Create your most satisfying and most productive year

At the end of one year, we already set our sights on the next. We can take it as an opportunity for a fresh new beginning. We cannot change the past but we can learn from it to keep improving. That way, we can shape our new year to be what we imagine it to be. Are you excited about what awaits you? Let us see how you can make it your most productive year yet.

Reflect on the year ending

Before you start thinking about what you want to achieve in the new year, reflect on the previous year. This allows you to remember your achievements and congratulate yourself on them. It motivates you for the new year and increases your confidence in your abilities.

It also helps you understand why you did not accomplish some things or why others failed. That way you can learn from it for the future.

Questions to ask yourself are:

• Did I achieve what I wanted?
• What have I achieved?
• What am I most proud of and why?
• Which have been my happiest moments?
• Which objectives remain uncompleted or half-done and why?
• What went wrong or not as well as I wanted? What can I learn from it so that it will go better next time?
• Why have I been successful in some areas and not in others?
• What can I improve or how can I improve myself to achieve more of my objectives?
• Which good habits have helped me and which bad habits have harmed me or held me back?

With these questions you will become aware of everything you have achieved throughout the year. Is this not something to be proud of? That is how you increase your motivation to continue setting goals and working to achieve them.

As for what you have not achieved or what went wrong, do not beat yourself up about it. Past is past. Use it for learning and to make better decisions. Then the new year will be more productive and successful.

Why set goals

Having goals gives your life a purpose. Objectives also help you get closer to the life you aspire to. Try to align your goals with your values, your desires and passions. If you want to motivate yourself to work on them, forget what others want or what is well seen.

The only thing that matters is what you want to achieve to improve as a person, as a professional, to improve your well-being, increase your happiness and aspire to your dream life. This way you will enjoy the journey towards your goals and have a good reason to work on them.

Interestingly, it is less important to achieve your goals than to have something that motivates and inspires you. Because having a purpose gives meaning to your life, which in turn increases your level of satisfaction and happiness. Now, I am not trying to dampen your motivation to try to achieve your goals.

What I want to say is that you enjoy your journey. And do not torment yourself if you do not manage to reach a goal, or at least not within the deadline you set yourself. Keep in mind that setting goals already differentiates you from most people. It will make you more productive and motivated than many others because you have a purpose.

What do you want to achieve in the long term?

Having a vision of what we want our life to be like in 5 or 10 years helps us draw a roadmap. So, visualise what your dream life looks like. Define what it means to be happy and successful in your life for you and only for you. Which are your priorities?

These questions can help you gain clarity:

1. How do you imagine your life 10 years from now? Dream big and do not set limits. What is your big objective?
2. What do you need to have achieved in 5 years to get closer to that big goal in 10 years?
3. So, what do you need to achieve in a year to get closer to your objective for 5 years from now?

Most people do not set long-term goals. But if you really want to live your desired life, this is the way to achieve it. First think big and then draw the roadmap to get there.

What do you want to achieve next year?

After gaining clarity about your long-term vision, it is time to decide what you want to achieve in this new year. Define the partial goals that guide you toward your long-term goals. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. What do you need to achieve in one year to get closer to your objective in 5 years?
2. Then, what do you need to have achieved in 3 months to get closer to your goal for this year?
3. Which first steps can you start taking right now to reach your goal in 3 months?

How to reach your goals

In order to drastically increase your chances of persevering with your goals and reaching them, it is essential to put them in writing. Words and ideas are like feathers in the wind. But writing down our goals in black and white helps us commit to them.

It also helps your mind know what is important. Then, even when you are not actively working on your objective, your subconscious will continue looking for ideas and solutions to help you achieve it.

When you put your goals in writing, make sure they are SMART, i.e. specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. Sometimes it can be difficult to define an objective well. But it is the only way for it not to remain a mere dream or idea.

If your goal is to improve your well-being, define what that means to you. To feel healthier? To suffer less stress? What does it mean to reach your goal? If you define it, you can determine the action steps that will get you to there.

However, defining your goals is useless if you do not have a good reason to reach them. That is why I told you earlier that it is key to align them with the vision you have for your dream life. Knowing why we want to achieve something helps us maintain the motivation to persevere.

