We have all indeed woven through the threads of experience. Through the anticipation, confusion, closed chapters, fear of failure, navigating through the manual of success, claw marks of struggle and the curtain of this phase is slowly closing up.
The year is coming to an end, 2022 will soon be a wrap and so much must have happened through the bumpy and smooth ride, through the handshakes and goodbye, you must have given and taken, learned and unlearned, taken risks and sank in the shell of uncertainty. And in all, you are striving to peel success and growth from this phase.
Many persons are already thinking of what and what not to include in their 2023 new year journey, the boundaries to set, the lines of prosperity and growth to draw, steps to take to incur a life change, how to find their authentic purpose, and the bridge to finding a balance.
Some questions to ask before the New Year comes in might as well be adopted. Questions to ask yourself that can serve as reflective journal prompts for the year new 2023:
- What are the things I want to accomplish before the end of the year?
- What foundations do I want to set in place to get a good start in the new year?
- What projects do I want to wrap up?
- What intentions am I setting?
- What has slowed your progress this year?
Perhaps, you might be one of those persons who are waiting till the New Year to begin to make plans and work towards actualizing them. I prep for the New Year before the days start rolling in.
So this piece will serve as a guide on how to set your end of the year goals and achieve them. Perhaps, you have given up on this year and you are earnestly looking forward to next year to begin to fulfill your goals, there is still enough time to achieve those year-end goals.
The goals might not be completed in the few weeks left but the step taken towards the route of success now can bring so much to light. Every progress, no matter how minute is still progress, so there’s no need to beat yourself up and think you’ve failed this year.
Life is everything that happens when we are busy planning, the sides of the reality the coin flips each time we least expect and as a result, it could be overwhelming, daunting and stressful to accept that big shift.
I’ll share a little secret with you: As at this time last year, my life was on a halt; I have been sharing my development journey but haven’t said much about my financial state.
2018 was a critically rough financial year; my finance was shoveled down, I had the idea to start a blog but I was financially limited that I couldn’t partake in the holiday, visit my family or have a neutral Christmas holiday and it was one of the most depressing moments of my life. I wished I could push the hands down to 2022.
My finance was down the drain that I had to set up a fundraising campaign to get me up on my feet and the concluding part of the year I vowed to outlined all my failed goals or intentions and channel a plan of success and with the change of routine, goal setting, and financial hacks, I was able to turn my story around in few months.
From a blog I have been able to build a brand, hire staff, set up 4 Blogs; I didn’t wait for the new year to roll in before setting my new year intentions and goals. So trust me, my friend, when I say I understand the anxiety that ushers in uncertainty. I know!
I have been hearing a lot of rants about the new decade rolling in and the thought of it ushers in anxiety to me. The year is coming to an end quite alright, we are approaching a new decade but I want you to relax, soak in the last moments but get your mind fixed on you and the activities that attract the energy you get. I will be doing the same.
While life is a funny phenomenon and oftentimes uncontrollable, Here are 10 end of the year goals you can set and how to achieve them.
1. Decide To Be More Focused And Proactive
The idea behind being proactive was developed to ensure responsibility and enable us to take charge of our life and the activities around us. As the year comes to an end and we retire for the holidays to spend time with friends and family, one important goal we can set for ourselves is the decision to be proactive.
Being proactive helps to give you something to look forward to in life, despite the myriad of chaos that might envelop you. Being proactive helps one keep a positive attitude in life because no matter the challenges, one is already forward-looking and posed to surmount challenges as they come.
At the beginning of the year, you might have promised yourself to be up and doing, to never let your back be shoved against the wall roughly, but as earlier stated, life had its plans. I was once in that horrible situation too.
I saw my goals existing in a vacuum and year seemed like it was going to end with me existing in nothingness. Truth is, it is never too late to still bounce back as the year spirals to a close and decide to be anticipatory about your life, the coming days and the future.
2. Let Go Of The Past And Toxicity
A lot has happened in the past months, lines might have been crossed, relationships built, mistakes made out of fear or uncertainty which is quite normal. Man is a social being and in the course of interacting a lot of negativity is released and induced that steals joy and creates a bridge of toxicity.
