Today, we want to share some practical info and steps to help you plan for a productive new year this year.
Whether it is a few days before the new year, January has already begun, or mid-July, it is never too late to make a plan.
At the end of each year, many people look back on that year and see all the things they did and did not do. And many people are not happy with what they see. Maybe they did not do as well in school as they wanted. Or maybe work did not go as they wanted it to. Or maybe a relationship is on the rocks. Whatever it is that needs work, you can plan for a productive new year, now.
And it isn’t about doing as much as you can, working non-stop, and not having a life. After all, what are you working for if not to have a life? To get a more productive year, you will just require a bit of planning.
Here are some ways to plan for a productive new year this year.
1. Stop Repeating the Same Mistakes
You know what they say: Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results, is the definition of insanity.
If you want to be more productive than you have been before, then you have to do things differently. Take some time to figure out what you have been doing that is not working, and do it differently.
Don’t just keep repeating the same pattern, the same mistake. If you have been trying for years to complete a goal in one specific way and have not managed yet, then it obviously is not working. Try something else. Make a new plan.
2. Treat Productivity Like Progress, Not Perfection
Productivity is not something you learn and can master on day one. It is a way of making progress toward your goal, doing a little more each day. Everything you achieve in life is a process. It is all about small steps that slowly get you to where you are wanting to go.
Think of productivity in the same way. It isn’t about working as much as you can, doing as much as you can non-stop. It is about making small choices that slowly change things in your life.
3. Take Time Off
Working more hours than anyone you know is not going to make you more productive, even if you think it gives you bragging rights. There is nothing heroic about working your fingers to the bone.
Make sure you are planning for regular breaks, days off, and even vacations. This is especially true if you work for yourself. It can be harder to take time off because you feel like you are always working, whether at home or not.
You need to plan for times of the day when you take breaks and days of the week when you are off. You need to have “you” time or quiet time to rest and reconnect with your life plans. The rat race has a way of blurring things until they are so out of focus that you do not recognize your life anymore.
4. Adapt and Change When Necessary
The most successful people are the ones that are aware of what is working, and what is not, and make changes when needed.
If these past few years have taught us anything, it is that we can not predict everything in life, and we need to learn how to adapt and change. When the most unexpected thing happens, how well-suited are you to change direction, while still being productive?
This may be something to work on if you want a more productive new year.
5. Create new habits
Do you get caught in a cycle of starting new habits, then failing pretty soon after you begin? You are not a failure, and hope is not lost! All you need is a little tweaking to your habits and routines in order to help them stick.
People often see someone else doing something and they want to be like that. They want to be thinner, stronger, or healthier so they decide to take up new habits but they do not stick. But the reason they fail is not that they can not achieve them, but because they are often not thought out and do not have a real plan. When you treat habits like goals, then you have a much higher chance of success.
How to create new habits:
1. Analyze the Habits and Why You Are Including Them
2. Choose Habits That Stack Well Together
3. Stick to a Schedule
4. Track and Reward
When starting a new habit it is best to know and understand your how and why.
1. Analyze the Habits and Why You Are Including Them
If you do not know why you are including a certain habit, you are not going to stick with it. Habit building should always start with the WHY. Begin by writing down the habits you are thinking about introducing into your routine, then next to each one, write about your reasons why. How will they benefit you? What are you hoping to gain? What is your main reason for choosing them? What was your inspiration?
From that, you can see which habits you are really passionate about, and which ones you just chose because you heard someone else doing it.
2. Choose Habits That Stack Well Together
Do not look at habits as individual elements, but grouped into routines. What habits can go together, that complement each other? Make sure your habits flow together in a routine. It is hard to have a morning routine if your habits are working in the early hours, writing in your journal, going to the gym, and making breakfast all in a short block of time. You need to put habits together that fit in a smooth line, not look like a zig-zag.
Find a better flow so that the habits happen one right after the other, and fit in the amount of time you have to give to them.
In case you are not “in the know” and need some explanation, as we did.
What is Habit Stacking?
Habit stacking is the process of taking habits that fit together and putting them into a routine. After all, this is really all a routine. It is a collection of habits you “stack” because they fit in well with one phase of your day, whether it is a morning routine or a lunchtime routine.
Here are some things to know about habit stacking and how you can take advantage of it with your own routines and habits.
1. Using Cues for Your Habits
A big part of habit stacking is having cues for each of your habits. These are signs that tell you what habit is coming up next.
For example, the cue for your morning habits is probably waking up or turning off the alarm. What do you do next and why do you do it? Are you using the bathroom because it is a pure habit, or because you have an urgency to? This is your cue. It tells you what you need to do next, and is a core principle of habit stacking.
