Before you start to figure out your resolutions for 2012, lay the foundation for a fabulous year by GETTING YOUR SH*T TOGETHER! Part of the battle is discovering the perfect tools to help you accomplish just that…and I have them.

In my coaching newsletter, I have a series which is lovingly called The Weekly GYST: quick and dirty Get-Your-Sh*t-Together tips. I’ve pulled together my top 7 GYSTs—a gift from me to you! Enjoy!

#1 Take excellent care of yourself.

We are busy, busy people who make busy, busy choices. This busy, busy behavior can wear out a person. You know what you have to do to get by each day, but YOU need to do better than that. You absolutely, positively MUST take excellent care of yourself if you want to accomplish great things in this life.

Start with the basics: get plenty of sleep, drink lots of water, eat properly and practice good personal hygiene.

Then ramp it up: see your doctor regularly, visit your dentist regularly, keep your home clean and orderly and do something active each day.

Then keep it going: participate in enjoyable hobbies, get pampered at spas, incorporate me-time and schedule rejuvenating vacations.

You get the drift. Figure out where you are allowing your busy lifestyle to trump taking care of yourself and make a change.

#2 Clean Up Your Life Clutter.

Most home improvement projects start with decluttering – clearing out the stuff that prevents you from making a space more comfy/organized/beautiful/fabulous. Personal upgrade projects follow the same format. It’s easier to be moxielicious if you’ve eliminated the clutter/stuff/crap that you are tolerating and not really dealing with. The following are examples of common life clutter that require your immediate attention:

• Physical Clutter: Actual crap in your world that you don’t need—check your home, office, car, pocketbook
• Incomplete Tasks: Unfinished business like unpaid bills or incomplete to-do lists
• Unhealthy Habits: Smoking, fast food, inconsistent exercise, etc.
• Behaviors: Unattractive behaviors (like lying or nail biting), repeating bad patterns, complaining, etc.
• Negative Relationships: Relationships that drain you.

Tolerating this sh*t zaps you of your time and energy and certainly does not serve your best interests. So clear it out!

 #3 Stop Making Excuses.

You learned how to make excuses when your dog started eating your homework and for many of you, you’ve never stopped. It would be a fair bet to say that most of you have already made at least one excuse today. Most of the peeps I work with show up with boatloads of perfectly rehearsed excuses and they are eager to whip ‘em out as soon as I start pushing them to their uncomfortable zone. I don’t accept excuses—EVER—and neither should you!

Excuse making comes in many disguises:

• Blaming others or finger pointing
• Justifying poor choices
• Explaining why you failed to do something
• Justifying procrastination
• Complaining about how you have a difficult life
• Apologizing insincerely

Excuses are tired. And very unsexy. You are so much more than that—start showing it.

#4 Stop Complaining.

Complaining…a close cousin to excuse making, but even more pervasive. The amount of energy that people exhaust on whining and bitching and moaning about life is fascinating. Complaining is a time-sucking, brainpower-wasting, headache-inducing, frustration-generating, highly unnecessary and unattractive habit. And it’s freakin’ everywhere!

Seriously, just stop. Really, what has complaining ever done for you? Nobody wants to listen, it doesn’t actually make you feel better and it doesn’t help any situation.  Pay attention to how much you tend to complain. If you find yourself about to complain (or half-way through a venting session) just stop talking. For every problem, there are tons of possible solutions. Focus on finding one. And once you stop complaining, stop tolerating complaining around you.

#5 Stop Shoulding.

This is a life-changer people!

We live in an age of shoulds. Shoulds are things you feel compelled to do because you think (or someone else thinks) you ought to even though you don’t actually want to do them.

Shoulds suck! We spend far too much time doing things we should do instead of things we actually want to do. This behavior is the result of following a life that we think we should want and that’s simply not good enough. I understand that blazing your own path is difficult, hard and terrifying, but so is living a life designed by somebody else. If you are only doing things that are considered acceptable, only to please others, you are missing the point of this whole Audacity thing.

So, stop shoulding all over yourself. Take time to think about why you do the things you do. Then start doing more of what you want and less of what you should. You’ll be amazed with how much happier you will become.

#6 Live Your Priorities.

We always hear the phrase “get your priorities straight.” Well, the truth is, that if you ask most anyone they will be able to tell you what their priorities are—health, family or happiness are a few of the popular responses. However, most of these same people do not LIVE according to these priorities.

Stop paying lip service to what you value above all else and start actually showing it.

Identify your top priority and spend part of each day investing in that priority no matter what happens. Then identify your next priority and do the same—and so on. Take on just one small goal to move toward each day that will serve your top 2 or 3 priorities—and follow through.

#7 Do Your Thing.

Figure out what your thing is and do just that.

Stop trying to adopt someone else’s thing—create your own. Make that your work. Make that your hobby. Make that your thing. Be yourself. Be original. Be creative. Be interesting. Be Audacious. Stop looking for someone to emulate and be like and start being the real YOU!

Happy Kicka$$ New Year!

Article written by Jennie Mustafa-Julock for Moxy Magazine, December 2011. Photo credit: flickr.com user mrmanc.