10 Ways to Set Yourself Up for a Positive, Successful 2023

With only two weeks left in the year, you have options for how you want to finish 2022.

There’s the option where you coast through to the end of the year in a holiday-induced fog of food, presents, and crazy get-togethers with family and friends.

And there’s the one where you rush to cram in as much work as possible before the ball drops, signaling the start of a brand new year.

Then there’s the option where you use the next two weeks to set yourself up for a successful start to the new year while still enjoying the rewards of the season.

This is the option I highly suggest.?

To make that happen, I present to you, in no particular order, 10 things you can do now to set yourself up for a successful beginning of 2023.

1. Put together your personal year-end success recap.

What did 2022 look like for you? Go through your calendar or planner to remind yourself of what you accomplished personally and professionally. The good news is that you alone decide what a successful achievement looks like.

Did you nail a presentation? Get a promotion? Completely reinvent yourself? Make it to all your daughter’s softball games? Master a new skill at work?

Write them all down.

When your list is complete, take some time to reflect proudly on what you accomplished. Keep the list somewhere you can easily find it during 2023 to keep you inspired.

Pro tip: Set aside a place in your 2023 calendar or planner to note what you achieve each week, making this list easier to put together right about this time next December.

2. Declutter one area of your home.

Pick somewhere small to focus on. Seriously small. This is not the time to commit to a complete garage or attic clean-out. Think: medicine cabinet, condiments in the fridge, a junk drawer in any room, or a messy desk corner. Take a “before” photo on your phone, set a timer for 15 minutes, and try to beat the clock as you go through everything.

Donate usable items or share them in your community’s “Buy Nothing” group. Once you’ve decluttered and reorganized, take an “after” picture and admire your work?

Small successes like this give you much-needed dopamine hits and encourage you to find additional ways to succeed. This might include decluttering more spaces, going for a walk, or taking care of a holiday-related chore.

3. Write a list of goals for 2023.

Choose personal and professional goals for the year. Write down all of the goals you think you want to achieve without censoring or editing. This is not a list where everything is written in stone. This is merely a draft. When the list is complete, put it away for at least a week.

Then, seven days later, pull the list out and look at it again. Does each goal still sound like something you are excited to work towards? Or do some of the goals cause an ominous cloud of dread to appear??

Are these all still things you want to do, or are they someone else’s ideas of something they think you should do? Are there additional goals you’ve thought of that would be more appealing?

Edit as needed until you have a concrete goals list for 2023.?

Next, start putting together a rough outline of what it would take to achieve each of these goals. If you have more time available, go more in-depth and construct a day-by-day (or week-by-week) plan of what you will do to make your goals a reality in 2023.

4. Block out vacation time.

When you don’t schedule for yourself first, your calendar gets filled up with other people’s plans. So grab your planner/digital calendar and block out vacation time for the year ahead. Pencil in three- and four-day weekends and afternoons off. Come up with longer getaway opportunities.?

You don’t have to book anything yet. Just plan for the time.

You may not get to use all of the time you are scheduling, but it’s better to have the time blocked and end up not using it than to want to get away and not have the time available.

5. Move your body.

With everything that goes on in December, it’s easy to put off doing things we should do, like moving. Whether it’s a 20-minute walk, a bodyweight workout, a stretching session, a private dance party, or a game of tag with your kids, prioritize moving every day.

You’ll obviously burn calories, but you’ll stay more limber, minimize muscle loss, and contribute to better sleep. Moving gives your brain a big boost of dopamine and endorphins, which helps with creativity and mood.

Moving now means, at the minimum, you’ll maintain your current fitness levels, which makes hitting any January fitness goals that much easier.

6. Make your future self happy.

Set yourself up for success by scheduling and paying for a class or event that will take place in January 2023. Rather than just saying, “next year, I’m going to start taking x,y,z kind of class,” or “I’m going to get certified in a,b,c,” find a class or program now. Commit to it by scheduling when you’ll attend and paying for it.

Is there a concert or special event you’d like to go to? Remove any opportunities for excuses or procrastination, and book it now. Your future self will thank you for it.

7. Update your profiles.

When was the last time you took the time to review and update your social media profiles? Is your photo accurate, or is it five years old (or, gasp! even older)? Have you changed jobs? Changed priorities? Changed your personal outlook? Update your profile to reflect this.

?If you’ve been waiting to add new accreditations, accomplishments, and accolades, now is the time to do it.

If you’ve been ignoring different platforms, maybe now is the time to leave them altogether. Or, if there is a platform you’ve always wanted to join, do it now.

8. Make a list of things you didn’t accomplish this year.

For each item, ask yourself why. Was it really your idea in the first place? Was it something that no longer aligns with who you are and your current goals? Did you feel like this was something you should do, but it really wasn’t? Was it something you couldn’t find time to do or didn’t truly fit into your schedule?

Now ask yourself if this is something you still want to achieve.

If yes, come up with a step-by-step concrete plan to work toward achieving it next year.?

If the answer is no, say a thankful goodbye to it, knowing you don’t have to spend time and energy trying to attain it next year.?

Or possibly ever.

9. Do a digital clean-out.

Start 2023 with clean, well-organized devices. Throw out apps you no longer need or haven’t touched in six months (or possibly ever.) Organize your remaining apps in a way that makes sense to you. This could mean folders of like-minded apps (for example, apps you only use when traveling, apps related to finances or productivity.)

Arrange everything so it is harder to get to tempting (and distracting) apps and easier to find and use the ones that make your life easier.

Update everything and double-check your privacy settings.

Once that’s done, why not go through your photos, throw out the ones that mean nothing, and take up space? Organize the remaining pictures in albums and ensure they are all backed up. Organize your remaining apps in a way that makes sense to you.

10. Say no.

Make a list of things you no longer want to do or no longer work for you, then decide how to eliminate them from your life in 2023. This can be easier to say than do, but it is well worth it.

Start a list of things you don’t want to be doing, for example: doing weekly reports that serve no purpose, running the grade school bake sale every year, or being the only one that cleans the bathroom or takes care of the laundry.

Now make a list of the possible ways you could eliminate these things. Could you delegate the tasks? Could you pay to have them done? Could you pass them on to someone else?

Could you just quit doing them?

Choose whatever will enable you to say “no” to what’s not working for you. Then make a plan of how you will make that happen in 2023 (and a plan for what you will do with your new found “extra” time.)

Whether you pick a couple of these ideas or do all 10, you’ll set yourself up for a successful 2023.?

And there’s nothing that says you can’t enjoy hot cocoa and Christmas cookies while you’re doing any of them!