New Year, New Me: Set Your Next New Year's Resolutions with Our Comprehensive Guide

Wilson Machoco -

Writing a New Year's resolution has become an annual tradition for many of us. However, for those unfamiliar with this practice, a New Year's resolution is,  as defined by Cambridge, "a promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year:". Cool isn't it? Nevertheless, why should we even go through the hassle of making a New Year's plan?

In short, resolutions can provide a fresh start, help us plan our course for the future, and even boost our mood. The mere thought of accomplishing a small milestone can fuel our self-love and enhance our overall well-being. Now that we've got the basics covered, let's dive straight into our topic.

To enable you to effectively prepare and ensure that you follow through with your New Year's self-improvement plan, we at ZNotes have taken the time to research and evaluate various methods on how to approach this task. We have drummed up the perfect A-Z guide on accomplishing resolutions just for you!

Choose your battles

The first step in our journey is selecting a destination. However, keep in mind not to aim too far or too close. We recommend breaking down your goals into four categories:

  • Finance
  • Wellbeing
  • Career
  • Love

Finance

Choose a realistic financial goal you'd like to achieve in 2024 and write it down on a list. Select about 10-15 goals, which may include buying a better TV, upgrading your transportation method, etc. Now, imagine you could acquire any one of those items right now - what would you choose? The answer to this question becomes your priority goal. Next, create a step-by-step process on how you can achieve that priority goal. Go on, I'll wait.

Done?

What you've just executed is called Decomposing a system. If you've studied IGCSE Computer Science, you might recall this concept.

Now, repeat this process. Ask yourself the question, 'If I could get something on this list right now, what would it be?' The answer to this question becomes your second goal in the list of priorities. Repeat until you've asked yourself that question for all the goals on the list.

Congratulations! You have successfully ranked your financial goals!

Wellbeing

This category includes physical goals, including regular exercise, a healthy diet, gratitude, journaling, etc. Now, for this category, we'll use an adapted version of the 'Decomposing a system' technique. The first thing you are going to do is start small; instead of diving headfirst, we are going to gradually induce discipline.

"Discipline is the strongest form of self love, it's ignoring something you want right now for something better later on. Discipline reveals the commitment you have to your dream, especially on days that you don't want to." -Jordan Ferrone

To begin, you will start by implementing oversimplified versions of your goal. For example, if you want to reduce your consumption of fizzy drinks, you could limit yourself to one fizzy drink every two weeks during the first two months of 2024. Then, in the third and fourth months, you can limit yourself to one fizzy drink every three weeks. In the fifth and sixth months, allow yourself only one fizzy drink per month. By the seventh month of 2024, aim to completely eliminate fizzy drinks from your diet. Now, repeat this technique for every well-being goal you've created.

Career

The career category isn't limited to people who have jobs; it also includes students because studying too amounts to a career! Now, let's rerun the drill. Choose a goal, and let it be anything under the sun. It could be getting better grades, securing a promotion, or even successfully completing an academic comeback. Ask yourself the holy question again, 'If I could get something on this list right now, what would it be?'.  The answer to that question is now your priority goal. Repeat this process until all your goals are covered and get ready to start your professional ascent.

Remember to always write down what you have to do to achieve those goals and divide those steps into sub-parts until they seem indivisible. This is your starting point.

Love

Now, this...this is a difficult one to approach. There is no 100% effective step-by-step plan on how to meet your love-related goals, but we did our best. Choose your love goals, such as self-love, finding a partner, fixing your relationship with a family member or friend, etc. The next step is meditating on why you haven't achieved those goals yet. Ask yourself, 'Am I hanging out with the right people?' 'Am I being too close or too open?' 'Is this the right environment for me?' Use those questions to create a map for your destination. And always remember: You can't fully love someone if you don't love yourself.

That was one long read, don't you think? We have reached the end of our session today, but expect more blogs coming out this month. And always keep these words in your heart:

"The future 'You' depends on the current 'You' to keep the promises you made to yourself yesterday."