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The new year is just around the corner, and it’s an exciting time for a fresh start. But, before we dive into the festivities of new year’s eve, there are some important tasks to tackle to make sure the upcoming year kicks off on the right note. If you’re tired of just coasting into the new year with fireworks and toasts, I’ve got a more intentional approach for you. An approach that lets you take the reins and design the year ahead according to your own dreams and goals. If that’s what you’re after, hang on tight, because we’re about to take this journey together. Let’s make it the best year yet!
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1. Ticking off your Bucket List
Many of us start the year with high aspirations and a list full of New Year resolutions. At the same time, most people have the bad habit of not accomplishing most of these goals.
These last few weeks before the ball drop offer a golden opportunity to tackle those lingering items on your bucket list. By accomplishing them, you not only wrap up the year on a high note but also kickstart the next year with a sense of determination. No more carrying the weight of unfulfilled resolutions into the new year!
So, what’s left on your list?
2. Tidying up your home
As fun as the holiday season can be, it often leaves a trail of mess in its wake.
If you are organizing a big Christmas dinner, your kitchen might look like a tornado went through it.
Maybe you are letting close friends or family members stay at your place for the holidays. And don’t forget about all that ripped-off wrapping paper and the presents lying around everywhere.
You get the point.
When crossing over into the new year and with it a fresh start, you want to do it with a clean slate. Literally.
So clean up! There’s nothing quite like the feeling of waking up on January 1st to a clean and organized home, ready to start the year on the right foot.
3. Going over your yearly expenses and planning ahead
The start of a new year is an excellent time to examine your financial situation. Many expenses recur annually, such as rent, insurance, and maintenance. By forecasting these costs, you can alleviate the stress of unexpected bills. Understanding your financial obligations for the coming year allows you to plan your budget more effectively, helping you save, invest, and spend with greater confidence. It’s a crucial step in your journey toward financial peace.
4. Reviewing the successes and lessons of the year
Even the most successful year ever will bring some small failures you can draw lessons from.
Before you bring out the champagne and shoot your fireworks, you should celebrate the past 12 months’ wins and what lessons the year taught you.
Whether big or small, write them down, so you can review and truly memorize them.
And don’t feel bad about these mishaps! You should feel excited about the opportunity they provide you with.
Each new lesson you’ve learned reduces the chance of you making mistakes. So celebrate each lesson as another step towards a wiser and more successful self.
5. Writing your goals for the next year
This is always a fun part of entering a new year.
A new year gives you 365 new chances of accomplishing things to be proud of, something that takes you closer to your dream life.
So what do you plan on accomplishing next year?
But remember, you want to set goals and not just resolutions. The difference is that the latter is achievable, and you commit to following a plan to accomplish that goal.
Resolutions are often vague hopes that people have already forgotten by January 21st.
Depending on your goals, you have to decide between setting S.M.A.R.T. goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Reasonable, Time-Bound) or more loosely formulated goals that leave a lot of room for the flow of life.
Personally, I am not entirely happy with S.M.A.R.T. goals. I’ve tried setting goals like that once. It didn’t work for me.
It was hard for me to anticipate how much I could actually accomplish in a year concerning tasks that were entirely new to me.
It’s easy to set the goal to pass an exam with at least 9 points. But it’s harder to grasp how much money you will be able to make in one year with your new blog.
So, just find what works best for you.
6. Updating your vision board
When was the last time you refreshed your vision board?
I can guarantee that you have evolved in the last year – you are a Felicity Seeker, after all.
The new year is a perfect chance to embrace that new you and its new dreams. Even better, you can leave your old dreams behind by throwing out the vision board images from the past year that don’t inspire and excite you anymore.
So what are you waiting for? Let’s create a vision board for a successful new year.
7. Decluttering your phone
Digital clutter often goes unnoticed, but it can impact your well-being.
But I can almost certainly say that your phone, tablet or laptop is overflowing with stuff.
