With the holidays fast approaching many of us are already making plans for 2018 and eager to ring in the New Year, but hold your horses! There are still 30+ days left in the year and if you maximize your time now rather than waiting for “New Year, new me” it will make the transition that much smoother. Today I’m sharing a few tips to help you prepare for the New Year and actually stick to those resolutions!

The first and most important step before taking action is to sit down and answer the following questions. For best results, I suggest writing down your answers which will help you to visualize and strategize. What projects am I working on now? Are there any projects I must finish before the year comes to a close? What do I want to take with me into the new year? What do I want to leave behind? What areas did I excel in this year? What didn’t I get a chance to accomplish in 2017? Imagine your ideal day. What would a “perfect” day look like in your world? How far away are you from having that perfect day?

Choose a theme for the year. I did this last year without even realizing it, and it helped tremendously. I decided that 2017 would be my “foundational” year. Meaning that I would bust my a** to build the foundation for the rest of my years to come, no matter what I had to sacrifice. I didn’t care if 2017 was my least glamorous, fun or even memorable year. I stopped worrying about missing out on events, dating or living outside of my financial means because I knew these things wouldn’t contribute to the foundation I was building. Not only did that help me stick to my goals but it also helped a lot when I did fail because I would remember “this is just the foundational year“.

• Maybe your past few years have been a snoozefest and you just want 2018 to be fun. That’s perfectly fine too! Pick a theme and run with it but be sure it isn’t too specific that you put yourself in a box. Place reminders of your theme everywhere until every move you make falls in line with it.
• Bonus tip: If 2017 was particularly rough, I would recommend theming 2018 as your “transitional” year. Often times hard circumstances change us drastically and putting pressure on yourself to get back on your feet or heal a heartbreak overnight will only cause you more stress. Give yourself time to transition from a shitty year to an ideal one. Sometimes time is the only thing between you and your best life!

Cut your goals into bite sized pieces. I used to place very high expectations on myself thinking it would encourage me to stick to my goals but it would only make me feel like a failure when I couldn’t reach them. For example, instead of just saying ” I want to pay off all my student debt”, create a payment plan with your loan provider using a realistic timeline and monthly budget to cut down your loans month by month. Not only will it feel rewarding knowing you’re that much closer to your goal but you’ll finally be turning that desire into an action.

Create a vision board. Some people retain things faster visually, so this an option for those who need a daily reminder. Put things on your board that you want but also the steps and tools you’ll need to get those things. Bonus tip: Center your visual board around the theme you chose!

I want you all to live your best life in 2018 and I hope I’ve provided you with some tips that will help you get there! If you would like more advice or motivation, send me a message on my contact page and I’d be more than happy to help!

xoxo- G