Every year millions of people make new year resolutions in the first days of the year. Usually we want to be fitter, healthier and more successful. Whatever they mean. What makes a man successful? How would you define healthy?  I prepared 3+3 special questions to close your year of 2018 and start a purposeful year of 2019.

Goodbye 2018

03 2018-art-calendar-775779Photo by IMAMA LAVI from Pexel

Before you create your glorious goals for 2019, it’s worth to spend a little bit time with thinking on what happened to you in 2018. Answer the following 3 questions in any way you prefer. Write them on a paper, into your mobile, draw a picture, prepare a video, or anything you want. Be creative.

1 What were the outstanding moments of 2018 for you?

One year is a really long time, lots of things happen to us. If you look back now, what would you highlight from last year? Sure there were a lot of happy moments and a lot sad ones too. How was your year? Think on both to your private and professional life.

2 How did you overcome your challenges?

University, work, private life, I am sure you had many challenges that you overcame. What were they? How did you face them? Did you have any strategy? If yes, what was it?

3 What did you learn last year?

Courses, private classes, school and what is the most important, life itself…are continuous learnings. What knowledge did you gain in 2018? What skills did you improve? What lessons did you learn?

Hello 2019

Now that you closed 2018, it’s time to turn to 2019. You will get 3 questions and as before, answer them on paper, screen, make a play, whatever you would like to do.

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1 What are the events you are curious about in 2019?

You may know a lot about your new year. What are the events you can’t wait for? What are you excited and curious about? If you don’t have any plans yet, don’t worry, just think on what you expect.

2 What are your specific goals for 2019?

You may have read my post about “How to plan your agenda in 4 steps” in which I write about the importance of goalsetting as well. Or you may have heard or done thousands of time the S.M.A.R.T. goals. Or you may have better methods for goal settings. Either way, remember to be specific when you think on goals. The more specific and tangible you can make your goals, the easier it will be to reach them. For example if you would like to live healthier, what does it mean to you? What exactly would make you feel satisfied? A specific goal in this case could be to go for running every day.

3 How will you follow up yourself?

New years resolutions sometimes fail because we forget them right after we made them. According to a previous article in Forbes, only people’s 8% reach their new year goals. Be within the 8%! Don’t only make goals for the new year, follow up yourself for realizing them. Create milestones or smaller goals for the big goals of the year 2019. For example in 3 months, I would like to ran 1 km every day. In 6 months, I would like to ran 3 kms every day. Don’t forget to decide how often will you check up on yourself and your results. How will you do it? Post-it on the mirror? Mobil app? Calendar? Opportunities are endless.

How to Be Within the 8% of the People Who Reach Their New Year’s Goals?

The Internet is full of “How to Reach Your Goals” articles, so I won’t write another one. I just collected 5 simple tips to reach your goals in 2019:

  1. Make realistic goals.
  2. Make your goals visible.
  3. Set milestones.
  4. Make a journal about your progress.
  5. Reward yourself.

Last time when I did a 30-day-long-challenge, writing a journal about my results really worked for me. Have you ever tried this method?

05 close-up-composition-data-669986Photo by Bich Tran from Pexels

If you want to spend more time on reflecting and planning, I suggest to you to fill out the Yearcompass booklet. It contains a lot of questions for both 2018 and 2019 and lets you think on all aspects of your life. 

I would like to emphasize that it is absolutely not obligatory to do the goalsetting in the beginning of the year. You can do it any time of the year. Especially if you close a chapter in your life. It can be a new job, breakup, new relationship, moving to another country, new research, whenever your life circumstances change, it’s worth to stop for a while. We can take out the most of these changes if we live them mindfully. Contact me if you have questions and share your stories.

Happy New Year

*Photo of featured image on the top by JESHOOTS.com from Pexels