If you want to be free in the new year, you have to stop entrapping yourself in the prison of these past sour experiences or the things you haven’t been able to achieve.
If you want to see the light, stop holding yourself in the darkness of your past; release the heavyweight. If you don’t want limitations to hold you down, let every resentment and hate go as you create your best life.
You will never embrace a thief to take a position in your house, so my friend, do not give room to toxicity and negative thoughts that siphon your joy and sinks your mind.
You might have had a toxic relationship, someone might have done you wrong or hurt you, or be involved in a negative confrontation, do not allow it to live in your mind, stealing joy from the rest of your thoughts. Let go of such energy! Negativity is a virus that simply reduces the quality of your life, so my friend, do not degrade yourself!
Even within yourself, let go of any mess, mistakes or limitations that can churn you away from positivity. Do not usher into your mental health such leads of toxicity:
- Let go of the limitations you have induced.
- Forgive yourself.
- Let go of self-sabotage.
- Let go of comparison.
- Let yourself be fully and imperfectly human.
3. Reconnect With Yourself
While you’re giving to people and spending time with the people you love, one easy goal you can achieve is to spend time with yourself. During the year, you might have spent time trying to connect with others.
The end of the year can be a period for you to meditate and do the things you love by yourself. It could be something simple as staying in bed for one day or going to see a movie you love by yourself.
I make it a duty and it has become a sort of ritual to spend quality time with myself before I step into the New Year. Knowing fully well that Christmas is a hustle and bustle time; trying to get every family member settled in, trying to cook or make the perfect dish can be very tasking and tiring.
I therefore choose a week before the holidays every year where I do my own thing- visit friends, go sightseeing, read a good book, binge watch YouTube videos, paint my nails, meditate for hours, take a long baths, make my hair, drink coffee and just have a perfect ‘me’ time.
Time is never one of our greatest allies and sometimes it seems it conspires against us to put us at a disadvantage. We try to give a fair or equal proportion of the said time to friends, family, work, and religion amongst other variables.
It is important that we spend time attending to our needs especially when we are constantly on the move of survival. This is the time to slow down and tilt into the lane of self-care, this could be in the littlest form of going for a thorough health check-up. When was the last time you had a schedule with your doctor or a dentist?
Setting time out for yourself is a quintessential element you must factor into your end of the year goals.
4. Put Your Finances In Order
It is not uncommon to see people already preparing their budget for the year 2023, which is not a bad thing in itself but we must not fail to realize that there are still few days left this year. That said, one goal we can set as the year winds up is to put our financial houses in order. Repair every fallen or broken brick, plaster every crack and sweep away every unnecessary debris.
Review your accounts and be certain that every reimbursement return qualifies for it. Plan your financial paperwork before your taxes are due. Ensure your credit card score is in the right shape, so your account looks more promising, and outline a savings budget to save you from the lanes of loans.
One other way to do this is to begin to save money as the year ends. Have it at the back of your mind that nothing is too small and whatever you save is still your money.
5. Decide Upon A New Morning Wake Up Routine
Why not decide before you step into the New Year to change your wake up routine? The year saw you rushing and jumping from your bed to the bathroom, brush stuck in your mouth, sock wrapped around one of your legs, hair all tangled up.
Decide that as the year comes to an end, you will cultivate the habit of going to bed earlier, never passing out on your couch in the living room, waking up early enough that you do not need to dress hurriedly and shabbily to work, you will develop a healthy night routine, morning routine, and even weekend routine.
Decide that you will make your bed every morning before you step out of the house. Plan to try as much as possible to rise when your alarm goes off and while you are at it, you might want to decide not to snooze your alarm when it goes off.
6. Volunteer Your Time To A Cause
You might have spent a good deal of the year taking care of yourself, attending to your well being and just being intentional about your growth and development and while that is not a bad idea, nothing beats relegating yourself to the background and taking care of the needs of others.
As we say goodbye to 2022 and welcome 2023, why not decide to give an hour, few hours, a day, a week to the care and need of others? You might not need to travel to a Third World country to help or provide assistance to people in need.
