5 ways to make 2021 your best year yet.
By: Jaice De Celis
Tags: Self Improvement, Life Hacking, Life, Life Lessons, Growth

Image by Nick Gesell @ Pixabay — Fireworks Display over City Skyline

It’s no secret that 2020 came along with a lot of struggle, tragedy and hardship. For many of us, 2020 has been one of the least productive and least fruitful years to date. But do not fear, there is still light at the end of this tunnel. Let’s take a quick top down look at how we can go into 2021 and have our best year yet.

TL;DR

Commit to self help and development Focus on creating massive opportunity around you Rekindle the energy in your relationships Find a mentor or “upbuddy” Write it all down

Committing to Self Help and Development

One of the most important changes you can make in your life is to understand that you are an ever-changing being. Humans are not stationary or stagnant by nature and we are designed to constantly learn and adapt based on our surroundings.

Committing to self help is much more than just a surface change and requires full personal commitment to make worthwhile. Reading a self help book in January will not set up your year for success, so get that out of your head if that is what you were hoping for.

The greatest and most successful visionaries of our time spend their days reading, writing and absorbing information that can add value to their lives. In today’s society the content that we are “absorbing” is pictures of our friends at the club and pretty people on pretty beaches.

There are three easy ways that you can commit to self development and if you are not already doing these things then I promise that it will change your life forever.

Read Everyday Millions of authors around the world have taken the time to consolidate their experience into words. Some of those authors are among the most prolific individuals to walk the earth in modern history. It is foolish not to take advantage of these ideas and experiences to broaden our own understandings.You do not need to read a book a day or even every week, but committing to reading something everyday is the first step you need to take in order to commit to self help. Structure your daily routine There is a reason that the military instills rigorous routines into its soldiers. Routine breeds consistency, and similarly to a professional typist, it also creates muscle memory. The human mind only has access to a finite amount of willpower on a daily basis, a lot of which is wasted on decisions like whether or not you will wear a green or a blue shirt. By implementing a daily routine you can eliminate meaningless decisions and regain access to your full capacity of willpower. This one is less scientific but through the accounts of millions of individuals around the world who have used this advice, it seems to be consistent across the board. Eliminate distractions Distractions are all around us and come in many forms. A distraction can be a desk ornament, a person, a habit or even a goal. This one requires a bit more self reflection as I cannot possibly list every distraction, especially considering one persons distraction may not be universally distracting. The best way to start eliminating distractions is to keep track of how you spend your time each day. Do this for a week and you will have a good overview of where your time is spent and with just a little self reflection you can easily identify which are distractions and which bear fruit.

Focus on creating massive opportunity around you

Easier said than done, I know. This one ties into eliminating distractions so do that first and this one will fall in line.

By focus I really mean be open to opportunity. As you whittle away negative influences, positive influences follow shortly behind. As long as you hold onto said influences you will notice that opportunities start to present themselves in numbers that you likely have not experienced before.

As long as you are mentally structured to accept this opportunity for what it is, you will get to reap the benefits.

Rekindle the energy in your relationships

hBecause of the pandemic and the forced distance that has hit our community, many of the relationships we once valued have slowly faded away. A great way to ensure that your 2021 is a great year is to surround yourself with people that you care about and that care about you.

You can take this as an opportunity to eliminate stagnant relationship and nurture your relationship with good influences.

I find the easiest way to identify a fruitful relationship is to look at where someone is in their life and identify if there are any aspects that you aspire to achieve. This doesn’t mean that every friend of yours needs to be perfect or in better circumstances than you are, but it can very clearly point out which friends need to go and which friends you should send your new contact details.

Find a mentor or upbuddy.

WHATS AN UPBUDDY? This is a term that I created a while back when telling a friend of mine about the benefit of having like minded friends. Every guru or self help master will tell you that it is important to have someone who can offer guidance. “Find someone who has achieved what you wish to achieve and learn from them”. But that’s not the only option and often times isn’t even the best. Humans are social creatures and if you can find someone who is on the same level you are but with the same growth mindset, there is no telling how far the relationship may take you both. When I started my first business I tried to do things all alone, I spent months researching different aspects of business, trying to become a one man army. The moment my business took off however was the moment I brought on a partner. Having two minds to drive a business is far more powerful than one.

Find someone who is on the same level as you are with the same mindset and nurture that friendship, there is no telling how far you may go.

Write it all down.

Not going to go into much detail here as writing it all down will mean very different things to different people, but just keep track of your progress. Metrics allow you to monitor your progress and can help you analyze if you are making the write decisions or if you are making negative progress.