5 Ways to Make a Fresh Start
The shift from one calendar year to another can bring up lots of feelings – some useful, others less so. Regardless of how you feel about the beginning of a new year, we can all use this time as an opportunity to reset, rejuvenate, and redefine ourselves with some fresh starts.
Below are 5 areas in which we can give ourselves a clean slate and/or a boost in the new year. What’s important about these is that they’re all foundational to any kind of big change you might be working on in terms of your career (career change, negotiating something big). If you’ve got your foundational pillars in place and standing strong, then you’ll be in a much better position to weather any work-related adversity that might come your way.
5 tips to energize your January
(I do NOT recommend trying to do all of these at once!)
1. Time. Revisit your commitments. It’s a new year: a great time to make sure the things you’ve been doing – the activities and commitments you give your time and energy to – continue to serve you.
Frequent, shorter vacations help more with relaxation.
2. Time Off. Make sure your next vacation is on the books. I just learned that more frequent, shorter vacations do more for our relaxation and fight against burnout than big, long vacations. Check out this 60-second video post by Adam Grant, organizational psychologist for more on this. So pick the date for your next getaway – preferably something before 3/31! And block off 30 minutes to an hour in the next week to do some vacation research and planning.
3. Environment. Rearrange your space. Whether it’s at work or at home, get some new energy from a new arrangement of your existing furniture and/or replace some worn items with upgrades (which don’t have to be anything expensive or fancy or even cost a cent!). Maybe you can change the direction that your desk or work station faces. Or swap out curtains from one room to another. Or change up the lighting. There are tons of ways to resourcefully create a new feel to your living or work space!
4. Finances. Deepen your understanding of your financials. If you haven’t done a deep-dive into your finances (in the last six months or ever), schedule an afternoon on a day off to devote to this. If you’re already on top of your finances and budgeting, spend a few hours strategizing around how you can put your money to better and more meaningful use – whether it’s changing how you invest, making sure you’re investing in ethical causes, or finding ways to channel that money into worthy causes.
5. Personal Growth. Learn a new skill. The key is to choose one thing to learn and actually make plans to learn it. Maybe it’s a new physical activity, like dance or rock climbing or mixed martial arts. Maybe it’s a creative activity, like taking a pottery class or joining a writing group or signing up for some painting classes. Whatever you’re called to learn – whether it’s been on your wish list for years or is a new addition – what’s one thing you can do today to establish the accountability you need to follow through with it?
