It’s a new calendar year and a goal-setting, Capricorn New Moon. And like many of you, I’m sure, I’m trying to figure out how I’d like 2022 to look, and what I need to do to accomplish that.
This is the time of year I sit down with notebooks and calendars and schedulers and try to figure out what to do with my business in the coming year. Many new years ago, seeking sage advice for a new leadership position in my local astrology group, I ran across a classic TED talk by author Simon Sinek (I’ve included the video at the end of this essay). Sinek suggests that the key to success is to “Start with why.” His thinking is that if you have a strong sense of why you want to accomplish something, you’ll naturally figure out the form it should take and exactly how you can bring it into being.
Sometimes, the “why” of a situation may seem as simple as, “I kind of had to.” But even when we’re stepping into situations out of a sense of obligation, it’s important to ask why. Why take care of an ailing relative who has treated you badly all your life? That’s an important “why,” and it probably has much less to do with who they are, than with the kind of person you want to be. Why do you accept a higher-paying job that you really don’t want? If the answer is, “I am a person who loves my family and will do anything to see that they are financially secure,” well, there is your “why,” and it’s a pretty good one.
Once we know why we’re doing something, the road forward is usually clearer. And though Capricorn is a pragmatic, “what” and “how” kind of sign, this particular Capricorn New Moon is a little different. The Sun and Moon in Capricorn are trine revolutionary Uranus, and ruled by Saturn in innovative Aquarius fresh off a square to Uranus. This is a New Moon, and a new year, that demand we get to know our true motivations, the better to change direction as needed.
Capricorn is known as an executive sign, an ambitious one that will stop at nothing to climb to the top of the mountain. That’s why we pledge, at his New Moon, to climb important mountains of our own. But the cosmic joke is that most of those resolutions don’t pan out. And if Simon Sinek is right, I suppose it’s because we tend to tackle things in the wrong order, trying to use lists and will power to mold our lives into a shape that simply doesn’t suit us.
Running a business has always felt like a stretch for me. If I think too much about the whats and hows of it, or stare too long at all my notes and binders and spreadsheets, I get a little bit overwhelmed. But I’m glad I ran across Simon Sinek, because his ideas have given me a different way to approach the daunting and new. It begins on the inside, with a desire to be of service to my clients, help support my family, and prepare for the future. How will I accomplish that? Well, I reckon I’ll figure that part out.
If you’ve been thinking about what you’d like to achieve in the new year and wondering how you’re going to get there, be sure, at the Capricorn New Moon, that you’ve spent some time with the more fundamental question of, “Why?” Why do you want to pursue the goals you have in mind? Find the motivation at the core of the thing. Let your heart have its say. The what and how will take care of themselves.
Writing and collages © 2016-22 April Elliott Kent
