MOULDING LIFE
7 Things To Do Before The New Year
“A new year can begin only because the old year ends”— Madeleine L’Engle
New Year is around the corner. It is the time for fun and celebration. It is also the time to take some necessary steps for your personal growth. In this post I am sharing share 7 things to do before the new year so that you can kick start 2024with a bang!
2023 is just a few weeks ahead of us. It’s another opportunity to start afresh.
Wait a second. Are you ready to welcome 2024? If you do few things before the new year, it will be beneficial for your personal development and also helpful for a new beginning.
7 Things to do Before the New Year
A. Reflect and Evaluate
I am sure that most of you have come across this concept of reflecting and evaluating.
Why does this get a lot of importance?
A lot has happened in everyone’s life in a year’s time. You might have had many goals for 2022. Could you execute all of them? [If so congratulations, I envy you.] Or did you step on the brakes before you even started? [ No worries, it happens to most of us]
So before we start a new beginning, it’s a good idea to look back to see where you went wrong. And if u had achieved any goals, it’s time to reflect on those too.
How to reflect on the past year
1. Time
Reflecting about the past year is an activity which shouldn’t be done in a hurry. You should take ample time to think and understand your thoughts. So, try to give a considerable amount of your time for this. And there is no rule that you have to finish it in one go. You can take your own time and do it according to your convenience. To make sense of your own thoughts and feelings isn’t a simple task.
2. Be prepared mentally
When you reflect, the answers you get for the questions might not be comfortable. Thinking about your failures and making sense of them might be emotionally daunting. Many of us refuse to think about our failures and reflect upon them because we don’t want to encounter these feelings. Don’t stop reflecting when such things happen. Take a break if it is necessary and keep on reflecting. Remember, if you don’t reflect about your failures, you might end up repeating those. And in the long run, that can be harmful to us. So, be prepared to accept your emotions whether good or bad.
3.Necessary items
All you need is a book and a pen. If you are someone who doesn’t like to write in paper , use your phones or laptops. The medium doesn’t matter as long as you are giving your 100% for this.
Related Post : 21 Reflective End of the Year Journal Prompts
B. Forgive yourself
Now that you have reflected upon the year, you might have realized your mistakes. You might have not acted the way you wanted to in order to achieve the goals.
Realising this now, you might be feeling guilty about your mistakes. And it isn’t a great feeling.
So, for you to move forward to a new beginning, it’s important to get rid of the negative emotions. Take time to forgive yourself for not being able to achieve the goals you wanted. Also, for the mistakes you had done the past year intentionally or unintentionally.
Failures and mistakes shouldn’t be seen as negatives. In fact, you can learn many lessons from them and move forward. So it’s important to forgive yourself to keep going.
C. Declutter
1. Declutter Your Closet
Take a few minutes to check your closet. Is there anything which you don’t use anymore? Do you feel that you have articles in your house which are no longer needed for you?
There will be definitely something that needs to be thrown out of your cupboard. This is the right time to tidy up your closet and home. Get rid of all the unnecessary items.
You can donate used clothes to charity. Its festive season. Let’s do whatever we can to spread the joy.
2. Declutter your phone.
Those unnecessary pictures you had taken before you got ‘the perfect pic’, the spam emails and every file which is of no use to you, delete it now.
Also, don’t forget to unsubscribe from everything that is unnecessary or you don’t read. This one step will prevent your inbox from getting filled with emails and messages.
When you get rid of things which you don’t need that will actually make you feel better. If you have never done decluttering, then this is the best time for it.
Related Post : How to do a Digital Declutter
D. Make a gratitude list
Go through your memory lane and recollect about those moments when you were happy. Were you happy because of a person, of yourself, a situation or materialistic things?
Take a paper and pen. Write the answer about these questions. Make a list about what you are grateful for in the entire year. Try to recollect as much as possible.
Have you expressed your gratitude to those who made you happy? If not, this time of the year is undoubtedly the best time to do so. It’s time to take a few minutes from our busy lives to appreciate the people who are our strength.
This will help you to appreciate the good things that happened in the entire year. Also, it will help you start the new year with all the great memories of the past year. Making a gratitude list will help you do this.
Related Posts :
1. 4 easy and powerful ways to practice gratitude
2. 25 things to be grateful for in life
3. 30 gratitude journal prompts
4. 30 inspiring gratitude quotes
E. Self care
Have you given enough time for yourself in these 12 months? Have you taken care of yourself? Did you thank yourself? Did you spend time with yourself?
Most of us lead a busy life with hectic schedules. At the end of the day we end up having spent not enough time for ourselves.
Relatable?
This holiday season make sure that you spend time with yourself. Because you deserve it.
Do whatever that makes you happy.
Related Post : 20 Self Care Ideas for Overall Well Being
F. Set goals
What do you want to achieve in 2024? Write a list of goals. Goals that aren’t written are just wishes–this quote highlights the importance of writing your goals.
Set goals for each aspect of your life
Relationships: Do you want to spend more time with family? Do you want to take toxic people out of your life ?
Career: How do you want to progress in your career? Do you want a promotion? Or do you want to quit the current job and take up a new one? Or do you want to start a new business?
Health and fitness: Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to exercise regularly? How can you have a better diet ?
Education: Do you want to get another degree? Do you want to learn something new?
Self care : Do you want to develop a morning routine? Or organize your life? How can you improve your mental health? Do you want to stop overthinking or want to practice self love?
Ask yourself these questions.
Brainstorm about goals for each category and write it down. Don’t overwhelm yourself with too many goals.
This is a common mistake we all make. We get so excited that we set an insane number of goals to achieve. And we end up achieving hardly anything.
How to set an achievable number of goals
Set 1 big goal : Do you plan to lose weight, or change your job or anything which is big? Try to plan only 1 big goal for this year. Big goals requires lot of commitment and effort. So try to set only 1 big goal.
Set 1 goal for each aspect of your life : This will help you to develop in every aspect of your life.
It takes approximately 66 days for a new habit to become automatic. So, spend a minimum of 3 months to achieve a goal.
This is not a hard and fast rule. You can take more than 2 months. It all depends upon your commitment to achieve the goal. And you are allowed to mess up a few times. Don’t stop when you make a mistake or missed doing a habit for few days. Just keep on going.
How many goals should you set?
Developing yourself is a lifelong process. You cannot become perfect in every area of your life within 12 months. So, try to achieve a few goals this year. And then another set for the next year. Take it slow.
G. Action Plan
Now that you have set your goals, it’s time to develop an action plan.
How do you plan to achieve the goals you have written?
Eg: If your goal is to journal everyday then what is your action plan for it? At what time of the day do you plan to do it? Have you figured out what to write in your journal? Do you have to buy a journal to start writing?
Figure out everything and make an action plan. An action plan will take you closer to achieving your goals
Final Thoughts
So, that was the things to do before the new year. Doing these things will help to give a proper closure to 2023 so that you can begin 2024 properly. If not all, try to do at least a few things mentioned in this list. If you can do each and everything, then it’s great.
Do share this post with your friends and family too. Hope you will have a wonderful year ahead!
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