New Year, Now What?

New goals? We all have asked that question ourselves.

Set some new goals, dream about the things you can achieve and incentivize others to do the same. Planning and being excited about the new year is a personal choice. If you don’t feel like doing it, please try not to discourage others.

But establishing goals gives you a sense of direction.

I like to plan for the year ahead. In fact, I have been doing new year’s resolutions since around 2000. They have worked for me and sometimes I haven’t met some of my goals. And that’s fine, don’t torture yourself if you don’t meet your goals.

Some examples of things to plan for the new year:

• Establish a general budget or a budget by expense type
• Health changes (diet, exercise, visit a doctor, plan a major procedure, etc.)
• Family vacation
• Career change or advancement
• Ask for a raise at work
• Could be the year to jump into entrepreneurship
• Decluttering (house, car, office, phone, life)

In addition, is a good time to reflect on the past year:

• How many times was I sick?
• Did I run out of money often?
• Did I had a lot of family issues?
• What could have done better overall?
• Did I buy a lot of unnecessary stuff?
• Were my habits healthy?

Go ahead and reflect into these two set of questions. Adjust as necessary. Find what would be the best method for you. Establish alarms, use sticky notes, place reminders in hidden places or learn as you go. This does not have to be perfect. The main expectation is to move you forward to a better place. To create your Life Postcard. ♥

Remember: This is for you, these are your goals. Do not compare yourself to social media or to others. We all have different needs. If you want to keep it personal, that’s okay too.

When you set goals set realistic and achievable expectations. You can write down “the main categories” and then break it into months, weeks or as needed. In the past, I have used a Gantt Chart and is really helpful and visual.

As usual, technology can be a tremendous ally but if you are setting goals for the first time is good to keep it simple. Is good to write them down by hand, it feels more intentional. It feels like you, it feels personal. In my case, besides the Gantt Chart, I have used note taking apps, established goals in the Google Calendar and love to write them down.

If you are into crafting, create a vision board. You can get cut outs from magazines, newspapers, get stickers or use colored markers to express yourself and your dreams.

The intention is to set a plan for the year, to head in the direction of the place you want to be. Do your research, explore new goals, talk to family or friends or “find yourself” during this process.

What will you add? Have you used any apps to facilitate planning? Any suggestions?

Wishing you success;

Life Postcards