Top 4 tips and tricks to create a successful new year plan

The holiday season is here! This means the New Year is just around the corner. It’s never too early to start thinking of ways to make this coming year even better than the last. So the big question is, HOW exactly do you create a successful new year plan?

List down your goals and priorities

Before you start doing anything, you first need to know what you are going to do, right? So list them all! List down all your goals, whatever that comes to mind. When you are done, set your priorities and rank them in order. From most to least important for you this new year.

Finding your “why” this new year

As cliché as it sounds, it always helps when you set out your purpose. Why do I want to achieve this? What for? Will it help me in my future endeavors? Will it make my family and myself proud? Will it make me happier? Your “why” could be anything at all. A purpose that will help you fuel your drive to work towards your goals.

Setting up a new year plan

Now, set up your game plan. You have listed down your goals, set your priorities, and found your purpose. It’s time to get things going! During this stage, you map out how you will achieve the goals you created. For instance, your goal is to get fit. You want to do it to become healthier so you can power through every day with less fatigue and more energy. How? By working out regularly and eating more whole foods. Or it could simply be cutting out sugar for a few months. Find a ‘How’ that is both realistic for you and also helps you towards your main goal with these mini goals.

This leads us to our first tip!

Tips & Tricks – #1 Building mini-goals to achieve your bigger goals

People always tell you to think big, but for the sake of this trick, think smaller. Remember the example about getting fit? When you create mini goals to achieve your bigger goals, it looks something like this. You plan to work out regularly and eat more whole foods. Now you develop small targets to get you started. For example, “I will exercise 2 times a week”, “I will stop by the gym before heading home”, “I will prepare my meals the night before so I do not end up buying junk food.”, or “I will get groceries every Sunday.” This way, instead of focusing on the bigger goals that might make you feel overwhelmed and worrying about not being able to achieve them, you are motivated by getting these mini-goals done regularly.

The American Psychological Association recommends changing one habit at a time and stresses that not only is it good to start small, but also focus on your early accomplishments rather than on the long road ahead.

#2 Be mindful of how you talk to yourself throughout the process

Self-talk is a healthy way to build motivation, calm your nerves, analyze a situation, or tackle problems. It is a useful way to check in with yourself. Hence, it is highly important to be compassionate with yourself when you mess up. Never beat yourself up or talk to yourself in a degrading way. You can do it, you are good enough and you are more than capable. Changing your self-talk from positive to negative does take a conscious daily effort, but you’ll get there. Once you have experienced the power of positive self-talk, you can power through any obstacle.

#3 Lose the all-or-nothing mentality

We all do this sometimes, it’s natural. However, we have to learn to drop this mentality as it really does bring more harm than good. So what if you did not manage to achieve a certain goal? You made progress and that’s all that matters. Goals are important for you to work towards something, but it isn’t everything. The trick to dismantling this all-or-nothing mindset is to credit ourselves for the progress we made. By demolishing this attitude, we are less likely to stay stagnant. As long as you are improving and evolving, you are on the right track.

#4 Get a new year planner or notebook

Last but definitely not least, get yourself a planner or notebook to jot down everything from A-Z. Writing down your goals, plans and progress gives you extra accountability as opposed to only making mental notes. It will be easier to visualize how far you’ve come and how long more to go when it is all laid down on a page.

get a new planner for your 2023 goals — *Simplified by Emily Ley*

You can get a planner or notebook depending on your preference. If you prefer to have everything listed for you and you just want to fill in the blanks, get those kinds! However, if you prefer the more basic ones, you can definitely opt for dotted, lined or blank pages. This gives you room for creativity, being able to let your mind roam freely and design it as you like. If you’d like to keep it simple and minimal, that is totally fine too. It is all up to you!

Creating a schedule

Now you have built your foundation. It’s time to build a schedule. Scheduling can be tricky. You need to know how to manage time effectively.

There are so many aspects you need to consider before coming up with a schedule that works for you.

Need help building your master schedule this new year?

Especially for schools, it is crucial to be prepared well in advance for the upcoming school year. Not only preparing early helps ease anxiety, but it will also help things to go more smoothly when well-planned. However, we understand that it is tough trying to get to a 100% with scheduling. Fret not! The Orchestra Online Master Scheduler is here to help ease your scheduling affairs.

You might be thinking, why do you need a comprehensive master scheduler? Here’s why:

Orchestra is 100% cloud-based.
You want to help students take the classes they love whilst avoiding class conflicts.
You can improve and enhance your student attendance.
You will love our Master Scheduler Software.

In conclusion, it’s never too late to start anything. Be it leading a healthier lifestyle, sharpening your skills, making more friends, traveling more, working towards any goal you have in mind, or even trying out our Online Master Scheduler *wink*. You can always be determined enough to make improvements anytime. However, every new year is the perfect opportunity for you to start off with a “clean slate” toward achieving your goals, whatever those goals may be. You are capable of anything as long as you put your mind to it. We wish you the best and may this new year bring everyone more joy and success!

Happy 2023!