The New Year is upon us again, and all over different parts of the globe, millions of people are no doubt putting their resolutions into effect in order to pursue the life of their dreams and become the best possible versions of themselves.
Specific resolutions are a great idea at this time of year, but in order to give those resolutions longevity, and in order to really “stay on track” as the year goes on, it pays to start strong with the right habits, rituals and mindset in place.
Here are a few tips for getting the New Year off to the best possible start in 2020.
- Start planning, scheduling, and writing things down by hand
These days, it’s easy to find a free calendar template online that you can print out and organise your life with, and it’s also never been easier to find all sorts of different notebooks and paper task management systems.
In order to keep things moving in the right direction as the New Year starts, one of the best practices you can adopt is to begin planning, scheduling, and writing things down by hand instead of trying to do everything on your computer.
Researchers have found that when people write things down by hand they become much more focused and contemplative, they memorise things more effectively, and they enter almost a meditative kind of state.
Try a minimalistic system such as Ryder Carroll’s original “Bullet Journal Method” (maybe give the super-artsy approaches to bullet journalling that exist online a miss, for the time being) and get started as soon as possible. You might find that you’re suddenly way more on top of things, with a better sense of perspective than you’ve had in ages.
- Do a “de-clutter” of your belongings and digital life as soon as possible
It’s traditional to do tidying up and decluttering in spring – but if you can thoroughly de-clutter your belongings early in the New Year, all the better.
When your home isn’t cluttered up with things that you don’t use, like, or even remember why you own, everything feels much more under your control.
Don’t just stop at decluttering your physical belongings, though. Try out a bit of a “digital de-clutter,” too. Consider stepping back from, or even closing down your social media accounts, and avoiding the endless anxiety-promoting time sink of constant web surfing.
- Commit to making a habit of doing things that you don’t feel like doing, but know that you should be doing
One of the main things that keeps us all from achieving our dreams, is that we so often end up obsessively looking for ways to achieve success without struggling and without finding the process frustrating or difficult.
When all is said and done, though, there are no “magic bullets,” and achieving anything worthwhile is always going to involve doing things you don’t feel like doing (but know that you should be doing) on a regular basis.
If you can commit to making a habit of doing things that you don’t feel like doing but know that you should be doing, in the New Year, you can condition yourself to meet your challenges head on and be successful in the various different domains of your life.