5 Simple Steps to Starting the Year Strong

We all agree 2020 was a tough year. We didn’t see the storm coming – it caught us all unawares. Nobody, not even the medical experts, envisaged that a time would come when the whole world would be held hostage by a virus. If anything, the year 2020 thought us to always prepare ahead – that anything is possible.

With this in mind, you can’t afford to slack on your preparation for 2021. You need to jumpstart the year on a sound note. Here are 5 simple things you should begin to do this first work week of the year to improve your overall outcome in 2021.

1.Simplify Your Goals

As captured in our new year’s eve article about goal-setting, it is not enough to set goals and to have big plans for the new year, it is equally crucial to breaking down the goals into smaller and actionable pieces to make the execution easier. Taking daily or weekly steps towards achieving a huge goal with a far deadline is the trick of crushing that goal eventually.

2. Create a To-Do List

As much as you can create a to-do-list on your phone, we strongly recommend that you get a dedicated notepad instead and WRITE it down. And the notepad can also serve as your ideas notebook. Call it old school but writing something down in a notebook feels compelling and serious than doing it on your phone. Plus, there are too many distracting apps on your smartphone competing for your attention – Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, WhatsApp, and more. Writing your to-do-list in a notepad helps you stay focused and keeps you on track of your responsibilities, deadlines, and the things you need to get done.

3. Start a side project

In these days of economic uncertainties, everyone wants to make some extra bucks and be more valuable. If you’re a 9-5 worker, start a side project and dedicate some extra hours to it everyday. It would not be easy, especially if you live in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, where after-work traffic can drain the life out of you. However, before you give yourself a thousand reasons why you can’t combine your day job with a side gig, remember nothing great ever comes cheap. It takes a lot of sacrifices, perseverance, and consistency. The question you should ask yourself is: how badly do I want to be successful?

4. Take for a Course

In a world where machines are fast replacing humans, anyone who is not constantly upgrading their skill level is signing up for frustration and depression. No matter your career path, you should acquire relevant skills that would keep you relevant and gainfully engaged in your industry. Take a pen now, and list out 3 top skills that would help you earn more in 2021, register for one this month, and make plans to acquire others within the next two quarters. However, prioritize digital skills.

5. Read books

If you’re not an avid reader, you can’t go far in life, there is no better way to put it. Imagine yourself going on a far road trip and you load light – your fuel tank, water tank, food tank – are insufficient. What do you think would happen? Exactly! Commit to reading at least two chapters of a book relevant to your life’s journey daily. If you don’t like hardcopy books, buy digital books. Just keep reading!

As you would imagine, starting the year on a positive note isn’t limited to these 5 things but they’d help you inculcate the right patterns and healthy habits to continue throughout the new year. There is no overnight success, how far you’d go in life is totally up to you. Make this year count!