Create an action plan

If we want to make significant progress towards our goals, we need to turn them into digestible pieces, i.e. little steps that lead us towards them. Once you have defined your SMART goal, think about the actions you need to take to achieve it. Returning to example of improving your well-being, which actions can you translate it into?

If you want to improve your physical well-being, possible actions to take could be: Walk every day for at least 20 minutes. Do a physical activity at least three times a week. Stretch every afternoon after work. Start the day meditating. Remove unhealthy food from your diet.

As you can see, there are many things you can do. That is why it is important to define well what your goal means to you and then determine the steps you are going to take. Treat your goal as a project with its steps, tasks, milestones and deadlines. 

Set aside time to work on your goals

We are all very busy. Sometimes the everyday hustle swallows us up with all the issues that arise. To make your goals a priority, set aside time in your agenda to devote to the different steps you have defined in your action plan. Otherwise there will always be something that seems more urgent. Then times goes by, suddenly the year is over and has not been as productive as you wished.

Scheduling tasks and activities in our agenda commits us to them. When we write them down, it will be more difficult for us not to comply with them. As I said before, putting something in writing makes it clear to our mind that it is important.

Review your progress and celebrate achievements

If we have defined our objectives well, we will be able to measure our progress. I invite you to review every week, every month and every quarter which progress you have made. Have you managed to work on your goal? Have you been able to do everything you had planned? If not, have you been too ambitious or what prevented you from doing so? What can you learn from it to improve your planning or the steps to take to reach your goal?

Also, congratulate yourself on the progress you have made, no matter how small. Being proud of your achievements increases your level of satisfaction, happiness and motivation to continue.

Create an organisational system and workflows

In order to have your most productive year, it is essential to maintain a vision of your objectives, projects, tasks, appointments and commitments. To do this, take advantage of tools that help you to maintain control. On the one hand, keep an agenda in which you write down your appointments, meetings and reserve blocks of time to work on your goals.

On the other hand, help yourself with project management applications or project plans created in a spreadsheet. This also helps you to create workflows of recurring tasks and projects, saving you time in the long run.

Then it is essential that you find the best way to keep your tasks under control. It can be a list system according to GTD. It also can be a bullet journal which combines agenda and task lists. By all means, productive people look for the best way to organise themselves.

Create good habits 

Our discipline and willpower are limited. If we only trust them, motivation can fail us. That is why it is convenient to create good habits. Because routines are easier to maintain. Examples are meditating every day at the same time or exercising the same days of the week. Once we turn this into a habit, we will even miss it if we skip one day.

The same applies to other actions related to your goals. Create a routine to work on your projects and carry out certain tasks. You will procrastinate less if you have an established routine.

Also check if you have bad habits that you should give up. Or there may be habits that are not exactly bad but no longer work for you.

Take care of your health and well-being

You only have one body so taking care of it should be part of your priorities and goals. If you want to be productive in your work this year, it is essential that you take care of yourself. Getting a good night’s rest, eating healthy, exercising and taking regular breaks at work are key to keeping your body and mind in shape.

The soft skills that help you have your most productive year

To be productive throughout the year and not give up on the way to your goals, there are soft skills you can train. Patience, perseverance and self-motivation are important to continue working even when things get complicated.

Do you tend to work on an objective or project, then give it up for a while and then start again? That wastes valuable time. Consistency, through good habits, allows us to work day in and day out on our goals.

Continuous learning is also essential to be productive. Acquiring new technical, soft and social skills will help us achieve our goals.

In order to work on your objectives, project management skills are very helpful.

Do not give up

Anyone can have dreams. But those who really achieve something do not wait for good things to come to them by magic. They work hard, with consistency and perseverance. They do not fear failure because they know it is a learning opportunity. They move forward despite the uncertainty of what awaits them. And they do not allow themselves to be intimidated by the fear of rejection. If a plan fails, they analyse what has happened, learn from it and adapt it.

Do you really want this year to be your most productive year? Do you want to achieve your goals? Then put aside the excuses and get down to work.

Do you want to have your most satisfying and most productive year?

What do you want to achieve this year? Are you willing to work towards your goals? Which actions can you take right now to make progress towards your objectives?

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