We’ve all had that strong conviction at some point to take charge of our lives and become better versions of ourselves but found out in the long run, it was easier said than done. The new year for most people is the perfect time to start on a clean slate- I mean, new year, new me right? We tend to make resolutions at the beginning of the year but a lot of us don’t follow through with those resolutions.
How to Achieve Your 2023 Goals
Here are 7 tips to help you achieve your goals for the New Year:
1. Make sure your goal is SMART
SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. Your goal must be clear from the get-go. It is fine to have tall dreams but the time frame for achieving those dreams should be realistic. You do not expect to become a tech expert for instance, in just one year if you are just starting out in the tech ecosystem, but if you said in a few years, that would be realistic and achievable.
2. Write it/them down
Writing it down will help you keep track of the things you want to achieve and can also be a sort of motivation. Looking at your goals staring you right in the face every morning can give you a mental picture of what your life would be like if you followed through or what it wouldn’t.
3. Be focused/ disciplined
It is very easy to get distracted when you are trying to achieve a goal, especially now that we all have our heads buried deep inside our mobile phones and other gadgets. Addiction to social media has become a thing as some people just cannot stay off of them even for a few minutes. You’d be amazed at how much more focused you’d be by limiting or eliminating the things that take your eyes off your goal. The trick is to starve your distractions and feed your focus.
If financial discipline is your goal for the new year, you can start by pegging your spending at a particular limit. You can give a standing order to pay a larger percentage of your money into a UBA Target Account or its equivalent in your location and leave the rest for your day-to-day spending.
Another way is to get a UBA prepaid card and load the specific amount you want to spend or simply download the UBA Mobile app to make sure you do not overshoot your budget. Kindly visit the nearest UBA branch to get one.
4. Be accountable
You can be accountable to yourself or get an accountability partner to help you get back on track when you fall by the wayside. Set a reward and reprimand system for yourself. Each time you strike an item off your to-do list, give yourself a treat no matter how little and when you do not, due to indiscipline, you deny yourself something you enjoy. That way, you would think of the consequences before taking any action.
5. Take it one step at a time
Wanting to do everything at the same time can be overwhelming and may lead you to quit. Be focused on achieving one goal at a time. From the list of things you hope to achieve in the new year, attach a time frame to each of them. If your goal is to transition to a new career, break down the process of achieving this into small bits and do them one after the other instead of jumping into the whole process head-on. Always remember, a win is a win no matter how small.
6. Don’t be afraid of challenges
See every obstacle as a learning curve, not an excuse to give up. It’s nice to cut yourself some slack sometimes. If you don’t succeed the first time, try, try again.
7. Set goals you are passionate about
This is vital so you don’t end up chasing shadows. Your goals should not be based on other people’s goals. The fact that other people are headed in a particular direction at the moment doesn’t mean you should be pressured to join the bandwagon if that’s not what you really want for yourself. Doing what you are not convinced is right for you can be tedious no matter how exciting you might try to make it.
A basic example of this is, let’s say your goal for the new year is to lose weight and one of the processes is to take long walks but you loathe those, you can simply replace this process with a fun activity that you enjoy doing that also helps you burn calories like dancing. After all, they say the end justifies the means.
Being your own competition will always take the pressure off you, so get up and go better yourself!
Read Also: How to Plan for Retirement
