5 Ways to make sure 2020 doesn´t suck

You want to know why your normal New Year´s Resolutions suck and how you can create goals that actually work?

The new year is just around the corner and this year you actually want to accomplish your resolutions instead of quitting again after just 2 weeks?

Than follow these 5 steps to make sure that 2020 will be your year.

The year in which you will actually change and achieve your goals.

 

5 Ways how to make sure 2020 doesn´t suck

Set measurable goals
If you can´t measure a goal it´s only a good intention but not actually a goal. Let´s say one of your goals is to eat healthier, well it´s hard to tell what you actually have to eat to reach your goal, cause the intention doesn´t set a quantified goal. So instead of saying you want to eat healthier better set yourself a concrete goal. For example 3 times a week you want to include a salad in your meals. Try to be as specific as possible, cause the more you already think about it while setting the goal the higher are your chances that you actually accomplish it.
Everytime you will eat the salad in the week you will be able to measure your progress and feel succesful afterwards as you see right away your success

Bad goal examples:

  • I read more books in the new year
  • I learn a new language
  • I write my own book
  • I workout more this year
  • I cook a lot this year
  • I try declutter my apartment completely and keep everything clean

Good goal examples:

  • I read 20 minutes at nighttime at least 5 times a week
  • I do 15 minutes of the Duolingo App per Day to practice spanish
    can you see that this is way more concrete?
  • I write the first chapter of my book within the next week
    Here you can break down the progress that you want to make in little steps over the different months to make it look more achievable
  • I workout 3 times a week, every week
  • I try one new recipe per week
  • I clean my apartment every wednesday and over the year I declutter one part of the apartment per week

So when you write yourself a list of some new healthy habits you want to implement in your life, than make sure that you can actually measure your goals.

Set deadlines & track your progress
One of the things that helps the most to succeed on your goals is when you track your progress. This can be on your phone on an app, in your calendar or on a simple paper. It doesn´t have to look fancy or like the perfect habit tracker of a #buJo important is only that you track your progress. Because you will see right away the progress that you are making and the feeling of success will grow.
It also helps to set concrete deadlines, cause you will be more likely to reach the goal.

Bad Deadline Example:

If you tell yourself you want to write a book in 2020, there is a high chance that you don´t start right away because a year just feels so long. So you keep procrastinating and maybe even start writing in your summer holidays but than your busy life takes over again and you keep forgetting it, until autumn comes and the year is almost over. So you tell yourself it´s not too bad, I´ll just try again next year. But you will not succeed in the following year either, cause your goal doesn´t have a strict timeline.

Good Deadline Example:
So instead of looking at the book as one big goal I advice you to cut it down in little pieces. Let say a normal book has around 28 chapters and you have 12 months to write it. If you would divide that it would be 2,3 chapters per  months but let´s be honest there will be times where you are going to be really busy because you might have to study for a test, are on vacations or just laying in bed, so to give us a little puffer we just say you have to write 3 chapters per months.
So for January that would mean that you have to write 3 chapters or almost a chapter per week (if you want to plan in another time puffer)
If you know in the beginning of the year, that you actually have to sit down and write your first chapter already within the first week you will be more likely to actually do that instead of waiting for months until inspiration hits you. And even when you just start writing in the second week it´s still way earlier than you would normally do, right?

So breaking down tasks in little goals really helps measuring the progress, which will make you more likely to reach them. So for implementing a new resolution or goal in your everyday life I recommend you to track your progress and set yourself deadlines.

Set realistic goals
If your goals are completely unrealistic, because for example you set yourself the goals to run an marathon in the next month even though you never go running normally and don´t even have proper running shoes, than the chances of actually succeeding are pretty low. I don´t say it´s impossible, because I think when someone really wants to achieve something they can achieve almost everything. But if you are just setting a ton of extreme goals to yourself the year will start extremely challenging for you and you will fail quickly. The problem is not that you will fail, what is worth is that you won´t be motivated enough to even try again on the next year.

So better set only a few goals and start with some little steps. I mean know one climbs the killimanjaro right away, right? No obviously not! It takes practice and realistic goals setting.

Find a goal-partner

You can either share your goals with some of your close friends, your online community or you can even try to find a partner who might have a similar goal. Let´s stay on the example with writing a book – mainly because I´m a little bit sick of hearing that 95% of the new years resolutions would be only about loosing weight. In my opinion goal setting is an awesome thing and it motivates me a lot, but you have to do it right. And there are way more things you can achieve than only looking better – duh!

So when you want to write a book it might help to meet up with someone who is also needing some writing time. This doesn´t have to be an author, but maybbe you have a friend that needs to write a long uni-essay and you can meet in a café once a week to both be productive on your computers. Or you can share your productivity status online and it might help you to put yourself under a little bit of pressure, cause other people will ask you which progress you made so far.
I also found out that it´s helpful if you explain your goals to your inner circle ´cause your friends might be more understanding when you tell them that you don´t have time at the moment, when they actually know what you are working on. Maybe they even have tips or like to help you to achieve your goal. They will also not pressure you to go out every weekend when they know that you need one night/day to write.
So sometimes it helps, when people are a constant reminder of your goals, but there will obviously be some that might be too private to share them with others.

Rewards and celebrating your milestones

It´s also good to reward yourself with a treat when you reached a goal or a big milestone. For example when you really manged to cook one new recipe per week in the first month you could buy yourself a new cookbook to try out even more recipes. Or if you practiced a new language every day for let´s say three months maybe you can plan a holiday to a country where they actually speak the language. That way you have a reward that is connected to your goal and it might motivate you to keep on working on it. New workout gear or running shoes are also a pretty good reward when you want to do more exercise in your daily life.

Summary:

In short: If you set yourself measurable goals that are actually realistic to achieve and you track your daily progress you will be likely to succeed this year. When you share your goals with your inner circle your chances are even higher that this your won´t suck. Deadlines will help you to stay focused on your goal, so better break your goals down in little pieces and lastly don´t forget to reward yourself for all the incredible progress you are making.

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16 comments

    1. Hi Paula,
      I´ll cross my fingers for you and wish you good luck that this year your goals will work out better. Hope I could help you a bit with my tips 🙂
      Have a great start in the new year!

      1. Dear Tiziana, I wish you all the best for 2020 and a wonderful year. Your post is just perfect for this time, even if it is ideal for projects throughout the year. Above all, the examples given illustrate why so many people fail with their resolutions and plans and why they give up after a short time. A little bit of planning and controlling are important for achieving a goal.
        Have a wonderful evening and all the best

        1. Thank you gorgeous I hope you had a great start in the new year as well!! 🙂
          Wish you all the best for this new decade, I´m sure you will rock it!

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