Though 2020 has been a year no one was expecting, we can still begin to reflect on our experiences, lessons, and achievements and cultivate our intentions for the coming year.
2020 has taught us that we must continue adapting and evolving, integrating our lessons, and setting goals and intentions to align with our highest selves.
What are some of your reflections and visions for the year of 2021? Here are a few simple tips that may help you truly think about these reflections and visions.
Be patient with yourself.
As the new year starts, we still linger onto issues we are processing from the previous year. 2020 was hard for so many of us.
To prevent ourselves from holding onto past hurt, trauma, bitterness, resentment, and grief in a way that slows down our progress, we must commit to healing and showing up in vulnerable, authentic, and courageous ways for ourselves, the people in our lives, and the world.
It is so important to be patient--with yourself, others, and the universe. In a rushed, distracting world, have the patience to slow down, regroup, and strategize your next move.
It takes a lot of effort and dedication to start a new practice, but with a little understanding, planning, and action, it gets easier. Please be gentle with yourself. Your productivity and accomplishments don’t define you. You are worthy just for existing. You have everything you need within you to take action.
Take a deep breath. Now it’s time to make a plan.
1. Make to-do lists.
As someone who lives life by schedules, classes, and numerous daily tasks, to-do lists become essential to increase productivity and set goals. I tend to keep a to-do list notepad on my desk beside my laptop, that way as soon as I start working, I know I should begin to record the things I need to do. Whether it's simple tasks such as doing the dishes or starting the laundry, recording your tasks for the day allow you to have a productive mindset. The more tasks you begin checking off, the more tasks you realize that you have accomplished! Personally, I feel more productive and accomplished when my tasks begin to get crossed off. You can also record many small tasks and work your way up to the largest task, or begin with the most important tasks and end with the smaller ones.
Some great to-do list formats may be weekly to-do notepads or even post it notes! I use both a notepad and the “stickies” app on the Macbook. That way I am seeing my list no matter what platform I am using.
2. Buy a planner to outline your life.
“My productivity slows to a crawl if I don’t have a planner. Seeing my to-do list in calendar form allows me to prioritize my activities and meet deadlines. Asana is also a great project management tool.” -Sasha
3. Reflect in your journal.
To learn more about how valuable journaling can be, see 12 reasons why I write.
Here are some questions to answer in your journal as you reflect on the year:
What were your favorite memories and highlights of the year?
What have you learned this year?
How far have you come in terms of mindset, compared to where you were last year? How have you grown this year?
What were your biggest successes? What went well this year?
What didn’t go so well?
Have you hit your goals for the year?
What was the biggest surprise? What did you accomplish that you weren't expecting to?
What do you want to continue with, expand, optimize, refine, and build on?
What do you want to end/stop doing? What are you releasing / leaving behind / uprooting?
What specifically do you want to implement and achieve next year?
How can you make your life simpler?
What is your vision for the new year?
How do you need to show up to accomplish your goals? (attitude, habits, beliefs)
Reflecting on what's working and what's not working can help you work more efficiently and keep leveling up.
4. Set goals.
Now that you've reflected on your year, it will be easier to set goals.
Want to build a self-care routine? Want to implement a gratitude practice? The possibilities are limitless.
5. Create a vision board.
Vision boards are a fun way to turn your goals into a visual reminder of the life you want to create. This practice is so effective because as you create the board, you are experiencing that future reality as if it’s happening now, with all the same high-vibration feelings like love, joy, peace, and gratitude, which helps you attract abundance flow to you, according to the law of attraction.
Whether you create a Pinterest board or cut out old scraps of magazines and photos, creating a vision board allows you to see the visions you want to manifest for the new year, or maybe the next five years. I usually hang mine by my desk or somewhere I am most productive, that way I can continually look at my vision board and start to become aware of the vision I’m creating for myself or what I feel I could do better! Not everything in your vision needs to come true for the year, but small steps towards your overall vision can begin to pull you in the right direction.
The great part about this is that you can instantly see whether you’ve reached your goals at the end of the year. Oftentimes, we lose sight of how far we’ve come, and it’s easier to see the pile of work that still needs to get done. This is a beautiful way to practice gratitude for all the blessings in our lives.
Your mind has the power to manifest a new reality.
What do you want your new year to look like?