If January flew by way too fast for you, that should put some things into perspective. While there are no do-overs, there is still plenty of time to make this year your most successful year yet.
Whether you’re big on setting goals and New Year’s resolutions or not, it’s likely that you want to make improvements to your life and be successful.
Each year, day, and month are a chance at a fresh start. Here are 7 things you can do to make this your best year yet without even setting strict goals.
1. Focus on One Thing
Multi-tasking has proved to be ineffective on so many levels. If you have trouble focusing on the task ahead without juggling multiple other things, you’ll need to work on your focus.
When I used to multi-task, everything took longer to complete and I didn’t really feel present. Try focusing on one thing at a time whether it’s a work, at home, or in your social life and you might realize that you’re able to accomplish more and live in the moment as opposed to living only for the future and the end result.
2. Learn a New Skill
Learning a new skill can open you up to new interests and even new opportunities. You don’t have to go back to school to learn new things as there are plenty of online tools, apps, articles, and digital courses you can use to improve your skills so you’re always learning and adapting.
If you’ve been wanting to break into a new job field, learning a new skill could give you that competitive edge you need to increase your chances of finding new work. If you want to start a profitable blog or establish a freelance career, a new skill like writing or digital marketing could contribute to your success.
3. Minimize Distractions and All The Noise
If you set goals last year and didn’t succeed, identify the factors that might have held you back and how you can minimize them this year. For many people, social media is a huge distraction and time suck because it never turns off.
It can also spew a lot of negativity which is why some people prefer to minimize or avoid interacting online as often.
For me, television was a major distraction in terms of my productivity levels because I let it distract me often and limit the time I had to get work done.
These things aren’t necessarily bad, but can act as distractions that you need to control or minimize in order to gain back more of your time.
4. Cut Ties With Negative People
If you have people in your life who don’t support you, put your down, or just don’t share a lot of your interests, it may be time to cut ties with them or at least distance yourself in order to open the door to new relationships with like-minded people.
Something I really want to do this year is to get out of my shell and go to more local events whether they are networking events or not. As a freelancer and small business owner, I find it hard to connect with some people and since I work from home, I don’t get a lot of interaction with others.
I know that positive friendships and connections with like-minded individuals is something I’m missing right now so I plan to take action and put myself out there a little more.
5. Implement a Plan to Pay Off Your High-Interest Debt
This is important. High-interest debt can drain your finances which will affect your life in a negative way. Being in debt means you can’t do certain things with your money because you have to give it to someone else.
Over time, you also waste money paying off debt especially if you have to pay a significant amount of interest. It’s best to get rid of high-interest debt as soon as possible in order to improve your finances.
If you are stuck and can barely afford to make debt payments, you can solve this issue with a combination of spending less and earning more. Adopt a frugal lifestyle and make temporary or permanent changes and sacrifices in order to see positive results.
6. Start Being More Grateful
Gratitude doesn’t come naturally, but if you practice the habit enough, it will become second nature to you. Being grateful can change your whole mood and outlook on life.
Adopting a positive mindset is only a small part of establishing gratitude as a habit because it’s about more than just seeing the glass half full.
Being grateful means identifying what you have in your life to be thankful for whether you’re having an amazing day or a horrible day. Being grateful is about consciously reminding yourself that Monday is just as good as Friday and that you should be appreciative of everything you have large and small.
In a society where we are often trained to become dissatisfied quickly and crave more and more, gratitude can help you feel more content and work with what you have.
7. Get Clear on Your Values
Finally, the most important thing you need to do in order to make this year your most successful one yet is to get clear on your values. Your values include the set of beliefs, actions, and entities that you find most important in life.
Everyone’s values are different, so you’ll need to boil down what you really believe is important in life and refrain from worrying about what other people think about your values.
Maybe you value your family, travel, being debt free, coffee, or pets. Regardless of what your values are, they will shape your work and personal life and become the underlying purpose for everything you do.
Want to experience true happiness? Identify your values and live your life based on them. You can’t really go wrong.
What steps will you take to make this year your most successful year yet?
Hi Chonce, It totally agree with you here. I’m also on a mission to help work at home moms for closing the skill gap between them and the recruiters. From a research, it has been found that having at least 2 top skills required by your recruiters improves the chances of getting hired significantly. So learning new skills required in your niche industry is the best way to make this year a success.
That’s good to know. I’m always supportive of people learning new skills. Most of the time, it can make you more employable.
Great list!!! I have to admit I have been muting more people on social media due to some of the political carryover from the election. I found that I was getting too worked up and that it was better for me to take a step back and reevaulate the things that I read. It has really helped 🙂
In terms of my goals I have been able to secure a new job in 2017 which was at the top of my list. I also have been exercising 4x a week which is making me feel fantastic 🙂
Same here on the social media front. I get that everyone has a right to share their opinions and talk about whatever they want, but for Facebook, I feel like it’s not the most constructive place to discuss everything.
Congrats on your new job! I’ve also been trying to exercise 4-5 times per week and it’s really helping me have more energy and feel better.
This tips are absolutely on point! My days of multi-tasking are LONG GONE! There’s so much hype around it, but it has proven to be totally ineffective for me.
I recently started a daily practice of being grateful each and every single day with the help of my planner. There is so much to be thankful for and focusing on the positive has made such a difference in my life.