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It’s February & now well into the New Year and whilst some of us may still picking confetti out of our hair and wondering where the holidays disappeared to, others are smashing into their goals with vigour and a kind of enthusiasm that for end-of-holiday lamenters is difficult to muster.

The truth though? It’s not.

The people that will hit the ground running in 2021 are those that have total clarity around what they want to get out of the year and how they are going to do it. If this concept seems totally foreign to you cause you feel like you’ve started 2021 in a fog (covid induced or otherwise) that doesn’t want to lift, it’s okay. You’re not alone. You’re also not up the creek without a paddle, there are plenty of ways to get your year on track.

So, what do you need to do to achieve this Zen-like clarity for your year to come?

1. Declutter your Life

Whilst Einstein may have been able to do amazing things with a cluttered desk, for most of us, a cluttered desk means a cluttered mind.

Take a look at your work space, home space or whatever it is that might be affecting you and clean it up. The result will leave you feeling focused and ready to tackle a new year.

2. Remove Negativity & Add Positivity

How many times when you’re speaking with someone, have you found yourself thinking “this person is always complaining / never has anything nice to say”?

Then, you find yourself gravitating towards that person in the office who has perpetual energy, confidence and positivity and seemingly, wants to share it with the world.

Both these people affect your own mental state, one for the worse and one for the better. Whilst you can’t completely ignore someone you work with who is negative, try to surround yourself with people that lift up your mental state and make you want to achieve. Your success rate will love you for it.

Outside of work, have a think about anything that might be fostering negativity in your life or making you feel bad about yourself and cut it from your life. I.e.

  • A website, forum or media site.
  • Those jeans you fit into 5 years ago that you want to get back into but make you feel guilty every time you see them.
  • Social media.

3. Define your Goals

Anyone that has read any of our previous articles will know how much we LOVE goals at ALRA and that we could literally talk goal setting until the cows came home. If you haven’t however, a quick guide would be to:

  • Define the goal(s).
  • Break them down into bite sized pieces including short, medium & long term. It may even help you to know what you need to do daily to achieve your overall goal.
  • Set small targets and write down how you will celebrate achieving them.
  • Visualise: almost every massively successful person in the world has admitted to meditating on and visualising what their success will look like. This might only be for 5 minutes a day, but keeping that end in mind, will help you stay focused.

4. Dive Straight in

Just start. Even if you’re not sure where to start, just dive in. W. Clement Stone said “So many fail because they don’t get started – they don’t go. They don’t overcome inertia. They don’t begin.”

Often (and we’ve all been guilty of this at some point in our careers), we put off working towards something we want to achieve because we fear failure, don’t believe we have the skills to do it, suffer from imposter syndrome or fall back on the biggest excuse of all “I just haven’t had time”.

The truth is though, when we are motivated, none of this matters. Failure is a learning experience, we find the skills we need, and we make time to just get it done.

But not beginning at all means you’ve already failed. Don’t let this be you.

5. Take Breaks

Unless it’s been a horrible night’s sleep, most people wake up with a clear mind in the morning ready to face the day. As the day progresses however, they find their mind becoming more and more cluttered and / or stressed with the happenings of the day.

If this is you, take 5 minutes to re-centre and refocus. Try sitting in a quiet place, closing your eyes and just focusing on (but not controlling) your breathing for 5 minutes.

Afterwards, you’ll no doubt find that your mind is clear again and you’re ready to work.

6. Be Kind to Yourself

Even if you’re a consistently high achiever, there will be times where you fail. This is okay. Failure is not in itself a bad thing, it’s just a matter of perspective.

Instead of viewing something that didn’t go to plan as a failure, look at it as a learning experience rather than beating yourself up over it (which is very counterproductive).

Take a step back, deconstruct what happened and ask yourself, “what did I learn that will mean that this won’t happen next time?”. If you can do this, you’ll stay positive and ultimately have a successful 2021.