It's a New Year, and with a new year comes new resolutions, a fresh start, a blank slate.
I don't know about you, but I get a feeling of relief as a shrug off the old year and a sense of excitement as I think of the possibilities the new year may bring! I begin thinking of all the things I hope to accomplish, but I tend to fail or forget my goals if I don't write them down. If we want a successful new year, we must write down and plan it out. Greatness doesn’t happen by itself. We need to put in the effort to make it happen and it all begins with having a solid plan. Here are some of my tips to kicking off this year right:
Write Down Your Goals
And Break Large Goals Into Smaller Goals
I said it above and I'll say it again. It is important to write our goals down, make ourselves accountable by seeing it in black and white.
First things first. Get a planner, and in your planner, write down what your goals are for the year. Remember that you need to have realistic, achievable goals. For example: instead of just having a goal to lose weight, you might have a goal to lose twenty pounds. You can then break your goals down into smaller achievable goal steps. For example: to lose those twenty pounds, you could make a smaller goal step to lose five pounds in three months (3 month increments with 5 lbs each increment = 20 lbs in 12 months).
Perhaps your goal is to save $1200 US for the year, which would mean saving $100 per month. Break it down into smaller goals. Instead of seeing it as $100 per month, see it as $24 or $25 per week. Not only will you end the year achieving your goal, but you will surpass it.
If your goal is to pay off debt, GREAT! You can do that by making sure you have cut back on your spending first. Then, put your bills in order from the least amount to greatest amount. Make a goal to pay off the smaller bill first. That doesn't mean to skip payment on your larger debt bills. You have to pay those too, but make larger payment amounts to the smaller bills a priority. Once one is paid off, move the priority to the next and so on. Before you know it, your debt will be gone!
To help you with this, I have a free 2017 Planner for you to download.
Start Planning Your Meals
Something that’s going to make your life easier is meal planning. I have been doing this since the start of November and I can honestly say it has tremendously helped. Meal planning takes so much stress out of your day. Instead of wondering what you’re going to make for dinner each night, which can sometimes end up with eating out somewhere, sit down one day a week or at the beginning of the month and plan out your meals. I will go into further detail with money saving tips on this topic in an upcoming blog post.
Create a Way to Track Your Progress
Last, but not least, find a way to track your progress for whatever you want to accomplish this year. For example, if you want to read 100 books, use
Goodreads. Set Your Reading Goal
For other goals, try using a journal to track your progress, an online app, or your planner. You can also easily track a number of things by creating a spreadsheet.
You don’t have to set goals with no way of reaching them or spend your year stressed out. There are things you can do to make the New Year a great one. Take the time to plan ahead so that you can have the best year yet.
Don’t forget to grab your 2017 Planner!!
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