In your community, there is a homeless man, a tramp out there in the cold, care homes for the aged and elderly and so on. Look around your neighborhood and see folks who are in dire need of help; those are the people you can and should volunteer your time to help.
7. Decide And Learn To Say Thank You
In a few days, we would be in the festive aroma of Christmas and as we get closer, your neighborhood will be painted with the colors of merriment. You can take this period as an opportunity to look back and be grateful for the successes recorded so far. Deciding to say thank you might look easy and all, but it is essential.
Appreciate your friends! Thank them for always being there for you, thank them for being concerned about your growth, thank them for helping you through the rough patches of your life, thank them for making 2022 a wonderful year, thank them for calling, thank them for the gifts, the dinner, the amazing cup of coffee, reading your blog, etc. There are so many things to be grateful for.
8. Do More Exercises Or Any Form Of Physical Activity
I dislike strenuous exercises (not that any exercise is that easy) but you won’t ever catch me doing stuff like weight lifting, mountain climbing or the tug-of-war.
However, as the year comes to an end and you begin to set achievable goals, it might be necessary to add exercise to the list. It could be to shed some pounds, to let go of stress, to develop a better body or just for the thrill of exercising (or maybe even doctor’s order).
Whatever your reasons, finding a physical activity or exercise you enjoy, maybe hiking, bike riding, skipping (which yours truly is a big fan of) can be very rewarding and interesting. The deal is to find the one you love and be intentional about doing it.
9. Attend Concerts Or Events In Your Environment
Attend a Christmas concert or a carol organized by your community or church. The goal is to have as much fun as possible, to let go of work and responsibilities and just be free of duties.
Scream, sing karaoke, take selfies, smile at strangers, be happy, bask in the holiday season and just enjoy yourself!
10. Read A Book Or Two
For most of us, reading a book always makes our New Year resolution but somehow we never get around to doing it. It is easy to say the year is winding up and we’d slide it into a New Year but isn’t that the thing with New Year resolutions and procrastination? Two peas in a pod.
About reading books, I’ve had a significant experience. A few years back, I had difficulties with my writing. Especially for my academic writing, I had serious issues and had no inspiration to write.
The year had been extremely stressful and I just couldn’t wait to begin a New Year because I was certain that in the New Year I would pursue all my goals fiercely.
While laying on my bed one morning, I looked at the stack of books on the table beside my bed and decided to pick one of them to read, hoping it would cure my boredom and help the time rush by.
Turns out the book was going to serve as veritable reference material in most academic writing and would usher me to other books that would make the end of that year worth it. It would also be the reason I would get more serious with my New Year’s goals and writing in general.
You do not necessarily need to put pressure on yourself to finish a bulky book or lengthy text. It could simply be you reading a magazine or journal or dedicating 15 minutes to reading that book daily. We might be just a few weeks away to a new year, but you can still gain useful knowledge.
I hope you enjoyed reading this list of 10 easy End of The Year Goals to Set and How to Achieve Them. You might not be able to do all on the list but you can pick one, two or more goals on the list to try out and see how that pans put for you.
If you have any more suggestions or you want to tell us how these goals worked out for you, I’ll be glad to read them in the comment section. Thank you once again and do have a beautiful holiday.
For You
My dear, as the empty slate of the future emerges, I want you to guide yourself with positivity and steadiness through this transitory period. There are so much time and opportunity waiting to be driven down the road of 2023.
Do not let the same limitations, anxiety, uncertainty, and mistakes conform you. The theory of planning and having a life built on the bricks of success can be overwhelming but as long as you are steadfast, moving one step at a time even in the search for mindfulness, you must succeed!
Put nothing more into the future than one foot in front of the other and as you continue my friend, you can achieve your goals and intentions!
Looking back, I am an entirely different person to who I was a year ago, and the year before that and am slowly adopting, shedding my former self as I grow. It hasn’t been easy and it won’t be easy but with the continual effort, you’ll get there.
In all, I want you to know that uncertainty of the future is a luxury that was never meant to exist, so take it slowly and do not beat yourself over the blank slate.
I wish everyone reading this a Merry Christmas in advance. 2023 in a bit, are you excited? Well, I am and can’t wait to see what the new year has to offer.
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