2020 is finally here, and I’m back from my finals week and Christmas hiatus. I hope everyone did well on finals and enjoyed their Christmas. Anyway, since today marks the start of a new year AND a new decade, I figured I should make a post about how to make this year and this decade a great one. I know every year I make a ton of goals and resolutions, but I’m hoping this year will be the year I can actually keep these goals. So, I have some tips on how to make and keep realistic goals, and how to just have an all-around good year.
Making Realistic Goals
My first tip to jump into the new year is to be realistic. Don’t make goals for things that you can’t control. Realistic goals would be losing a set amount of weight or drinking a certain amount of water every day. A good way to tell if you are being realistic is whether you can measure what your goal is. If you can’t keep track of progress or measure progress it probably isn’t a very realistic goal, and it will be harder to achieve than goals you can keep track of.
Staying Motivated and Positive
This is another big thing that can apply both to your goals and just for improving your life this year. I know that I personally have a problem with being very negative and pessimistic. I have a tendency to immediately jump to worse case scenarios, and it can make me and sometimes the people I’m with miserable. Because of this one of my goals for the year is to try to find something good in every day and write it down in a notebook. I believe that working to stay positive will help make the year seem much better. There’s also staying motivated. Staying motivated is a huge part of achieving your goals. If you lose motivation and slack off, you will more than likely revert back to old tendencies, and then you lose the progress that had been made.
Staying Organized
If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m kinda a neat freak. I know for me, staying organized has a huge role in my motivation and progress. Making a plan to achieve your goals will help you know how to go about achieving your goal, and it will just make you feel relieved and organized. As I’ve said many times and I’ll say it again I highly suggest getting a planner or starting a bullet journal. A planner or bullet journal will allow you to set deadlines for your goals and also helps you stay organized when it comes to school and work.
Take Risks
Ok, this obviously is more just life advice that doesn’t really apply to goals. As someone who has anxiety and usually ends up overthinking literally everything, taking risks is pretty hard for me. However, I’ve learned that if you don’t take risks you may never know what could’ve happened if you did, so one of my goals for this year is to take more risks and be bold. Also, when I say risks I don’t mean doing dangerous or illegal things, I mean doing things that normally you would be afraid to do. Talk to someone you’ve never talked to before, tell the guy you like that you like him, ride that rollercoaster you’ve always been scared of, play your instrument in front of the entire class, things like this will make you feel more confident, and eventually, you may even stop stressing out about every little mistake in life.
Have Fun and Do Things You Love
While making goals and working hard is an important part of life and will teach you important life lessons it’s also so, so important to take some time off and do things that you enjoy and to have some fun. I used to always think that you could only have fun or do special things if it was a special occasion, but sometimes you need to just live in the moment and have fun. Especially if you’re like me and still in high school. High school is only four years of our life before we go off into the big wide world to be adults, and I think it’s important to make the most of it and enjoy it a little bit. So, go hang out with friends, take a selfie and post it to Instagram, talk to the guy you like, listen to music at full volume, do all the things you love with all the people you love.
I challenge everyone to go and make 2020 your year and to spend the year doing things you love and achieving all your goals. Life is too short to waste time doing things you don’t like and to give up on your goals every year. So, here’s to a great year and decade.
-Emily
Bookworm Girl 