The dawn of a new year always seems to be an ideal time for reflection and change.  New year’s resolutions abound and so many people are making promises to themselves, most of which they will never keep.

Personally, I like new year’s resolutions.  While I’m inclined to embark on a life-changing clearout of my responsibilities and projects at any time, having a clearly defined starting point just feels right.

I normally start my self-assessment in the week between Christmas and New Year.  It is a great time to start as I have indulged in the excesses of Christmas and am ready to make a change.  Not waiting until Jan 1 to plan also means I can be ready to start on the first day of the new year.

This year I’ve taken a slightly different approach to normal in that I’ve planned my planning a lot more carefully.  I’ve read a lot of articles and posts regarding New Year resolving and life-clearing and have identified a number of things I need to achieve before I can start on those all important resolutions.

I initially listed the major steps I need to achieve before I can make my resolutions, or even know what I wanted to resolve:

1. Ask some tough questions
2. Identify the need
3. Sort out what you are trying to achieve
4. Work out how you are going to get there
5. Describe the path to enlightenment
6. List the journey of 1000 steps
7. Make the hard decisions

So far I have handled numbers one and two.  Number 3 involves identifying the real purpose to my life, and while I have read a number of articles on how to do this, I’ve yet to really find the time and inner strength to do it. 

Just what happens if you find your life’s purpose, and it isn’t what you expected?  What happens if it conflicts with everything you’ve previously thought?