If you’re of sound mind and body, and nothing catastrophic befalls you, you’re going to live into the next year, 2020.
And we humans love symbolism. So it’s fair to say 2020 is going to be perceived as the year of radical change for many.
But if you’re still operating on 2005, 2010, or even 2019 habits and systems, you’ll find yourself just where you’ve always been. So it’s important to start putting the right habits and systems to make you successful. I’ve been thinking about the areas I’ll be working on so I’m in the right mental, emotional, financial, and spiritual space for next year. I hope you try some of these too…
1. Setting Up Systems For Success
It’s time to stop relying on hope or willpower to get your goals realized. Everything you want to achieve in the coming year(s) is down to the steps you take.
Get into the habit of knowing the numbers of your goals. Then, establish the daily, weekly, and monthly steps you will take. This builds habit, which is what will ultimately make you win in 2020.
2. Improving Your Respect For Time
In order to achieve your goals, you will need to be clear on the time you’re willing to put in. This means from now, you’ll need to establish newfound respect for how you spend time.
Before the year is over, assess what you do with your time day-to-day. Even better, but an hourly rate against the tasks you do every day. If you’re not where you want to be financially, you may have to do the everyday things. But soon you’ll realize it’s cheaper to order your groceries, hire someone to clean your space or fix your computer
Remember, you can do anything. But you shouldn’t do everything.
Respecting your time requires you to be in a new mindset, and let go of the 80% of tasks that are giving you 20% returns.
3. Improving Your Relationship With Money
Financial goals top nearly everyone’s list. However, we continue to have a bad relationship with our finances. For instance, you may not know what’s coming in and what’s going out. Or you avoid checking your bank balance because you know there’s some serious damage done.
Establish the habit of knowing the numbers. Get comfortable having conversations about your financial goals, your current debt, your financial fears and habits that need to be broken. The last quarter of 2019 is a great opportunity to meet with a financial planner or coach to put those systems (see#1) in place to make you successful.
4. Being Unafraid To Expand Your Network
In a recent podcast, producer Ryan Leslie talks about the power of your network. A simple example he used was the contacts on your phone. Most people only talk to 3–5% of the people on their phones. However, there is a significant power in expanding that number. Sharing your skills and exchanging knowledge with your network could accelerate your dreams and financial goals.
Expanding your network could be a challenging and scary thing to do, especially if you’re introverted like I am. However, to get the things we want would require us to start doing things out of our comfort zone. There’s power in your phone, it’s about time to start using it.
5. Improving the way you treat yourself
Before you decide to make any changes in the coming year, check-in on how you treat yourself.
- Is there any negative self-talk?
- Can your diet, and exercise improve?
- Are there emotional blocks in the way?
Getting the things we want often requires us to level up who we are. That’s impossible to do without caring about ourselves. In the end, we may get less, more, or exactly what we need. But we should be proud of the person we become in the process.
Conclusion
With a big milestone just around the corner, now is a great time to start building the right habits to see the results you want. Start jotting down your 2020 goals now. Be clear on what you’re not doing right now that’s keeping you from achieving them, then start making those changes today. When January comes around, you’ll be further ahead than most. And who does not like a headstart?