My Remarkable Year 2024

A year-long program designed to help you strengthen your well-being habits, achieve your goals and keep consistent with your self-development in 2024.

Are you looking for more accountability, consistency and motivation in achieving your goals?

Would you like to keep a more continuous focus on your self-development and wellbeing?

Would you boost your life satisfaction by connecting each month with a group of like-minded, inspiring individuals who can support you on this journey and give you new perspectives and ideas?

 
If you:
 
  • feel like there is more to life – so much more to enjoy, yet you are not finding the time to get the most out of it
  • find it challenging to keep focus on your wellbeing and self care, especially when life gets busy
  • sometimes you feel overwhelmed & unsure of which priorities are most important to protect (or how to protect them)
  • miss more consistency in moving towards your goals, keeping focus on your wellbeing & personal growth and build new habit
  • don’t have a habit to stop and ask “What do I actually want from the next day, week, month, or year?” regularly
  • occasionally feel stuck in a routine, miss a bit of inspiration, motivation and new spark of positive energy
…this journey is designed specifically for you!
 
 

Now, add to the mix meaningful conversations, interaction with inspiring, creative & fun group, and many engaging, insightful moments together. 

That is how “My Remarkable Year” journey looks like.

Who is My Remarkable Year for?

This group is for you if you want to build a more meaningful and satisfying year, boost your consistency and focus in life by joining an inspiring small group for accountability, support, tools and motivation. 

 

This journey is about:

 1. Focusing on your self-development

 2. Strengthening your wellbeing

 3. Reaching your goals proactively and advancing your life

 

Would you like to intentionally design the life you want to live?

Join us at My Remarkable Year if you are looking for one of these three things:

Transform your life

Create a new path in life (planning a big change or transition), with new clarity, motivation and accountability. 

Re-focus and boost your motivation

Want to get back on track of what you wanted out of life (yet somehow got a bit distracted from that path)? This is the place.

Build new levels of clarity

You are unsure about you they want out of their life (and which career and life plan to pursue)? Let’s discover together. 

Why should I join?

By joining, you will strengthen three main areas of your life: self-development, wellbeing and achievement towards your goals. In each area, you will have stronger focus, more intentionality and faster progress.

The first two are our primary focus: this group is designed to support you in working on your self-development throughout the year and in continuously refocusing on your wellbeing in different life aspects. 

However, as creating things that are meaningful to us and achieving our goals is an important part of our wellbeing and happiness, we are definitely also including the support of the group in achieving our goals and looking into how we can do that more effectively. 

 

Here is what you get by joining My Remarkable Year:

  • a structured, engaging, dedicated time for self-development with like-minded people to discuss new ideas & tools
  • motivation & clarity towards your goals
  • accountability to really work on your goals
  • consistency in working on your habits, self-development and wellbeing
  • insights from others – as well as positive vibes and positive energy
  • growing your skills & knowledge about wellbeing, productivity, planning
  • learning new tools to work on your self-development, wellbeing and goals
  • networking; meeting a great group of people
  • support from a group, being part of a community of like-minded people
  • building more intentionality about the way you want to show up in life
  • …and much more, as it also depends on you –  this is a journey that will be very much shaped by your needs, wishes and preferences too 

How is My Remarkable Year different from other courses at Happiness Academy?

This program is designed to provide longer continuity in using the powerful tools from positive psychology. It could be that you learned many of the tools on one of our courses or other resources at Happiness Academy, or you might start discovering them within Remarkable program – but in each case, our focus this year will be turning tools into habits.

It comes with less intensity and time investment than courses that usually go in weekly calls, focusing on maximal continuity with minimal time investment. 

It’s a group that will support you to applying your life plan you’ve made in Life Design workshop (if you haven’t done it yet, you will before our first Remarkable call) more effectively, and with balanced focus between wellbeing, goals and self-development.

The program is designed for those looking for consistency in keeping focus and progress in 3 areas: self-development, wellbeing and achieving goals – while making that journey light and engaging.

 

What does it look like?

Life Design Workshop (3h long)

The year starts with going creating your Life Design on a Happiness Academy workshop or Life Design Reconnect
(if you’ve been to Life Design with Happiness Academy already).

This will enable you to have clarity on your priorities and what you wish to focus on throughout this year.

It also gives us a great format to share & exchange our goals and plans with the rest of the group. 

Twelve monthly calls (2h each)

Monthly zoom calls are facilitated always on the first Tuesday of each month. The exact outline of the calls is highly dependent on the needs and preferences of the group.

Each call will start with “check in” – how are your goals going? Which life areas – work, play, connections and adventure – ar going well, and which need a bit of re-focus?
At the second part of the call, you will tangible new tools adapted to your current needs and challenges, as well as have space for sharing, reflection and re-focus on your individual goals and needs. 

Each call is a combination of learning new tools,  personal reflection, sharing and exchanging perspectives, peer accountability, support, inspiration and connecting with amazing people, all wraped up into one. 

Email support & accountability 

One e-mail reaches you on 15th each month to remind you to reconnect with your goals and to offer you anew short, relevant and practical new tool.

If I join, what will I learn and strengthen?

At each call we have a theme on which we focus on.

 

Topics will be chosen in accordance with the group needs and preferences.

 

Here are some examples what they might entail: strengthening own willpower, fitness, using our body to create more wellbeing, mindset and thinking habits, re-focusing on flow and joy, sharpening on focus, re-focusing on your wellbeing, tips & tools to get better at following through on your goals, discovering how to build more motivation, communication tools and skill to better connect with people in our life, etc.

