Want to be bolder in 2023? Start by clarifying your purpose. Before you take any action, spend some time reflecting on your values and what is most important to you. Visualize where you want to be in 12 months and the kind of life you want to live. Once these goals are clearer, work to create an action plan and write it down.

Parenthood can be both wonderfully rewarding and frighteningly challenging. Children give gifts only a parent can understand—from sticky-finger hugs to heartfelt pleas to tag along on Saturday morning errands. You raise them with a clear goal that you secretly dread will actually take place—that someday they will be grown, independent, and ready to move out on their own, and your work will be over.

One of my most self-aware friends said of a habit he’d like to change recently: “First, I have to get sick of myself; then I have to get sick of getting sick of myself; then I have to complain about it for a while; then I’ll actually change.”

We are told the winter holidays are supposed to be a magical time of deep connection with loved ones, good meals, warm fires and gift-giving. And yet, for many of us, the winter holidays don’t live up to our expectations, because we don’t know how to strike the right balance between rest and productivity.