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Bournemouth Girl

Planning the life you want

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10 Ways You Can Plan For Success In The New Year

We are in the final few days of 2021 and I cannot believe how fast this year has gone and we will shortly enter into a new year.

When a new year approaches, I get so excited and enjoy that time of year. A new year brings anticipation and new opportunities for you to grow and develop. It is the ultimate clean slate, where you can determine how that New Year will go for you. You have the power to change how successful you are!

Why should I set goals?

When you set goals, it gives you a long-term vision and short-term motivation. It helps you to organise your time, so that you can achieve success. Setting goals can give you direction, motivation, control of your future and a sense of purpose.

Why should I plan for the New Year?

Having a plan for the upcoming year can help you to decide what direction your life will take this year and what changes you wish to make. You are speaking what you want into existence. This will help to motivate and encourage you to be focused on success.

Here Are 10 Ways You Can Plan For Success In The New Year:

1. Reflect On The Past Year

Why reflect? Reflection on the past year enables you to acknowledge and honour what you have been through. You can look back at what you have learned and what you have accomplished. When you are reflecting, it is important that you not only focus on the positive aspects, but also highlight areas that didn’t go so well or where you would like to make changes when moving forward into the New Year.

Elizabeth Gilbert, the popular author, on New Year’s Eve, likes to write down what she wants to shed from the old year and what she wants to welcome into the New Year. She then burns the paper and takes the ashes to the nearest body of water and lets it go. This may seem intense, but it works for her. You could come up with your own New Year’s Eve ritual which helps you to reflect on the previous year.

For me, I like to reflect on journaling and writing my experience of my previous year as well as using journaling prompts and positive affirmations. I get everything off my chest about the year I have experienced to start a new year with a clean slate.

2. Use A Form Of Planner

There are so many forms of planners to choose from whether it is a paper or digital one. You have to find what form of planner is best for you and your lifestyle. I have always worked with paper planners. I love the process of buying a planner and using beautiful stationery. The ability to write in appointments, reminders and tasks helps you to be really organised with your time to achieve all that you put your mind to.

I have trialled many different planners, including using a bullet journal. Organisation is the key to being successful in the New Year ahead. There are digital planners, or even just using the calendar and notes on your phone can be beneficial. To-do list pads can also work well as a daily planner to list all your tasks and appointments. Using any of these forms of planners will help to hold you accountable for all your goals and projects. It also gives you a space to forward plan and look to the future making those plans can encourage and motivate you.

Here are some benefits to using a planner:

  1. It enhances your productivity
  2. Helps to manage stress
  3. It helps you to keep reliable records
  4. Helps you to maintain a beneficial schedule

3. Define Your Priorities For The New Year

In life, we always have to do the most urgent of tasks and this can lead to putting off what we really want to do. This can then lead to putting off taking care of ourselves, but you have to remember that if you don’t take care of yourself, you will not be able to take care of urgent tasks. This is why establishing your priorities is so important. Having priorities will identify what you truly need in your life and give you the confidence to say no. if you do not set clear priorities, it will then be difficult to manage your time well, or make progress towards your goals. You do not want to become overwhelmed because that will be counter-productive. Your ability to accomplish and move forward with your set goals will depend on how and what you prioritise this year. Here are some tips to help you learn how to prioritise:

  1. Use to-do lists
  2. Do not let your Inbox drive your workload
  3. Set realistic deadlines
  4. Regularly evaluating your workload and goals

A desk with a notebook open flat with a laptop in the background.

Photo by STIL on Unsplash

4. Establish Good Habits You Want To Practise

As anew year comes, it is the perfect opportunity to establish good, positive habits to start practising. Positive habits are tasks that have a valuable effect on your physical or mental health. Good habits will look different to different people. Setting good habits can be a powerful way to achieve you goals and will keep you focused and organised.

