How to Prepare for 2020

Can you believe 2019 is almost over and we’ll be entering a new DECADE?!

With just a few weeks left in the year, it’s time to really start thinking about 2020 and how you can make it your best year yet.

You know, the human mind is quite strange. We tell ourselves that the New Year will be a new beginning. We’re going to get super healthy and rich and happy. We’ll start taking action January 1st and it will be great.

Sometimes we jus throw ourselves into big goals and dreams without a plan. We think we can make changes in our habits without evaluating why we do the things we do. Why we constantly sabotage ourselves by eating unhealthy, spending too much money, and procrastinating.

Every year you say it will be different, but another year passes and you’re almost in the same exact spot as before. This only leads to disappointment and lack of confidence for years to come.

The steps below should help you determine WHAT is holding you back. WHY you are doing what you’re doing. And HOW to get off to a better start.

We can’t change ourselves overnight, but we can take tiny steps to improve ourselves and actually accomplish what we want to.

With that being said, I truly hope you have an amazing year and follow the steps below to prepare for it.

Audit your year/life

I have a WHOLE post on how to audit your year, but here is a simplified version:

Here’s how you can audit this past year:

First of all, I highly encourage you to grab a notebook and write everything down. I prefer to use notebooks because I keep all of them, which allows me to come back to them in the future and see just how far I have come.

-Write a list of your accomplishments (big AND small!)
-What goals did you make back in January? Did you reach them? If not, why not? Was something holding you back?
-Analyze your “wheel of life” – Rate your satisfaction in each area below:
-Business/Career
-Finances
-Health
-Family and Friends
-Romance
-Personal Growth
-Fun/Recreation
-Physical environment
-List negative habits you have developed and/or broken.
-List positive habits you have developed and/or broken.
-What habits would you like to stop or develop?

Personally, I think it’s best to audit your life every quarter. This helps you stay on track and re-focus.

Reassess your personal mission/dreams

I know resolutions/goal-setting isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. However, I do believe that there is something so refreshing about a New Year that it’s worth it to remind yourself of what you really want this year.

Seriously think about (WRITE DOWN) what you want in your life time. What is your purpose? Why do you wake up every morning? Are you happy?

So many of us are just on auto-pilot, life is just flying by and we just sleep, eat, drive, work, and repeat. What is it that you truly want?

Really think about it and set some goals that align with your dreams. What steps can you take to reach those goals?

Get started/start planning for success

Now that you know what you want in life or you’ve at least set some goals, start planning them out. Break down larger goals into smaller goals. Do what you can to make them more achievable over time so this year isn’t another flop.

Want to get fit? Start planning meals and workouts.

Want to start a blog? Create a website, start writing post ideas, start writing.

Want to save money? Create a budget, track your spending, determine how much you need to save each week/month.

Even better is to get started NOW! Get a head start on your New Year goals so you don’t just fall off by February.

Create a vision board

This year I’m going to create a completely customized, physical vision board.

You could use cut up magazines, but how often do magazines contain what you truly want to achieve?

Find photos online or create photos of EXACTLY what you want. Then print them out and arrange them as you please!

Declutter and deep clean

Forget Spring cleaning, start before the New Year!

Go through your possessions and get rid of everything you don’t truly love or need. Sell, donate, or trash them.

Go through your e-mail inbox and delete or read the overflowing e-mails. Unsubscribe from the people/stores you don’t read anymore. Try to get your unread e-mails down to 0!

Deep clean your home. Show it some love and respect and improve your environment. Dust the walls and baseboards, scrub your showers, tubs, sinks, and toilets, change out your filters and check all of your smoke detectors. After we’ve lived somewhere awhile we start to lose the excitement/love for our space.

Having a fresh start is super inspiring and will help you start the year on the right foot.

Make a change

Use this time to make a change in something in your life. You could change up your wardrobe, your room decor, your hair color, your routine, etc.

The only thing permanent in life IS change, so it’s nothing to be afraid of! Change can be a good thing, especially when you have complete control over it. Change can be really refreshing and it can be a great way to go into the New Year.

Buy a new planner and notebook

Every year I buy a new planner and notebook. Over the years of buying MANY planners, I’ve realized I prefer my planners to have a lot of space and to be quite simple.

Detailed planners make me feel guilty when I don’t use them to their full ability!

For 2020 I bought a cute planner from Wal-Mart!

I also buy a nice, fancy, bound notebook every year. I keep my notebook in my purse/bag because I use it to write down ideas, brainstorm my blog posts and videos, to write down my goals, and to take notes from articles I read.

My notebooks get filled with lots of lists and journaling throughout the year, and it’s pretty cool to have a designated notebook per year.

I also decided I want to have a productivity binder. It’s going to be very organized and will include my goals, ideas, habit tracking, my budget/spending, and so on. More on this later if I end up liking it!

The New Year is always an exciting time no matter how cliche it is. You don’t need a New Year to get started, but the key to success IS getting started.

Preparing yourself for a “fresh start” may just be the inspiration and motivation for you to actually take things seriously this year!

What do you do to plan for the New Year? What are your goals??