Ultimate Tips for Your Ultimate 2020

With 80% of New year resolutions failed and forgotten, we want to make sure you don’t fall into this category, but instead, are part of the 8% that achieve your new year goals! Here at Nexford, we are getting ready and here are just a few ways our team is prepping for the year ahead!

I will do more of what recharges my energy and passion.

Getting physically and mentally unfit is so easy these days. We think just putting food in our bellies and getting some sleep are enough — but it’s not! Recharging one’s energy and passion includes investing time in what you love and what you genuinely enjoy doing. These activities don’t usually fit into one’s daily routine. So, I have to be intentional! I’ll begin with writing down small items that make me smile such as scheduling 30 minutes of my day just for dancing, painting, running, etc. Then I’ll go big! I’ll invest in activities that I can do on weekends such as traveling, volunteering, visiting family and friends, etc. By doing so, I’m sure I’ll find myself on Monday mornings less cranky and more joyful than ever!

I will spend less time glued to my phone.

I will spend less time scrolling through my social media accounts and promise to dedicate more time to be physically present with my friends and family. I will also try to create more meaningful social relationships utilizing physical personal interactions rather than through text or online chatting.

I will learn from my failures and master the challenges I face.

In every failure there’s a lesson for success.  It’s easy to see challenges as things we can’t overcome.  “I’m not smart enough.” “I’m not strong enough.” It’s much harder to recognize that we can learn from our failures and master the challenges we face. Not that we can always overcome challenges. But a simple shift of mindset opens the possibility of succeeding in the future when, in the past, we may have failed. This wisdom I take very much to heart. In 2020 I will work as hard as I can to make it my practice.

I will dedicate every decision I make in service of what I want to do in life.

Life can get tough at times. Along our journey in reaching our goals, we may encounter bumps – small and big ones. Heck, you may even endure great storms! Let’s face it, it would get tiring one way or another. You might even want to press that escape button just to get away from all of it. I cannot count how many times I’ve thought about just letting it all go but then, I get reminded, if I won’t pick up from where I left off and get back on the road, how would I even get to where I want to go? I will never get to see how it’s like living my dream if I quit now.

For me to see that silver lining, those northern lights everyone’s dying to have a glimpse of or experience that warm feeling in my heart – I have to keep moving. To do that, I will dedicate every action I take, regardless of how little it may be, in service of what I want to do in my life. As they say, success will never be a big step in the future, it’s a small step taken now.

I will set my short-term goals and long-term goals.

Setting realistic short-term goals can have a bigger impact on my long-term goals. For instance, taking short counseling courses or training per quarter of the year can help me become a better success advisor. Another short-term goal I have in mind next year is to continue taking my language and literacy course so that I can attain my master’s degree in language and literacy education in the near future.

I’ll celebrate change and find the ‘bright spots’.

It’s funny when you look at your habits. I walk on the same side of the road, use the same gym locker and buy the same bottled drink. We all know that change is hard. Lots of people give up at the first sign of a setback.

But, when we see obstacles as goals, we grow and we start to celebrate change. Bestselling authors Chip and Dan Heath tackle change in their insightful book, “Switch”. People resist solutions brought in from elsewhere, the authors say. They suggest looking for “bright spots”; native solutions found from within communities and organizations.

How do you find the bright spots? Ask, “What is working, and how can we do more of it?” Some of Heath’s examples include Jerry Sternin of Save the Children, saving the lives of thousands of malnourished children in Vietnam by finding community bright spots of well-nourished children in poor families. The solution was right there in front of them all along!

So, to embrace change, we need to understand how our minds work and then shortcut the switches in behavior. I’ll embrace the other side of the road, a gym locker never used before and a new kind of drink. You never know, it might bring truly extraordinary results.

There you have some of our ultimate tips for the new year, however, do not restrict yourself to just these. The list of top tips is endless. Here are a few extras – there’s no such thing as too many tips!

Break your goals into chunks

Long-term goals can often seem unachievable and have knock-on effects to their accomplishment. To help boost your willpower and determination to succeed, break your goals into smaller chunks. This simple action will allow you to boost emotional momentum and make your goal seem less daunting as a whole.

Understand the slip-ups

Give yourself some room for error. When you try to stop a habit, there will be slip-ups. However, what is crucial is that you accept that these mistakes will happen, and instead of getting angry or frustrated with yourself, just acknowledge this. The best way is to keep a record of these slip-ups, whilst maintaining a positive mindset. If you get locked onto the negatives, it will be harder to progress, and so just note them down and move forward, as you will never overcome something when you are unable to accept the process.

Accepting the ‘What the Hell’ effect

The tips above all draw into the, ‘What the Hell Effect’. This effect has some of the biggest hits to your willpower. The effect itself is that feeling where you indulge in something, and then because you have already indulged, you think ‘what the hell’ and indulge some more. Afterward, you are hit with regret and feel awful. What you need to remember is that no one is an exception, and we have all fallen victim to this effect. So, instead of continuing on this downhill spiral, try to remember that everyone is vulnerable to the ‘What the Hell Effect,’ and instead of feeling guilt or shame from it, accept that you are not alone, and allow for mistakes to be made.

These are just a few Ultimate Top Tips, however, there is an unlimited amount of tips you could consider, small or big (not too big though – remember to chunk them down!). Good luck and remember, these tips are not just for the new year, apply them anytime in your 2020!