or time consuming the task would be printed it and carried it with me everyday. About a month later out of the 30 items on the list I have accomplished 5 tasks/goals and I’m working on 6-7 daily. I’m so happy because I accomplished a goal that I had labeled as very difficult. I didn’t think it happen this year let only this month. Thank you for the Gatsby video while it was very funny I actually did learn something from it. So here is my best shot at this week’s advice.

    Weaknesses
    Procrastination.
    I tend to get stuck in a rut. I will do this same things everyday and every week.
    I don’t really like doing anything that would require me to break out of my comfort zone which I think is part of what causes me to procrastinate and get stuck in a rut.

    What drives me
    I’m probably most driven by accomplishment.

    Revisit your goals
    I have good idea of what my goals at this point

    Have a good week and happy birthday Matthew.

  • HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT! It was recently my bday too! And I really needed this haft-time talk, thank you. My main dis-motivation (I guess) is because I now live in a small town, where people only go out with their life-time friends, and it is quite hard to meet new people. I sometimes spend days without being able to talk to new people, because there is no one around!! :(
    Any words of wisdom? Any brilliant ideas?
    ** I think I need some help with new tactics for the second half of this game coach!!!! **

    x

  • I just want to say: thank you so much for this video! What you said was exactly something that I needed to hear right now :-)
    Thank you again!
    And most of all: Happy Birthday! Have a good one.

  • hej matt,
    thank you so much for your pep talk!
    I am about to star the second half of my masters, it’s thesis time!
    I am very excited about it as I will be working a great glaciology research centre
    in Switzerland! my goal is research after that. so now I have to work hard and make it happen to be able to get a phd position next year. it is always hard to say goodbye to people that came close enough to be good friends, but also now I can make new friends and meet exciting new people! I am also very much looking forward to those sexy ski instructors! ahhh, winter come quick… ;)
    all the best to my fellow girls!

  • Happy Birthday You Handsome, Hunky, Hussey

    yes this half is better already, I’ve never called you that before.

    = )

  • Hi Mat,

    Happy birthday handsome Mat. Keep being awesome :).

    You are one of the few people that makes life worth living.

    xxooo

  • hey, joyeux anniversaire Matt!!

    you still do impress me with your being relevant and renewing yourself and your videos.
    that one’s great, I needed that
    xxxx

    Emilie

  • I hope you’ve had an amazing birthday Matt! :D
    I’ve been thinking myself too, since now I have just finished exams, I can go out and do what I’ve been wanting to for so long.
    1. Making the most of London and its opportunities: bikram yoga, galleries, theatres, shopping :P – so my days since my last exam have been jam packed.
    2. Finish reading your book and meet a new person every day (I’m on chapter one hahaha :P)
    3. Learn French, reconnect with friends and work on getting super toned again!!
    4. Enjoy myself :)

    Thanks for the pep talk Matt! Xxxxx

  • Happy Belated! I’m a June baby as well and have been doing a half year review for ages on each of the Solstices. Keeps it easy to remember and not tied up with holiday distractions. It’s a great habit and I look forward to the review of past years to pat myself on the back for growth and goals achieved or revised.

    Thanks for all you do and share to help make our lives more playful and meaningful. Keep up the amazing work!

    All the best,
    Tammy

  • Hey Matt!

    Yeah, I know what you mean by this, My birthday is June 14th, And I just turned 25 and that made me think of all the things I haven’t done still, the things I have to do, need to do. I am working so hard right know to earn money for my music education in USA, Berklee College Of Music. I got accepted this fall 2013, but had to put it on hold for fall 2014 Coz I need to find the money. And it makes me frustrated that I can’t go now. Crying allot, coz If I don’t have that, music, I wouldn’t be who I am as a person really either. I love myself for who I am, love to sing. It is all I want to do. But I am focusing on how to get there so I hope it will happen for me soon. My biggest dream ever.

    Thanks for the advices Matt, love it! Will try to follow it :) Feel free to give me more advice, would love to hear some more :)

    X/Michelle in Finland

  • Happy Birthday Matt!
    You always inspire me! What I am doing for the next 6 months: learn new things without fear of being not smart/ interesting enough, do new things, meet people, start to date, be more open to different kind of men.

    Xxx
    A

  • Matt,
    I am loving all of the videos you are posting and hope you don’t mind that I’m taking complete advantage of them :) lol. I wanted to go to your live event in New York but I missed it because I had some family functions going on that night. Come back to the USA soon and please make New Jersey a stop! (Preferably in the northern half of it haha.)
    Happy Birthday!
    ((My goal this year is to finally have a first date :/ kind of pathetic, I know, but I think it’s possible thanks to your vids, newsletter, and Get the Guy book! Love it by the way, I bought it just after your web chat.))

  • I wanted to thank u, u r an amazing amazing person who gives hope to sooo many people. I feel better after having read your this article and now I have renewed my goals so would be focusing on them…Thanx n keep it up :)

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