Nobody tells you about the end of festivities because you’ll always see the signs. At first, you’ll notice little changes in the environment. Holiday decorations slowly disappearing from the places they had glittered, family members deciding exit dates, and the visible seriousness plastered on everyone’s face as they start thinking about the best way to plan for the new year.
The holidays are like a Sunday night-out with friends. Exciting, as the adrenaline rushes through your body. You do shots, take pictures, and talk noisily about everything. However, as soon as the next day comes, memories from the night fades away as the demands of the new day becomes top priority.
Planning is crucial for everyday life. Even though sometimes it doesn’t go in your favour, it would still be foolish to start a new year without one.
WHY YOU SHOULD HAVE A NEW YEAR PLAN
There’s no way you’ll convince me that you can wing the incoming 260 working days that lay ahead in 2023. You definitely need a plan. Just like you planned about what to make during Christmas, what to wear when you go out, or how many hours of sleep you should be getting, you need to plan for the new year.
A clear execution plan sets you on the right track when deciding the direction to take for the new year. It doesn’t just help you focus, it also builds the confidence needed to take on ply the roadmap you’ve sorted out.
GOALS TO INCLUDE IN YOUR NEW YEAR PLAN
The good thing about the new year is that it gives you the chance to have a do-over. If you are smart, you’ll see this as an opportunity to be better and not repeat the same mistakes you made last year.
If you must have goals this year, your goals must be throughly thought-out. At least, for the sake of your growth, don’t have resolutions that are too generic and not time bound. You can have as small as three goals, that is still okay. As long as you are sure you can achieve them.
It could span from any area in your life you think need fixing. Be it your relationships, finance, career, health, diet, business, you name it. Set goals, and attach timelines to them so you can achieve them faster.
HOW TO CREATE THE BEST PLAN FOR THE YEAR
One of the reasons your previous plans failed was because you did not use the strategies you are about to learn. You see, it’s one thing to have a plan, it is another to make a plan that is solid.
If you want to make a better plan that will help you combat the excuses, and achieve all the goals you set for 2023, here are five strategies you should keep in mind before drafting out your new year resolution.
Identify your topmost priorities:
You should have a major focus for the year. List all of it out. Don’t be scared if it’s too much, just list every thing you think you would like to achieve for 2023. When you are done with listing, rank them in order of importance.
Which is the most important? What holds you back from achieving the goals you set is, as you saunter into the year, often times, you get carried away. You should stop getting distracted with goals you didn’t write down. Although goals can change, you should, however, have priorities attached to which one you should achieve first.
Attach a ‘why’ to your priorities:
Not knowing the ‘why’ makes what you put down as a priority easy to forget. Firstly, Remember you cannot achieve everything at once. So take out some goals that are not pressing, and leave behind the goals you feel are most important. Now that you’ve done that, can you write down why those goals you left behind are important?
Why is it important for you to accomplish them? To make this easier for you, you could set a theme around every goal. let’s say one of your goals is to make more money, the theme for that goal could be success. Giving a goal a theme makes it easier to know its importance.
Build Habits Around Your Goals:
Your goal is just a wish if you don’t build an action plan to achieve it. Healthy habits are a great way to get started.
Establish the habits that will help you achieve each of the goals you’ve set. For example, if your goal is to start a business this year, a good habit might be planning to read a chapter of a book about running a successful business everyday.
Habits help build self-discipline, and guess what self-discipline would get you? That’s right, success. You can try this and see.
Be Realistic, not Optimistic:
Big goals take time, and this can be frustrating, especially when you don’t see immediate results. It can be tempting to ignore. Setting realistic goals with human deadlines will be more beneficial to you. Don’t set small goals because you’ll procrastinate, and don’t make it too big because, well, you’ve read it already.
You should do the same with your timelines. Don’t rush to achieve, and don’t be too relaxed. Realistic goals and timelines is a fine balance to strike.
Failing Is Not As Bad You Think:
You don’t need to be too hard on yourself. Sometimes, our plans may not fall in accordingly. That shouldn’t be a reason to give up or wail (for long). Life happens, that’s why you need to be flexible with your plans.
Having a plan is like having a map. Creating a plan is a smart decision that will help you get closer to and achieve your goals. However, you should understand you don’t control uncertainties because you have a plan. Rather, it should help you make your plan even stronger.
Cheers to a successful year ahead. I’ll see you at the finish line. Share this a friend who you want to succeed in 2023 as well.
Beauty piece,so insightful and timely. Thank you Inny!
Welcome to 2023!
A beautiful piece and a must-read for everyone.
From this, you know why your goals and resolutions don’t go as planned.
You don’t just set goals and leave them to start acting themselves out, you have to consciously and consistently put positive actions to drive them into producing results, although like he said sometimes it might not fall accordingly but don’t give up still.
Thank you inny.. I’m grateful I saw this.
Cheers to a New Year🎊
I love the energy. Someone is about to crush their goals this year.
😀😀😀😀 yeah and I hope you are too.