Tips for preparing for 2023. Use these activities to set yourself up for a great year!

I am a huge fan of planning. My brain loves getting organized and making lists (hence the name of my blog).

Understandably, this time of year feels exciting for me.

It shouldn’t come as a shock when I say I consume a lot of productivity/personal development content. Watching other people plan for 2023 is giving me inspiration and motivation to do my own New Year Prep. Here is a list of the activities I’m using to get ready for 2023 (with free templates).

New Year Prep

Create a Goal Calendar

This is a concept that I learned from a friend in a personal development group I am in. The idea is to create a list of all the goals you want to achieve and organize them into categories. Then, determine which goals can you can achieve within a year and which ones will take longer than a year. For any goals that will take over a year, come up with a sub-goal that you can do this a year to help you reach that end goal. For example, if the larger goal is to afford to buy a house, a sub-goal could be to save $10,000 to go towards a down payment.

Goal Calendar Template

Scheduling goals in my Google Calendar

Something I learned this past year is that, without deadlines and a plan, I don’t end up accomplishing my goals. Learning from that, I scheduled calendar reminders for things I want to accomplish. This includes a dedicated time on Sunday to plan my week and block out time to complete items on my to-do list.

Taking Notes to Reflect on the past year (what worked and what didn’t)

I started thinking about the areas of my life I want to improve this year. Then, I reflected on the tools/habits that helped me this last year and what got in the way of my goals. Now, I’m assessing how I can implement systems to set myself up for success. That means doing more of what worked and less of what didn’t

Compare Where I Was vs Where I Am vs Where I Want to Be

My lovely therapist gave me the idea to write out a chart comparing where I was a year ago to where I am now. I decided to do this and also add a column of where I want to be.

Self Reflection Template

Making a list of things to do at home

I want my living space to be clean and organized going into the new year. Since I’ve been out of town visiting family, I made a list of the projects I want to tackle:

Clean my bathroom

Reorganize my drawers

Reorganize my kitchen

Luckily, I had a chance to stop by my house in the middle of our trip and my lovely parents helped me with some of these tasks (I’m so so grateful for them).

Vision Board

While I used to love a good Pinterest Board, I definitely have not used the site as much as I did in high school and early college  (I just fell out of the habit). But, I thought it would be a good idea to create a visual manifestation of the life I want to achieve this year.

Now that I’ve shared my tools for setting goals and intentions for the new year, I want to give a little disclaimer/word of advice. I am not at all promoting overloading yourself with unrealistic expectations of what you should accomplish this year. Especially if these are not activities/habits you feel excited about. I’ve learned first-hand that doing that only sets you up for disappointment. With all these reflection tools, it is important to practice self-compassion. These are exercises to help us grow and improve. This is NOT an opportunity to get mad at ourselves and tear ourselves down. I’m hoping that these tools will help you determine what is truly important to you and how you can achieve that.

Featured Image: Photo by cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/people-toasting-wine-glasses-3171837/