Words by Smiley Team
January is a time of year that can be full of new intentions, self-punishment and wintry doom and gloom – but it doesn’t have to be that way.
According to Sophie Cliff, the best New Year's resolution you can make is to simply prioritise joy. Sophie – aka The Joyful Coach – has made a career out of helping people live their most joyful lives, whatever that means to them.
As a qualified coach and positive psychology practitioner, she’s a font of knowledge and has plenty of tips about how to make the most of life – although, this has been a skillset she’s had to learn herself.
“I haven’t always worked as a coach – in fact, I spent the first 10 years of my career working in sales and marketing at big corporate companies," she tells Smiley News.
"I did well in those roles, but I always felt like something was missing, and after a bereavement in 2016, I was catalysed to make a change. The favourite part of my job had always been managing and developing teams, and I was obsessed with all things personal development, so retraining as a coach felt like a natural next step."
(Read more about how to create happier schools)
Sophie's decision to focus on joy specifically was born out of her experience of grief and loss. "I realised how truly short life could be, and how important it is to make the most of the time we have here," she says.
"Choosing joy is one of the very best ways we can do just that, and I'm passionate about helping people to find more joy and happiness in their everyday lives.”
It’s all about cultivating a more positive mindset, which can improve our physical health, protect us from burnout, increase our chances of success at work – and even add years to our lives.
“Perhaps most importantly for our current climate, having a positive mentality has been shown to improve resilience and 'bouncebackability', meaning that we can better deal with stress and the curveballs that life throws at us," she adds.
For so many of us, the usual routes to joy – spending time with others, celebrating special occasions with friends, travelling and all sorts of leisure activities – disappeared overnight due to the pandemic, and have never quite returned in the same way.
But slowing down and simplifying life has allowed for new forms of joy to emerge as well, and Sophie says there's been more of an urge to actively seek out and prioritise joy in our lives, in big and small ways.
Practising gratitude is a proven technique for inviting more joy into our lives. Making a list each evening of the things you're thankful for that day, or making the effort to say a heartfelt thank you, can help to boost your sense of optimism and improve wellbeing. It'll also help you to notice what parts of your life you enjoy most, so that you can make more time for them.
(Read more about this man who is on a mission to share gratitude)
“Another tip I like to share with clients is to write a 'done list' at the end of each week,” adds Sophie. “It sounds simple, but just five minutes spent focusing on what you've achieved can help you to build a greater sense of confidence, and rewire our brains into thinking in a more positive way.”
Instead of doom-scrolling, or getting into the habit of watching rubbish telly, try listening to upbeat podcasts, searching out positive news stories (like the ones on Smiley News!) or reading books with guaranteed happy endings.
The most important thing is to live with intention, she says, which means playing an active role in our lives, instead of passively letting our lives happen to us. It means really examining how we want our lives to look and feel, and making the right choices to get there.
One final tip from Sophie is to focus on what you can control.
“So many of us use our precious energy worrying about things we have no control or influence over, and that makes us miserable," she says.
“Instead, focusing on what we can control and making the very best of whatever life throws at us gives us a much greater capacity for joy.”
You can find out more about how to stay committed to living a joyful life on Sophie’s website, which includes her manifesto for 2022, and details of her programmes and coaching.
