Whether you are planning on losing weight, making more money, saving money, getting organized, or even managing your time better, this year can be your most productive year ever to achieve your goal! But how do you positively influence your daily life to bring you closer to that goal? This post will give you several ways to make this year your most productive year ever resulting in knocking that goal out of the park. Let's begin!
How are you spending your time right now?
Let's first start and see how you are spending your time. To do this, we need to figure out when and where you are wasting your time during your day and when and where you can add a new habit during your day. Are there things in your day that are purely a waste of time? Binge watching shows, watching YouTube videos for hours on end, eating late at night just because - whatever it is for you. No need to judge yourself, just acknowledge that that is one habit you want to get rid of. Now figure out how much time you will save if you don't do this habit. Break that amount down into minutes so you see truly how much time you can save each day. Now, you are ready to move forward. Let go of everything you did in the past that wasn't working and make a conscious effort to move forward to a more productive year.
Habits are a double edge sword. Bad habits can cut you down. Just as easily as good habits can bring you up. - James Clear, From Atomic Habits
Powerful Ways to have your Most Productive Year EVER
First, what is the most important thing you want to do this year? Not everything can be the most productive so determine one thing that you will above all else succeed at this year. Sit down and write the goal. Include how you want to be in this goal. It's important to include specific behaviors, where you see yourself, and other details to set the picture for this goal. The more specific on how you personally want to be after you achieve the goal the better.
Be specific about your daily / monthly tasks. What can you work on each day to get you closer to your goal? Remember baby steps are easier to complete than larger steps. Ask yourself, what's the next step in the process to get me closer to the goal? Write all these steps down to reinforce your process. I like using a large markerboard or large piece of paper. Lay it out on the floor and start your writing. Write your goal at the top. Then draw a line down to determine your steps to get there. You can write things under the goals like: What will I do each day? What will I do each month? When will I reassess the goal process? When I do this task daily, how long will it take for me to do it? What other healthy habits do I perform that I can connect to this new task so I will remember to do it? James Clear, author of Atomic Habits
(affiliate), states create your sentence like this, "I will ____(habit) at _____(time) in _____(location)."
All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. - James Clear from Atomic Habits
What didn't work before? What goes on right now that deters you from achieving your goal? Now, this is where you can be the devil's advocate. Allow yourself time to indulge in the negative thoughts. Determine what didn't work before to achieve this goal? How did you feel when you didn't achieve this goal? How is this goal different from previous goals you didn't achieve before? Looking at the reasons this goal was succeeded before will remind you of what not to do and spark some inspiration on what to do this time around.
Be passionate about your goal and reward yourself when you succeed with the different new habits. Enthusiasm is a wonderful motivator. We need it to push us to do and to achieve. If we lose it through the process, the goal will fizzle out like when you run out of gas driving your car. It will force you to stop and it may be difficult for you to get back to where you were before. To keep your passion going for your goal, create thresholds and rewards throughout the year. So when you achieve the next threshold, you will instantly be rewarded the predetermined reward. No thinking to yourself, "how can I reward myself because I achieved ________(blank)." You will already have them set.
Be committed to your new goal and life. Remember that making a productive life change is not about all the little tasks that you perform in a year. It's about transforming the way you feel about what you are doing with your life. Make it sustainable and look at this new goal as being the first part of your new life. It can be scary. And, it will be! But it is not impossible. Moving forward to better yourself and your life will make you feel happier about where you are - resulting in confidence. You may even want to start sharing your process with others to help them get motivated to have a productive year as well.
Whatever goal you decide for this year, make it one that you truly want to do. Not every goal or habit change needs to be monumental. It can easily be something that you have always wanted to adjust about yourself. Taking the above steps into account will make you that much more likely to reach the goal. I hope this post helps you see that it is possible to move forward and change your life for the better.
To help you stay focused on how to make this year the most productive year ever, I found these two posts from other experts plus two posts from our blog. I hope it helps you spark taking action in your life to achieve that goal. Feel free to come back and comment below on this post and let us know how it is going for you!
15 Ways To Have The Most Productive Year Of Your Life
21 Tips to Become the Most Productive Person You Know
Best Goal Setting Advice You Were Ever Told
Don't leave yet! Over the last several years, I read several of these books to help me get more productive as a small business owner. I hope they help you as well. If you wish to purchase these books below, I will get a small referral fee that doesn't increase your cost whatsoever. Hope you have a productive year.
We cut the cable cord last year and it freed up some much of my time. I feel like I'm not in a rush anymore, but I have so much more time. I'm able to plan projects with a realistic time frame. So I got rid of a bad habit to have more time for good habits.
That's great, Janet. Thanks for stopping by and sharing.
"Atomic Habits" was one of the books I read and loved last year. Charles Duhigg's book, "The Power of Habits," was another favorite of mine. There are so many ways to create positive habits and remove bad ones. I think in all scenarios, the simpler and smaller, the better. One of the things I remember from Duhigg's book was the idea of keystone habits. When we change a habit that falls into the "keystone" area, it can create other positive habits to automatically form in the process with minimal, if any effort. For example, if you decide to introduce the habit of walking 15 minutes a day, that could easily influence healthier eating choices.
The more specific we are about our goals, and the more we consider why we haven't reached them yet, the more likely it is that we will reach them! In business (and in one of my blog posts) we call them S.M.A.R.T. Goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-specific). I agree that Identifying your biggest time-waster is a great way to find the time to work on your goal!
You and I are definitely on the same page. I'm loving sharing ideas for staying motivated and achieving goals and resolutions. January is the perfect month to think through all of these things. I am a big James Clear fan as well:) Here's to a productive, rewarding and enthusiastic year!
Great points that everyone can work on.