With the new year approaching, everybody is excited for a fresh start — build new habits, break bad ones, build a daily routine and stay consistent with your productivity system to achieve your goals.
But, there are so many things to take care of, from personal goals to work, that it gets confusing. So, let’s get into the 6 steps that you can follow to prepare for the new year.
You will find a ‘HOW TO TAKE ACTION’ section for each step where you’ll find actionable and easy ways to work on the tips given below.
Finish your remaining projects or tasks
To start fresh, you need to ensure that you don’t have any items on your to-do list that will bother you in 2023.
HOW TO TAKE ACTION — Don’t complicate it! Just create a simple to-do list, along with mentioning how long it will take, how important/urgent it is etc.
Set your goals for the next year
Setting goals is necessary for a fresh start. Knowing what you want to accomplish by the end of a year will give you clarity when planning how you will spend your time daily.
HOW TO TAKE ACTION —
- Open your planner and write down everything you want to achieve by the end of this year. Don’t worry about the sequence or importance, simply dump everything you can think of.
- Then, break them down into small, actionable steps you can finish in a month. Set one goal for each month of the year.
This leads us to the next step:
Set aside time for planning every week
After you’ve set your goals for each month, block out around an hour in your calendar every week to plan what you’ll do each day to get closer to these goals.
HOW TO TAKE ACTION —
You could go the simple route — Set 7 goals for each day of the week, each focusing on one area of your life.
Or, block out time for different activities on your calendar for each day — This will take some time, as you need to know when you can commit to each task you plan to do.
Create a place for everything, aka ORGANISE
Organise all significant places in your life — your desk, closet etc. Make sure to give everything a place, so that papers, books, and documents don’t get lost. You also need to create a system for keeping your digital files organised.
HOW TO TAKE ACTION —
To clean your spaces out, I recommend using the Marie Kondo method.
- Imagine the result
- Discard
- Tidy by category, not location
- Tidy by order — clothes, books, papers, komono (miscellaneous items) and then sentimental items
To stay organised digitally —
- Declutter your desktop
- Delete unnecessary apps on your phone/laptop.
- Use google drive to keep your files organised
- Clear your inbox and unsubscribe from unnecessary subscriptions
Build systems to stay productive
Building a productivity system catered to your needs will help you stay consistent and motivated.
You could follow an existing productivity system like Pomodoro, GTD (Getting things done), or Eat that Frog, or create one for yourself by experimenting and mixing things up.
HOW TO TAKE ACTION —
- Figure out if you’re a paper or digital person.
If you like using paper planners, create different sections for each area of your life, and use them to plan out projects, track habits, journal etc.
If you like using apps and websites to stay productive, create a system to help you do the same.
I like to use a mix of both.
- I plan my projects in Trello.
- To keep track of my habits, and remind me of important deadlines, I use Todoist.
- For taking notes, I use Apple Notes.
- But, to plan my day and make a checklist for the same — I use a daily planner.
This is my system, but you could build one for yourself by playing around with different tools and apps!
Build routines and habits
This year, try to stick to a few routines for a healthier and more productive and more efficient lifestyle. A few routines that you could create for yourself:
- A morning routine
- A night routine / Warm down routine
- A workout routine — for each week
Here are some habits you should try to build in 2023:
- Drink more water
- Workout more often
- Learn something new every day — Read an article, watch a documentary, read books, take an online course
- Meditate every weekend
- Journal / Track your mood
