Change it up in 2023! 12 tips to start your year, achieve your goals

How can you have an outstanding start to the year with a focus on happiness and wellbeing? How can your New Year’s resolutions for 2023 be aligned with positive emotions?

Two specialists in positive psychology and wellness shared some tips with CONECTA that will help you feel good as you seek to meet your goals throughout the year.

Rosalinda Ballesteros, Director of Tecmilenio’s Institute of Integrated Wellbeing Sciences, and Adriana Villarreal, psychologist and Tecmilenio professor, shared tips to start 2023 with a positive attitude.

 

 

 

1. Make a plan that has specific goals

Ballesteros spoke about an approach with 5 Elements of Wellbeing:

1. Feel positive emotions and enjoy life.
2. Have a sense of involvement in what you do.
3. Maintain relationships with others.
4. Give meaning to your life.
5. Create a sense of achievement.

She noted that setting specific goals and having a plan to reach them will help strengthen this last element of Wellbeing, a sense of achievement.

“The big idea here is to build up enough of a sense of accomplishment in the first few weeks in January to keep us on task for the rest of the year,” Ballesteros said.

 

2. Support yourself with a letter of hope.

Ballesteros said that a psychological perspective of hope can provide us with a sense of control over our future and help us understand the resources we have and the paths we can take to meet our goals. We can achieve this by writing a letter of hope.

“At the beginning of January, you can write a letter dated December 31, and you say to yourself in that letter: Congratulations on achieving your goals for the year.

“It’s a letter that needs to detail what your goals will be, how you’ll achieve them, what obstacles you’ll face, and how you’ll overcome them. It’s a visualization exercise that you can do as if it were a company’s strategic plan, but in a more personal way,” said Ballesteros.

Through this tool, you can start generating pathways in your brain to achieve your goals, as well as overcome obstacles, she said.

 

“At the beginning of January, you can write a letter dated December 31, and you say to yourself in that letter: Congratulations on achieving your goals for the year.”

 

3. Propose indicators to measure progress

Ballesteros pointed out that just as someone trying to lose weight frequently checks how many kilograms he or she has lost, it is important to establish indicators that help us know our progress toward our goals.

This will serve to keep you motivated by letting you see small steps towards a larger goal, but also to meet your short-term goals.

 

4. Intermediate- and short-term goals

The specialist in positive psychology said that you can propose short-term goals that are part of a larger objective, but which also serve for comparing these indicators based on more immediate progress.

“For example, if I have a goal of losing 10 kilograms, I can set an immediate goal of losing one kilogram in the first month.

“Getting that first part is going to help me feel more confident that I can achieve the rest of the goal,” she said.

 

5. Cultivate new habits through positive emotions

Change habits that are deeply rooted and hard to change for new ones based on pleasant emotions such as gratitude, fun, inspiration, and hope, said Ballesteros.

“Seek a new habit that can replace the other and remain over time.

“One example might be if you plan to improve your health and exercise more, have a playlist that you listen to only when you exercise, such as when you go for a run, so you come up with tracks that say, ‘This makes me feel good.’”

 

“One example might be if you’re thinking about improving your health and exercising more, have a playlist that you listen to only when you exercise, such as when you go for a run.”

 

6. Change your habits 1% at a time

Ballesteros pointed out that one of the most common mistakes is to imagine goals through a sudden change of habits or that involve big leaps, but she suggests making small 1% changes that you can apply on a constant basis.

The specialist reflected on a recommendation made by the author James Clear in his book Atomic Habits, which can lead people to transform small actions into big habits.

“For example, if I wanted to consider reading more, instead of thinking I’m going to read 52 books, start reading 5 pages a day, but stick to it every day.

“Doing little things consistently is what’s going to help us feel better and continue. When I finish the first book, I’m going to feel great,” she added.

 

7. Take care of your internal dialogue: Don’t speak negatively to yourself

If, for some reason, you don’t perform the necessary action to reach your goal one day, Ballesteros suggests adopting an attitude of self-compassion and not talking negatively in your mind.

“It’s about having that self-compassion and saying to yourself, ‘Tomorrow I can try again.’ That small failure doesn’t mean you’re going to fail at your goal. How we talk to ourselves is very important.

“We have to take great care of our mental conversation, and if we don’t achieve something one day, know that the next day we can try again,” she added.

 

 

 

8. Search for your meaning in life

Villarreal pointed out that a good way to start the year is to reflect on your meaning in life, your mission, and the reason why you are in the world.

“Maybe we say, it is an age-old question that cannot be answered and is very philosophical; but one of the ways to reflect is to know what I need from life and what I am here for.

“You can ask yourself ‘What am I good at? What do I love to do? What things fascinate me? What makes me feel alive?’ Then ask yourself what you would like the world to be like and how what you do could serve to make that world you’d like to live in real,” she said.

 

9. Fill your days with joy

Villarreal said that the pandemic has shaken people’s joy and recommends that no matter what people are going through, they can paint their day any color they want.

This way, you can take control of your day, regardless of whether you’re having a bad time or things happen that are out of your control.

“When I become aware that I can take my day and put whatever spin on it I want, I’m going to forget about the stress and be fine,” she added.

“How can I do that; make my day whatever color I want it to be? Get to know yourself. Take time to talk to yourself and find out what you like to do. This will help your meaning in life, your sense of joy, and help you paint your day the way you want,” she reflected.

 

 

10. Connect with those you love

Surrounding yourself with loved ones, friends, family, and people who make you feel good is also part of making your days happier, Villarreal said.

“It’s being connected with those I love and who love me back so I can have a nice day. How often do you connect with your friends, your family, or that group with whom you can be your authentic self?

“I really like to have a list of people who make me feel good just thinking about them,” Villarreal added.

 

11. Link your resolutions to things that you love

The psychologist also suggested linking your goals to your values and to your essence as a person and your authenticity and connecting them to things you really enjoy.

“I don’t take up things I don’t like because I’m going to stop doing them. Instead, I take up what I love, and I set my goals based on what I want.

“For example, if you want to lose weight, you have to first know why you’re going to do it, and then you look for how you can do it in a way that you love, from the most complicated things to those you can do in a few minutes,” Villarreal added.

 

 

 

“If I take care of my day, my year will take care of itself.”

 

 

12. Seek refuge in meditation and mindfulness

The director suggests implementing formal meditation practices, which can start with 1-minute sessions 3 times a week and gradually increase in time.

She said there are different types of meditations that can help you, such as meta meditation or loving kindness meditation, as well as day-to-day activities with increased awareness, known as active mindfulness.

“They’re the same activities you do on a day-to-day basis but with a change of focus to notice that they are unique, unrepeatable moments, such as eating with more awareness and enjoying meals more,” she said.

“Mindfulness is something that helps us in many aspects, such as emotional stability and maintaining good habits, understanding that food, rest, and movement help us renew our energy,” the director added.

Ballesteros concluded by inviting people to follow the content from the Institute of Integrated Wellbeing Sciences on Facebook, LinkedIn, and on the Wellbeing 360 TV platform, which contains material from the past 10 years.

 

READ ALSO: