Happy New Year! It’s 2024, and most people are setting their goals and intentions for the new year. How about you? What are you doing to start the new year strong? Some people find planning and goal-setting exciting, while others dread it and feel a little uncertain about the process. Whichever group you find yourself in, below are 10 tips to help you start 2024 strong.
10 Tips to Start 2024 Strong
1. Be real.
Don’t allow the new year excitement push you to create goals that are not appropriate for you right now. I’m all about setting big goals, but I also encourage you to be real with where you are, what you can do, and what is appropriate for you to focus on right now. Remember, change is a process. Be real about where you are and where you should focus your current energies.
2. Focus on a few things.
Goal-setting can be fun and it can also be a process. You may start out brainstorming all the areas in your life that you’d like to change. This is good, as it gives you a a good starting point. However, as you begin to narrow down your focus areas for the year, I encourage you to focus on a few things. This will help prevent you from feeling overwhelmed. Also, we have limited energy and time, so we must be intentional about how we use it.
3. Start where it counts.
As you approach your 2024 goals, you want to start where it counts. Don’t focus only on the big picture and overlook the small starting points. Consider your starting point and start there. Don’t overlook the small details when setting your 2024 goals. In order to start strong, you want to start where it counts. For instance, if you are focused on health, don’t focus solely on the outcome you want to achieve. You want to focus in on your meals, your day-to-day, your grocery list. It all matters.
4. Write.
Writing is huge for me! Writing helps you to document your goals, your feelings toward your goals, the process of achieving them, and it also brings such clarity. I encourage you to write out the process. Writing helps you to work through goal-setting because our minds can easily get overwhelmed. Writing helps to make sense of things and it also holds you accountable.
5. Go to the drawing board daily.
Daily and nightly, review your goals. Assess how you did, where you need to grow, what triggered you, or what helped you. Though there are things in life that we can’t control, there are some things that we can. Going to the drawing board daily will help us to make adjustments quickly, vs. continuing unhealthy patterns that are hindering us.
6. Keep fighting. Don’t lower your goals.
This is huge. If you have set good goals, you will be challenged. Think about it. What you are currently doing is natural for you. When you set good goals that will change your life, you will be forced to change. Change is hard. So, when it feels like you are unable to follow through, keep fighting and do not lower your goals.
7. Prioritize God as #1.
For the Christian and follower of Christ, God and His Word, must be our foundation. Before we pursue our goals, we must pursue God. We cannot prioritize our goals over God. Instead, we must start with God and allow Him to direct our paths. His ways are higher than our ways. We must trust Him. As we do, we will be blessed with a peace, clarity, and an anchoring that nothing else can compare to.
8. Pray and Read His Word.
As we prioritize God as #1, we must depend on Him by spending time with Him. Praying to God and reading His Word will grow us in our faith as well as our understanding of God and His ways. Also, we must remember that our ultimate goal as Christians is to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Spending time with God through prayer and His Word will affect how we pursue our life goals. God makes everything better.
9. Assess your time.
None of these things will be possible without intention. We must be intentional with how we spend our time. As you focus on starting 2024 strong, I encourage you to start by assessing your time. Time is the springboard from which everything else flows from.
10. Be intentional with your relationships.
Our relationships affect us more than we tend to realize. In order to grow in the areas that you’re focusing on, be intentional about the people that you spend your time with. Consider how you feel when you’re with others, make note of the words they speak to you, pay attention to their attitude regarding your goals and growth. Be prepared to make the necessary adjustments.
Happy 2024 to you! Change is not easy, but I pray these 10 tips will provide you the clarity and inspiration needed to start the new year strong!
Blessings to you this year! For more reading, check out: LIFE: Learn How To Live With Problems
