How to Embrace ‘Tabula Rasa’ and Prepare for a New Year

by Amy Forsythe for Victory Strategies Leadership Development Firm

Every New Year gives us a chance for a fresh start and to build on the momentum from the previous 12 months. It’s a chance for leaders at all levels to reflect, assess and set new goals for the coming year.

The calendar, after all, is an artifice. Like the clock, it is a device we use to measure time, when in truth there are blank slates all around us but every moment is fresh and new and if we learn to see it that way, January often brings a renewed sense of clarity and optimism.

It’s a chance for things to be different; a break away from a particularly difficult year, or a sense that we’ll achieve more of what we desire in life during the year ahead. Perhaps it’s a chance to raise standards, improve our lives in ways that are important to us, and continue to look for how we can live life to the fullest. It’s a time for resolutions and recommitting ourselves to forming better habits with the ultimate goal of enhancing our life’s purpose and passion.

This feeling of renewed optimism goes back many centuries and there’s a Latin term called ‘tabula rasa’ which translated into English means ‘blank slate.’

In Western philosophy, the concept of tabula rasa can be traced back to the writings of Aristotle who wrote about the “unscribed tablet.” Other philosophers through the centuries, including Thomas Aquinas and John Locke, also refer to tabula rasa on varying levels when describing the human condition.

A Clean Slate for the New Year