New Year’s Resolutions: Planning and Sticking with Your Goals

New Year’s Resolutions: Planning and Sticking with Your Goals

There’s no better time to get organized and set new life goals than the beginning of a year.

Even though many people say that spring is all the rage for cleaning, I personally think that the prospect of a new year provides the perfect opportunity to clear out your brain a little bit.

The New Year gives you the opportunity to start afresh, mentally prepare and come up with a plan of action to DOMINATE the 365 days ahead.

Need help getting your thoughts in order? Check out my tried-and-true method when it comes to planning and sticking to New Year goals.

Reflect on the Previous Year

First, take some time to reflect on the last year. 

Acknowledge the parts that were hard, celebrate your wins, and assess which goals you met and which ones you might want to carry through to the new year.

The idea is to clear out some mental space so that you can get to work on your BEST year yet!

Brainstorm New Goals

Next, sit down and really think about your goals.

I like to plan out goals for all different parts of my life, from physical and emotional health to intellectual growth and finances.

A great way to do this is through a vision board. I LOVE vision boards for several reasons:

  • They do an incredible job of providing direction for a new year.

  • They require us to think in-depth about our desires and goals for the year ahead.

  • It’s awesome to look back on them and assess your progress.

You could even use the new year as a new excuse for a party and invite your best girls over for a vision board-making party if you have the time! If not, that’s okay—you can always make one digitally using a graphic design tool like Canva or PicMonkey.

Break Down Your Goals

When you’re deciding on your goals, try not to limit yourself too much.

Consider which goals you want to see yourself accomplish this year, and remember that there are TWELVE months of opportunities to meet them. Break these big goals down into smaller goals that are clear, measurable, and time-sensitive.

I like to create a list of the big goals and then mark down milestones in my calendar of when I’d like to achieve the smaller ones. After I have my plan, I post my goals everywhere I can and come up with mini celebrations for when I successfully complete each one!

Feeling especially brave? Share your goals with someone in your life that you know will check in with you about them. This will help you stay on track and hold you accountable for every single goal you set.

Create New Habits

Finally, as a way of encouraging you to achieve a goal, you can create repeating events that will eventually turn into habits.

Looking ahead into 2020I know I want to challenge myself to read more next year. My goal is to read one book a month. I looked ahead in my calendar and set myself a monthly milestone each month to keep me on track. Then I created an event to read before bed every night using the Artful Agenda digital planner.

You could also use the Artful Agenda priority list to track your milestones because it provides useful data. (I’m a data nerd, so bear with me!)

Say you want to exercise as a part of your daily life. Start by making it a goal to exercise three times a week. You can then put exercise in your priority tasks EVERY DAY and simply cross it out when it gets done. Before you know it, you’ll have weeks of handy data illustrating how often you’re exercising and whether you’re managing to fulfill the promises you made to yourself! 

New Decade, New You

Even though it’s difficult trying to put some time aside for goal evaluation during the busy Christmas and New Year period, it’s absolutely worth it.

After all, what better time is there to rework your priorities, set future plans and start afresh than on the cusp of a new decade?

Breathe a little easier knowing that you have A WHOLE YEAR from now to make your goals happen—and you are already one step closer just by setting them!

Happy New Year, everyone. Here’s to an organized and productive 2020!

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