“New Year, New Me” is coming in a few days. 2023 will be a year of deepening the connection with yourself, self-reflection, and having faith. What is a “new you” without building a great foundation? Here are five tips on creating the best New Year goals for yourself.
1. Reflect on your past year
The best way to make a better year is to reflect on your past year and the decisions that impacted you. For example, you can take your goals at the beginning of the year and see if you met the goal and how you felt about completing them. Was it for better or worse for your life? If you did not meet it, are you feeling okay that you did not fulfill it? This will tell you if the course of action was needed in your life.
In 2021, I was surrounded by people I thought I had to be around just for the sake of my community, but the community I was in did not make me a better person or woman. Instead, it left me stagnant and wanting more without knowing how to go because I did not want to leave anyone behind. Seeing this and acknowledging that I needed more made 2022 my year!
2. Manifest
Manifestation is a powerful tool to use when you want to achieve something. If you can see it, then that means you can have it. So start speaking your dreams that you see into existence. Start saying, "I will have ___" Start telling yourself, "This will be my year," and then you will see that the year is yours for the taking. When you walk and talk with greatness, you become greatness.
Coming into 2022, I knew I needed something different. I needed new friends, new conversations, and new environments. I had done so much for other people/organizations in college I forgot myself. So I told myself that 2022 would be my year. This year has been one of my life's best and most memorable times. I leveled up in my major, and within a thriving community, I received an outstanding GPA; I met so many great people that I might even name my kids after and learned so much. I even learned how to balance my time, which is a huge success if you know me. I did all that by focusing on my goals and pushing myself. I did not know how to get here, but my mind got me there before my physical presence did.
3. Keep Moving
Keep moving forward when your goals do not go into place as soon as you think. Look for better opportunities that you can achieve that align with the first goal. You have to be open to other pursuits. You might be working towards something, and your spirit takes you somewhere better for you. Change your course if your first two months go differently than planned in the new year. The key to this is being open-minded and flexible.
In 2019-2020, I did everything to study abroad in Italy, but then Covid-19 hit. Schools went online. I could not do anything about it. A year later, I applied for an exchange program in California. Not knowing the school was still online. I only had one year left, so I was hurt and did not understand how all my hard work and effort could come to this, but deep inside, I still had faith. As I got to my more challenging college classes, I started taking fewer credits to focus on the course. Luckily (for my goal), this left me with an extra semester of school. Not knowing that this additional semester would lead me to an exchange program in Hawai’i.
4. Know your Execution Style
Knowing how you get things done is very important. This will help when it's time to cross the goal off your list because you've made it happen. Are you the type to schedule a time to complete objectives, or do you go with the flow and see what happens? When executing your goals, you have to be strict with yourself, but you also want to be yourself.
My execution style is writing my task down then once I get a burst of energy, I execute. My second style is sitting down until I finish the job or completing it in 30 min increments. This helps my mind because I can get distracted easily, but it puts my mind at ease.
5. Plan
Having a plan of how you will go about your goals is essential. If you don't specify your plan, it may not happen as you envision it. Take a piece of paper and write down what each goal entails, then take a yearly calendar and see when you want it to happen. Things can get chaotic but be flexible and reasonable about your dates.
While most goals I created throughout 2022 were met, I wanted them completed differently. I made the mistake of saying I wanted to be more fashionable… like celebrities, but I never wrote it out. So, I received the goal, but I was more fashionable in the sense of wearing different bathing suits once I moved to Hawai'i. My plans never put me in rooms to be dressed for a runway. Instead, my unplanned goals brought me to the beach and sun.
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