While each call will have it’s “flavour”, we will be working on following topics throughout the year:

  • continuous reflection and intentionality about the way you want to live 
  • connecting different sizes of the goals and habits, so that we balance “big picture”
  • motivation with clear focus on the next steps 
  • habits building and strengthening our own willpower
  • growth mindset
  • relationship with self (and others)
  • mindfulness and savouring enjoyable aspects of life
  • any other wellbeing and self-development topic that you set as a priority

While you will also gain a lot of new knowledge and tools, the primary focus is on turning knowledge and tools into actions and habits, with consistency, new insights, feedback and support.

Between monthly calls, you will have the support of your buddy, as well as a mid-month email check in with short video to remind you of the main learnings and to learn new techniques.

The whole program is light on your time, while a great way of maintaining consistency and continuity in your self-development. 

Apart from new tools, it is rich with motivation, exchange of ideas, learning from others’ perspectives and best practices.

What does the course look like?

Group: 8 attendees

Meets virtually once per month for 2h zoom call, at the beginning of the month – calls will be on Tuesdays, with 2 options for a group to join: 13h CET or 19h CET (might shift to 20h CET in summer months).

Exact Dates: exact dates coming soon

(Scheduled dates can be adjusted depending on the availability of the participants)

 

Facilitated, but also peer driven, with a lot of support, ideas and perspectives from other group members. 

Signups are open throughout November, closing on 6th of December, the program starting in January 2024. 

Fee: 490€ (20% discount for Happiness Academy course alumni who finished any of the courses within the last year) 

The fee includes:

  • 12 calls (one call at the beginning of each month, starting in January 2023)
  • emails and short videos between the calls
  • Life Design workshop (or Life Design Reconnect workshop), that is done before the 12 calls
    (in December 2022 or January 2023) 

What is expected from you?

In this closely-knit format of group work, it is essential that everyone shows up and keeps an honest and positive conversation

You are invited to show up with an open-mind, supportive attitude, in a committed way, bringing in your full authentic self, as well as readiness to challenge yourself and others in a constructive way. 

The only commitment required from you is to be present and active on most of the 2h monthly calls throughout the year. 

In a case missing out a call, you will get a light, individual follow up for that specific call. 

For optional activities and exercises in-between, there will be no expectations that everyone does these – so that part is totally up to you to decide if you wish to dive deeper into the tools, or focus on calls & your individual goals. 

What previous participants say?

Here is what 2022 group reported as the biggest positive consequences of the program:

    • more consistency with working on their goals and skill development and wellbeing

    • a structured overview of personal goals, wishes and habits one wants to build and how they potentially change, grow and develop through the year

    • more intentionality about how they spend their time,

    • a cozy, positive group to share wins and challenges with,

    • many new ideas and perspectives from the others in the group, and sense of support with their goals and plans,

    • dedicated space for deep reflection, insightful questions, and more clarity,

    • a chance to get grounded and motivated each month,

    • more flexibility to combine their “big life goals” with current happenings and changes in their life,

    • boost to their energy due to great conversations and positive vibe on the calls

    • inspiring group of people that are going through this year long process together – their ideas, perspectives and challenges

Hear it from them:

 

My remarkable year is one of the best courses I had in terms of long-term self-development and growth!

I love the concept of reflecting each month through the year, setting goals and following up on my plans.

Highly highly recommended!

Edita Jurak, Croatia/Netherlands, Biotechnology Assistant Professor at University of Groningen

 

“The monthly sessions were very valuable as gave me time, and space for guided focused reflection on my dreams, goals and I feel I’ve achieved more thanks to this. 

It was also great to go away with clear actions when needed. As usual, I’ve learned many cool tools and tips from Mirna. 

I also loved the group, to be able to share our thoughts and learn from each other. Great vibes overall!”

Anna Boda, Hungary/Ireland, YouTube Operations Manager, EMEA at Google

 

“During this year I have felt more deliberate about my time and decisions. Thanks to the guided sessions I felt more focused on the things that matter to me and what I want to achieve. 

It has also helped me get rid of some unwanted patterns that were draining my energy. 

I strongly recommend My Remarkable Year if you want to feel like you have real ownership over your life!”

Anna Danes, Croatia/Spain, AI Data Ethics expert and Ricaris and Managing Virtual Teams CoFounder

 

“From my experience Remarkable Year is a great format for different reasons: first because it lasts 1 year without too much pressure since sessions are only once a month; second you have the feeling to be always supported during the year and third you have the chance to share valuable insights with interesting and inspiring people.”

 

Elena Viezzoli, Italy, Founder at Padelinks and Co-Founder at Openstartlab

 

“My Remarkable Year” is a super programme which helped me become more intentional about how to live my life and was a great support in making my intentions happen.”

Elena Toader, Romania/Germany, Procurement Category Lead – Sales & Marketing Equipment at Coca-Cola European Partners

 

“A continuous refocusing on what is the most important thing for you, a quality time for reflection within a safe and supportive environment”

Natalia Saranti, Netherlands/Greece, Senior Scrum Master

About the trainer

This program will be facilitated by Mirna Smidt – the head trainer and founder at Happiness Academy. 

Mirna is a trainer with 12 year of experience in training, a coach, NLP Master Practitioner, MsC of Applied Positive Psychology and totally in love with learning.

As a trainer, Mirna is focused on positive psychology topics (wellbeing, resilience, flow, mindset), as well as train-the-trainer topics (basic and advanced skills for trainers). 

On a personal note, she loves learning, books, adventures, outdoor sports, nature, sea, horses and meaningful conversations. 

If you haven’t met Mirna yet, you can discover more about her on Happiness Academy website, www.mirnasmidt.com or on Linkedin

Mirna Smidt photo