For example, you might start associating the sun going down with the end of your work day. It is when you turn off your computer, and mentally let work go until the next day. The rest of your evening habits are about your self-care, your home, and your family.
2. Think of it Like a Staircase
Think of habit stacking like a staircase, with the simplest habit being at the bottom of the staircase (requiring the least amount of effort), and the biggest or most complicated habit being at the top of the staircase (requiring the most amount of effort). All the steps in between are made up of habits that take you from the easiest habit to the most time-consuming or complex habit. They are all important to you, but in this way, they lead from one to the other in an order that makes sense for your routine.
3. When to Stack Habits
Stacking habits can be done during all of your daily routines. Think of any routine you have, like your morning routine. It is simply a stack of habits that all go together. If you have a routine for improving your physical health, like making a healthy breakfast, doing yoga, and drinking water, it doesn’t make sense to read a book in the middle of that. It doesn’t go with this flow. Stack habits that complement each other, and your routines create themselves.
3. Stick to a Schedule
While your habit will soon become something you don’t even have to think about, it does help to have a schedule in the beginning. Think about how much time you have for your habits, and what time of day they fit in best. Some people might read in the morning, while others like reading in the evening after the kids are in bed. It is going to depend on your lifestyle and schedule, and in the beginning, you might even need reminders set on your phone or planner.
4. Track and Reward
Once you have decided on a new habit, you can make a plan to work toward making them a permanent routine.
For every habit be sure they are realistic, attainable, and very specific with what it is and how you plan to do it. This is where you take the time to write out exactly what you need to do and when. Then you start to understand that habits are simply goals that you have to work toward
It is also useful to track what habits and routines you are adding to your life, and reward yourself when you accomplish one. This is great for bigger habits like waking up early every day, cooking more meals from home, or committing to a workout program. When you do the habit for a certain number of days in a row, reward yourself. Sticking to it amazing progress.
It may be best not to reward yourself for working out all week with a cream donut. That kind of defeats the purpose. Make your rewards go along with your goals and new habits. You are working too hard to slip back into the bad habits you are changing.
Remember, the whole reason for all of this is that you are planning for a productive year and following the plan you make to achieve that.
Why You Need to Write Down and Track Habits
When you get into choosing new habits for your daily routines, one thing that can benefit you the most is writing everything down. Writing down what your habits are, choosing the actual routine, and keeping track of it, are very useful.
Why bother with the actual tracking and rewards system? Because these are very important for success.
1. It Holds You Accountable
Writing down your habits and routines is going to hold you accountable. You know what they are and can track each day you get them done. Even if you are just accountable to yourself, you will feel good about crossing them off each day and knowing you are keeping a promise to yourself. If you can tell others about it too, that adds more accountability, but that is completely optional. Many people do better with an accountability partner to keep them on the straight and narrow.
2. You Can Plan Out Your Habits and Routines
When it comes to planning habits that are specifically meant to help you with accomplishing a goal, writing it down is crucial. It is close to impossible to complete a goal you have not worked out on paper. It is very easy to get lost in your thoughts, miss important steps, or give up on them completely. Write everything down, from what the habits and goals are, to how you want to add them to your life. The more detailed you are, the easier it is to make it part of your daily routine.
3. It helps You Track Your Progress
Tracking your progress is also really important, not just to keep you accountable, but because you can see if it has been beneficial for you or not. Write down a habit you are trying to implement, and where in your routine you plan to use it. Every day, write down that you completed that habit, and what your experience was. This can be done in just a few descriptive words. Over time, you can look back to see if you had a positive or negative experience.
Maybe you wanted to see if waking up an hour earlier would help you. But you discovered that it is just not working for you. Some of us are just not morning people, it is not in us. And we have nothing to be ashamed of. That is how writing it down is going to make you more self-aware.
4. You Make Changes as Things Progress
If you find that a habit or routine is not benefiting you, then you are able to switch it up to something more effective. Write down an alternative, and then use your journal or notebook to start tracking the new habit. Just with the first, unhelpful habit, you can see it working or not. Then you can actually see that you are sticking with it and getting it done. Do not underestimate the power of success not matter how small it seems.
This may all sound kind-of out there somewhere. But this is a simple, practical way to plan for a productive new year. After all, if you do not know you want it, you will not plan for it. If you do not plan for it, you will not know if you achieve it.
Keep in mind that everyone is different and everyone’s life has different twists and turns. No one habit or routine is going to work for everyone in every situation. Try out some new things. If they work and if they help you, then keep them. If they do not help you then kick them to the curb.
We hope this talk will help you plan for your Productive New Year.
Thank you for visiting and please come again for another edition of Out Standing in the Field.
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