Take a look at your pictures. Do you need them all? Of those you do not need, which ones don’t make you happy when you see them?
Take a look at your social media. Are you only following accounts that inspire and motivate you, or also the ones that make you feel bad?
Delete or mute those toxic accounts. Tools like social media are meant to benefit you and not make you feel bad!
What about the apps you’ve downloaded? Which ones haven’t you used in the last 6 months? Could you perhaps order them in a more structured and less cluttered way?
Does the background image still inspire you and make you happy? If not, change it!
And lastly, make backups and update your devices.
Oh, and thoroughly clean your phone! There have been genuinely gross statistics about the bacteria on our phones. So at least clean it before the new year!
8. Choose your word/mantra of the year
Consider adopting a single word or mantra to guide your journey throughout the year. This word serves as a touchstone, a reminder of your overarching theme, and a promise of what’s to come, regardless of life’s challenges. The power of such a word or phrase can provide strength, inspiration, and resilience on your path to personal growth.
This year my mantra was ‘Grace and Ease.’
At the end of last year, I was incredibly stressed with uni since so much was going on. All the stress was fuel to the fire that is my acne-prone skin.
So, all in all, I decided that enough was enough. I had to work on my stress management. I was simply sick and tired of stressing over such unnecessary things in the grand scheme of things.
So I dedicated this year to flow through life with grace and ease.
Every time I was nervous about something, I used to tell myself, ‘I will rock this with grace and ease.’ I remembered that mantra so often throughout this year.
And you know what? I not only managed the stress around uni AMAZINGLY! I also had an overall very successful year!
So what word or mantra does appeal to you? What do you want the overall theme of your life to be?
9. Change calendars and note essential dates
As the new year approaches, remember to replace your old calendars with fresh ones. Make sure that you transfer essential dates and commitments from the old calendar to the new one, including birthdays and significant events. This simple act keeps you organized and prepared for the year ahead.
10. Start a new project ahead of the New Year
For some reason, we are all always waiting for the new year, the new month, or the new week to start something new.
It just feels like this is the perfect time to start.
But guess what? The time you spend waiting for that moment to come, you could already have been working on that new project.
They say it takes 10.000 hours of focusing on a topic to become an expert. How many of those 10.000 hours could you have already ticket off had you not waited for January 1st?
I found myself in that situation in 2019. I wanted to step up my Pinterest marketing game and planned to buy a course to help me with that.
Ultimately, I decided not to withstand the urge to wait until the new year and instead started the course a few weeks prior.
Thank god I did because otherwise, I’d be a few weeks short of where I am now.
So stop waiting for the new year’s day and start already! Get that head start!
11. Truly Relax
When the New Year comes around, we are all motivated to start the year on a high and hustle our butt off.
As noble as that goal is, it won’t do you any good if you are already in a stressed and tired state. Truth be told, the holidays before the end of the year can be exhausting.
Family get-togethers, the hunt for gifts, cooking extravagant meals, having other people sleep at your place, and such can keep you from thoroughly relaxing; especially if you are leaning more to the introverted side of the spectrum.
That’s why it’s so important to give yourself the rest and quiet time you need and deserve. If you do that, nothing can stop you from crushing the beginning of the next year!
As we wrap up these simple yet effective steps to prepare for the new year, remember you’re not alone in this journey. We’re all striving for a fresh start, setting new goals, and looking forward to a year filled with opportunities. So let’s raise a glass to decluttered homes, well-defined goals, and refreshed vision boards. And let’s not forget the power of a single word to guide us through the upcoming adventures. This is your chance to embrace the future with open arms, unburdened by digital clutter, and well-prepared for the year ahead. It’s time to enjoy the holidays, take a deep breath, and enter the new year as the best version of yourself.
Do you have any additional tips on what must be done before the new year? Share them with the community down below!
Cheers to a fantastic year filled with personal growth and exciting opportunities. Here’s to a great year ahead!
