In this article, I will be sharing some tips that I have learned over the years on how to improve every aspect of your life for the new year. The new year is a great opportunity to reflect on your life, remind yourself of your goals and grow yourself. But remember, you can also do that every day, and you don’t require a specific day to get started – just get started!

These tips will hopefully be a bit different and also it’s all about reflection so reflect on how you are doing in that particular aspect right now, and what your dream self would be doing.

I will be focusing on 5 different aspects of life – health, relationships, religion, school and social media.

Health 

Now health consists of 2 main categories – physical health and mental health.

For physical health, I would suggest investing time and even money if needed to work on your body. Schedule times in your weekly routine where you will focus on your physical health, whether it is the time to meal prep, the times where you will exercise or even when you will do your skincare routine.

For mental health, I would highly recommend being more mindful. This could be done by regularly checking up with yourself on how you are feeling by either meditating, journaling or even talking to a loved one.

Relationships

Our family and friends are really important. Hopefully, you have spent some time with your loved ones to enjoy the beginning of this new, wonderful year, but if not, now is the chance. Reconnect with your loved ones and give time to them. And one thing that I think everyone needs to improve on with our relationships is listening more. Everyone loves to talk about themselves but remember to listen more and make the other person feel heard. In no way does this mean that you can’t talk about what you are interested in but try to listen more attentively, as it will help you to build closer, long-lasting relationships with others.

Religion

I could not post this article without talking about my beautiful religion Islam. Islam is the ultimate source of peace and happiness and if you have a religion or you are a Muslim reading this, my advice would be to reflect. Of course, reflection is key for everything, but specifically for religion, I do believe that it is your own personal and close relationship with God and only you know how you feel about God, what you believe in and what you commit to doing. As a Muslim, you can ask yourself: when was the last time I prayed? When was the last time I read a few verses of the Quran? Be honest with yourself, and remember to be kind to yourself. If you feel embarrassed or guilty, do not fret, Allah is there with open arms to forgive His slaves so seek forgiveness sincerely and you are already one step closer. Through reflection and research, you can then start to guide your own path to becoming closer to God.

School

As an A-Level student myself, I could not forget school and studies. School can be quite stressful at times, especially around this time when you may be having exams. My tips would be to definitely take a pause and start to look at what revision techniques you are using for each subject and your daily routine for school. Is there any way you can improve it? Work on your weaknesses and don’t be afraid to also change a few things around if needed and if they are not working for you. Get advice from people who have gone through the same school year you are in right now, and then choose what you want to follow and what you don’t want to follow.

Social Media

The last one that I wanted to mention which is easy to forget yet so many people indulge in every day is social media. Social media is such a huge part of your lives. And therefore, this is the time when you want to look at your social media profile. Who are you currently following? Who do you look at? Are they having a positive impact on your life? After reflecting on this and making necessary changes, you can then schedule times where you won’t look at social media. This is not a social media detox where you don’t look at your social media for 1 month and then instantly start using it for 5 hours a day again. This is scheduling times in the day where you won’t look at social media during the day e.g. right when you wake up in the morning, 

Those were my 5 aspects that I wanted to focus on. Again, instead of giving ideas of goals you can have (which I am sure you already know), I wanted to instead help you build a closer relationship with yourself, look at the flaws and weaknesses, and work on them. This year is the year of healing and growing, and if you agree with that, then please make sure to stay tuned in this blog for more articles, related to self-development, food, travel and positivity.

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Thank you so much for reading, and have a lovely day!

So without any further ado, let’s get started:

Why can’t some people achieve their goals?

• Not specific enough
• No deadline
• No way of incorporating it in their routine
• Not a priority
• Not attainable
• Not measurable 
• No motivation

These may be some of the reasons why you are not able to achieve your goals. You need to figure out what is keeping you from achieving these goals.

How can you really achieve your goals?

Step 1: Identify what type of person you are right now

Before you dive into the meat of how to achieve goals, you have to figure out your starting point which is who you are right now. Try to identify what type of person you are in 5 different aspects in your life e.g. family, friends, career/education, hobbies/spirituality and health. Be quite detailed on this and this will assist you on reflecting who you are right now and give you direction to your goals. For example, you may realise in terms of health, that you may be exercising very little.

Step 2: Identify who you want to become

After realising who you are as a person, you now want to start thinking about your dream life and the exact person you want to be. Again, make a table or create a vision board and write what your ‘dream identity’ would be doing on each of those 5 aspects you focused on earlier. You may start to really discover those things that you want to do. For example, your ‘dream identity’ might be exercising at least once a week in the ‘health’ aspect.  

Step 3: Write specific steps on each aspect

By doing the previous step, you now know how you want to be in each aspect of your life. It is now time to break down each step. For example, in your ‘health’ aspect of your table or vision board, you may have said that you want to exercise once a week. Now you really want to ask yourself the following questions: What type of exercise will you do? What time of the day will you do this? Do you need to buy a gym membership? How long will you exercise? Answer these questions.

Step 4: Break it down

Now that you know all the details of every small statement on each aspect of your ‘dream identity’, you can start to really take those steps to ensure that you fulfill these goals. For example, if you want to treadmill at the gym once a week, get yourself a gym membership as soon as possible.

Step 5: Incorporate it into your to do lists and/or habit tracker

You have paid for your gym membership. You know all the steps to go and exercise so go ahead and write down your first day of ‘exercise’ in your planning system or to-do list where you plan every day. If you want to gym every Sunday for one hour, add it to every Sunday of your academic yearly planner or bullet journal. You could also add it to your habit tracker.

Step 6: Don’t focus on the outcome. It is a system and a lifestyle change, not a temporary goal.

When writing it on your to-do list for the month, remember that this is not something that you will stop after a certain period. It is a lifestyle change. If you plan to exercise once a week, it is something you may want to do for the rest of your life. So enjoy the journey when you exercise every time and don’t necessarily focus on the outcome.

Step 7: Consistency.

The last step is extremely important. You need to pick yourself up in the days where you feel like to break out of that ‘dream identity’. Embody that ‘dream identity’ every day and whenever you don’t feel like going and doing something, ask yourself what your ‘dream identity’ would be doing. Don’t make it a dream anymore, make it a reality, Be consistent.

Those were some of the ways that you can fulfill your goals. Follow this step-by-step guide and this may help you to really achieve your goals and make it a reality in 2021.

What is your number 1 goal for 2021? Comment down below.

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Thank you for reading, and have a lovely day!