A Fresh Start for a New Year

Wednesday 19th Dec 2007

Keith Robinson

The new year is just over a week old. Have you started on your resolutions?

Some think New Year's resolutions are a waste of time, or that you should be working on improving yourself throughtout the year. That"s fine, but there’s no denying the fact that the start of a new year makes for a great symbolic and psychological place to make a clean start on something. So, for those of you who might not have made any New Years’s changes yet, here are a few ideas to get you started.

Clean your workplace or house

A clean house (or workplace) can really help you reduce stress and be more productive. Keeping your house clean throughout the year can be tough, but if you start out with a really deep clean it can be much easier to get the momentum you need to keep it clean and orderly theough out the year.

Clean your e-mail

We all know how much of a pain e-mail overload can be. Get a jump on a cleaner inbox, and keep it clean, by taking some time to go through your inbox and organize/delete it.

Start preparing your taxes now!

Taxes can throw a wrench into just about any good habit you’ve got going. They’re stressful, time consuming and something very few people like to do. Take some time and get as prepared as you can early and you wont have to worry as much about taxes messing up your focus later in the year. Get that stuff out of the way as soon as you can.

Quit something

The less you’ve got going on, easier you’ll be able to deal with that you do have going on. As well, ther is a good chance one of your resolutions will actually be adding something to your list. Prioritize what you have going on and consider removing something. Knowing when to quit and taking the time to cancel something can go a long way to keeping your focus on what matters most.

Plan well. Plan early

Create a plan, set some attainable goals and do it as soon as you can. The sooner you get moving on your resolutions or goals, and make some progress on them, the better you’ll be able to maintain and keep at them. Treat your year as a project. Set up reminders throughout the year to check in on your progress and do something to get you moving in the right direction.

Learn the are of 'no’ or how to better say ‘yes’

Once you have quit a few things, don’t make the mistake of overloading yourself with new projects. Think carefully about new opportunities and don’t feel bad about saying no to something. If you do come across something your interested in, you might try a qualified ‘yes’. The idea is to keep your projects manageable and keep your stress level low so that you can maintain your focus and get things accomplished.