It what may have seemed like a blink of the eye, 2018 is pretty much over. Thanksgiving is long gone at this point and Chanukah started last night. So now begins the time when you should be reflecting on how the year went for you. What went well and what didn't. Is there anything that you can improve upon? Is there anything need or can do without? Ok, now that we got that out of the way. What's the plan for 2019?
I'm all for reflecting on the past and all but here's the thing: there's not much you can do about it at this point. So do some reflection and learn as much as you can from the past year but don't linger too long. Use the time that you've spent worrying about that thing from 6 months ago (that no one else remembers) to start coming up with a plan for how you're going to spend the next 6 months.
I feel like what usually happens is New Year's day arrives and people start making resolutions with no clue about how they are going to make them into reality. Other than using grit and resolve. Spoiler alert: that doesn't work. (Which is why half the people reading this are thinking about or even trying to remember what their 2018 resolutions were.)
So instead let's try to make 2019 different. The way to do that is by coming up with an action plan now. Don't wait until January. If you do, you'll lose half of the month just trying to figure out what you want to do and the logistics of how you could possibly do it.
I'd also say if you want to be successful at 2019 resolutions, think beyond 2019. What do you want your life to be like in 2020 or 2025 even? Thinking about and having long term goals (l year plus) gives you something to work toward and a way to measure progress.
The measuring of progress is key. When you only have short term goals, it becomes a "did I" or "didn't I" situation. Either you accomplished the goal or you didn't. If you didn't you that can be stressful psychologically which can affect how you handle the next goal.
Having long term goals allows you to ask if you got closer to accomplishing them. Even if you miss a short term goal you can get closer to long term ones. This relieves some of the stress and allows you to keep momentum. Having a long term goal also allows you to change direction. Meaning you can scrap a short term goal for something else that will get you to your long term goal faster.
All of this is to say that, if you want to be successful with resolutions in 2019 then that process has to start now and you have to consider well beyond 2019. Like I said appreciate all that went well in 2018 and learn from whatever didn't go so well. Just don't let time spent doing that slow down your success in 2019.