Studies have shown that it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days for a person to form a habit. It is not always easy to start and commit to new habits. Using a habit tracker can be a great way to hold you accountable for practising your habits. Here are 10 good habits that you could start in the New Year:

  1. Stay active
  2. Limit your time on social media
  3. Practise a regular skincare routine
  4. Get enough sleep
  5. Make your bed every day
  6. Take vitamins or medication regularly
  7. Practise self-care
  8. Practise gratitude
  9. Be present
  10. Write in a journal

5. List The Projects You Want To Work On And Complete

At the start of the year, you want to have a direction and be motivated. However, you cannot do that without knowing what projects you want to put your time and effort into. Planning is the most important part of achieving new goals and projects as it transforms good intentions into actions. Picturing your goals can motivate you and keep you focused.

When you are planning what projects you want to achieve, you should write them down. Research has shown that writing down your projects or goals increases the probability that you will be successful.

6. Set Yourself Achievable Goals

Goals are standards that can use to evaluate how well you are doing now and where you want to be in the future. You do not need a high IQ to achieve your goals, but have cognitive control. Having the ability to delay gratification and remain goal focused through positive goal setting techniques. Setting goals will give you a sense of purpose and control over your future. It is important to make sure that the goals you set are achievable and you are setting yourself up to fail. Here are 4 tips to help you set achievable goals:

  • Set specific goals
  • Break down larger goals
  • Learn from your setbacks
  • Good time management skills

7. Be Realistic

When you set realistic and attainable goals, you will begin build more self-confidence and when you see your progress, it will motivate and inspire you to keep growing.

If you take on too much, or make too many unrealistic goals and projects can lead to you feeling overwhelmed. You are then likely to become demotivated and disinterested. Keep your goals, projects and targets realistic.

A planner placed on top of a magazine. The planner has a blank page with the saying You Got This in the middle

Photo by STIL on Unsplash

8. Give Yourself Grace

Giving yourself grace can enable you to make small, sustainable changes that help support your long-term goals, mental health and your well-being. It is about forgiving yourself for past mistakes and move forward. So, in the coming year, be sure to practise giving yourself grace and the time to develop and grow. These are 5 ways to give yourself grace:

  1. Do one thing every day that you are proud of
  2. Don’t be perfect, be real. No one is perfect.
  3. Never feel selfish for taking time for yourself
  4. When you make a mistake, don’t feel bad
  5. Give yourself permission to not take on everything

9. Organise A Schedule

Having a schedule guides you in determining what your priorities are, so that you can spend the right amount of time on the right tasks. When you have schedules for work, they make you more productive, so also putting a schedule in place for ‘you’ time can be beneficial for your mental health.

Scheduling makes good time management and you will be more organised to achieve everything you set out to do.

10. Establish How You Are Going To Take Care Of Yourself

In order to live a successful and happy life in this New Year, you need to make sure that you outline how you are going to look after yourself. You cannot achieve any of your goals if you are running on empty. Taking time out of your busy schedule can remind you and others that you and your needs are important too. Having a well-cared for body can make you feel good about yourself and your life. It proves to others that you value yourself.

These are some suggestions to take care of your future self:

  • Properly organise your home
  • Save money regularly
  • Invest in yourself
  • Address your single most self-destructive habit
  • Learn to cook simple foods

There are so many benefits to taking care of yourself and making yourself a priority helps to build resilience, overcome stress and burnout. Taking care of your physical and mental health enables you to achieve in all areas of your life.

These are 10 ways that you can plan for success in the New Year. You have the ability to make 2022 a successful year and accomplish the goals that you set for yourself.

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. Don’t fall into that trap!

How are you going to plan for the New Year? I’d love to hear in the comments.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Jenny in Neverland says

    This is a really helpful post. I feel like I need to take a day to do things like reflect on the last year and set some goals and just get clear on what my vision is going forward. I’m a little intimidated by the prospect of doing that right now!

    Reply

  3. Riyah Speaks says

    This is such a helpful post! I definitely need to take time to reflect on the last year and to determine what type of mindset I want to have going into the new year.

