How to Start the New Year Strong in 5 Ways

It’s a new year! That means it’s time to dip your toes in a successful year ahead. Here are 5 tips on how to start the new year strong.

Reverse engineer what happened last year

Reflect on what happened in the previous year that you like and don’t like. What were the instances where you felt successful, at the same time felt upset? List them down in two separate columns and maybe you can rank them.

Encircle the ones that you love and think about the ways how you made them happen. How did you feel about it? What were your action steps?

For example, you were able to move on from a breakup or overcome grief. What were the activities you did to conquer it? If there were preventable circumstances in all those circumstances, what could you have done?

If by any chance you have felt envious of a friend’s achievement, how can you use that energy to make things happen for you? Then you can note down if this is something you would want to work on this coming year. We all know that envy is not a good feeling, but use it as fuel for you to make things happen for yourself. Use that as your goal.

Don’t forget about your joys too. What are the circumstances surrounding this inner joy? Think about ways how you can multiply or do again these activities. And aim to do it more often.

Be grateful for both the joys and sorrows —this gratitude will help you as you set your intention.

Believe in your ability to achieve it.

Do feel like your goals are too big you’re just not going to act on them anyway and let the universe do its job? If yes, then we have to shift that way of thinking for a bit here. Firstly, the universe will be able to do its job if you tell the universe you are ready to receive this big thing that you are desiring or aiming for. That means you have to show up for your dreams.

If you don’t know how to transition to regaining that self-trust or self-confidence, here’s what you can do:

• List everything that you feel blocks you. For example, you can write: I feel that this is an impossible task and I feel that I am not good enough to do it.
• Say positive affirmations to yourself daily. Similar to tapping techniques, you start with affirmations so will you condition your mind and body to these positive energies. For example, say “Even though I don’t feel good enough, I profoundly love myself.”
• Set an intention. Setting an intention is important because your intention becomes your North Star. Whenever you feel lazy or don’t want to take an action on any of your goals (no matter how small), your intention will be your guiding light. So ask yourself now, “What am I doing this for?” It helps you focus your energy and stay on track when life throws you curveballs.

Know that it will never even pass through your mind if it’s not something you cannot achieve to begin with.

Clean up space

Clean up physical space so you would be able to take up space. To break a pattern (i.e., procrastination), you must learn to detach from it so you make room for something new.

Examples of making space could be cleaning up your workstation and decluttering. Throw away what you haven’t used in the previous year because most likely you wouldn’t even pick it up in the year ahead.

Organize your digital space, too. Unsubscribe from emails that are not necessary and delete emails that are not needed anymore. Categorize emails depending on the type of emails you’re receiving. You can also create a folder for emails that you need to refer to at some point but don’t need to be cluttering your inbox. Delete accounts that you no longer need, delete old posts that you don’t want to be seen, and take a look at your privacy settings.

The more organized your digital and physical space is, the more space you can create for yourself to do the things that you need and want to do. The more you get rid of physical distractions, it will trickle down to your energetic or mental space.

To take care of the mental clutter, you may start a meditation practice (find free apps you might like here) or find a creative outlet to express yourself. If there’s a meditation session that you didn’t like, don’t quit. Just find an instructor that will resonate with you, if not cater to how you would like to be guided.

Tell people about your desires

Let the cat out of the bag. Relay your goals to friends as if you’re not desperate for help but it’s as if you’re just telling them a story. The help may come to you unexpectedly. As a result, you won’t feel alone, and maybe you can do it much faster.

Sharing your desires with friends comes with an energetic recognition that it is done. That confidence that it is already done is one of the key tools to manifesting faster.

If you’re planning to be disciplined with your fitness goals, this is the same as finding a fitness buddy. When you get lazy, this buddy will help you get up and get moving. Moreover, if you share desires or goals with friends, the next time you reconnect they will ask you about it. Consequently, it will remind you of your progress. It’s like being accountable for yourself.

Also, you’ll never know who will be behind your back to help you with your goals. Who knows, the people you share it with would be the same people who will give you leads so you can manifest faster.

Start small

“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” – Bill Gates

Aiming for big goals can seem daunting. Break them into small, achievable tasks and show up for them. Reward yourself when you finish each task and make sure to take breaks to recharge. It doesn’t have to be big, because all great things start from small beginnings. It’s the energy of willingness (and you embracing it) that will give you direction and will help you get going.

All action steps toward goals start small.

If you don’t know how to build a routine, here’s what you can do:

• Do the easiest and most convenient task. For example, you want to resign. Work on basic requirements like updating your resume.
• Add a vision board in front of your desk. This vision board serves as a reminder. And yes, it’s not about your cheesy, perky way of romanticizing Instagrammable goals. Just a visual cue about what you want to create for yourself.
• Put a notepad by your bedside. Write your ideas, desires, or goals. The goals will come once you specifically know what you want. Just write it down without any intention to act on it, because you can come back to it especially when you feel bored.

In fitness goals, for example, you may say, “I wish to start a fitness routine because by 2024 I want to be able to try out a spinning class.” You don’t start big like “I wish to be fit because by 2024 I want to be able to hike Mt. Everest.”

Start small so you can help yourself break bigger goals into manageable chunks.

Most of the time, these small steps toward your goals are very specific. This specificity will actually make it easier to measure. Come next year, it will be easier for you to reverse engineer it. Who knows you’d be a master manifestor by then!

Final Thoughts

You are not here for a quick fix, but you are here to set up a solid foundation at least for the first quarter of the new year. They say to start the magic of new beginnings, but sometimes you have to do something to get that magic to come to you! So by taking these steps, you can start the New Year strong. Good luck!