    Reply

  4. Simplyalexjean says

    I love this post – I recently bought a second planner for 2022. I have my day to day planner for my to do lists, and I’ve started writing goals/accomplishment lists in the other for January. I’m hoping each month I can take some time to write out goals and the steps towards them in a clear way, as opposed to mixing it all in with my to do lists!

    Reply

  9. wombatjambalayaoberon31620 says

    Thank you for sharing this tips. I definitely need to take some time out to plan for next year. I have a planner ready, I will make some time this year.

    Reply

  11. Jaya Avendel says

    New Year’s resolutions have been getting a bit of a bad rap, so I love that your post focuses on planning for the New Year and making smaller goals as one might every month to work towards. 🙂

    Reply

  12. Fritzie says

    I love this post! It’s a good idea to reflect on the past year and learn from it. I was planning to start a big project this year but didn’t get the chance to do it. I really need to list down the steps, set realistic goals, and have the courage to take the first step. Thanks for the tips and may you achieve your goals in 2022.

    Reply

  14. Shell-Shell's🐚tipsandtricks says

    Thank you for the motivation! =) That’s a great idea, to reflect on the past year, you can see what you need to work on, what worked and what didn’t.
    Great post!

    Reply

  17. nattbarletta says

    These are great tips! I definitely agree that it’s so important to be realistic with your goals. I’m super grateful I picked up a paper agenda in 2021! It keeps me sooo organized.

    Reply

  18. untilanotherday says

    I definitely need to get myself a planner to help with goal setting. I hope to get my blog back up and running a bit more yesterday, as it’s taken a backseat since buying a house!x

    Reply

  19. Eri Tz says

    I loved this post. Planning is definitely important and I do like the way you focus on this. I have already bought my new planner for 2022 where I will organise all my personal and professional goals. Thank you for this valuable post!

    Reply

  20. traveladdictedunicorn says

    This was such an informative post to read! I used to plan out the whole year ahead but I find that there is too much uncertainty and things rarely go as planned (thanks Covid). So now I plan 4 months at a time only and then adjust as needed. I do have a daily planner where I usually plan things a week in advance max usually the night before.

    Reply

  22. The Clockwork Reader says

    I’m not at good at planning new year or resolutions. These tips would be so helpful and I’ll definitely implement this this new year.

    Reply

  23. Cheryl says

    I really enjoyed this post. I find the end of year to be one in which I am reflective on the year and look forward to possibilities in the new year; a new beginning. What struck me was the story of the author who writes down what she wants to shred from the year. I will do this.

    Reply

  24. krissisophie says

    I love this! I’ve discovered my love for planners a while ago and omg, they are game changers! So helpful to keep up with everything and stay organized. Those tips are great, thank you <3

    Lots of love,
    Krissi of the marquise diamond
    https://www.themarquisediamond.de/

    Reply

  25. readandreviewit1 says

    Fab tips! I love journaling about the previous year too – it’s great to reflect on everything that’s happened as well as setting some realistic goals. Going into the new year I really want to set up more of a schedule in terms of planning content for my blog – I’ve learnt the hard way that I need to get organised! Thanks for sharing, have a great new year x

    Reply

  27. Sara James says

    It’s a timely post for me, as next year is around the corner. You have given some great suggestions, from investing in ourselves to being realistic.

    Thanks for sharing a great post, Lauren!

    Happy holidays and a joyful new year!

    Reply

  30. Charity says

    I love all these ideas for planning for success in the new year! I always like to set goals before the end of the year too! Thanks for sharing all these tips!

    Reply

  33. Lisa Hutchison LMHC says

    Great tips!
    I also review the past year through journaling and write goals for the new year. In reflection, I like to focus on what I have accomplished and have self compassion for the areas I have not gotten to “yet.”
    Happy New Year and Many Blessings
    Lisa

    Reply

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