How to keep momentum now that January is gone

Nothing has drastically changed, yet for the past 3 days, we just entered what I love to call real life.

Dry January & Veganuary have both ended. Tagging along with both of these guys, new year's resolutions have officially gone quiet.

Or have they?

As far as I'm concerned, there's no such thing as new year's resolutions.

The way I see it: there are daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual goals. And there are also bigger players like 5-year goals or bucket-list goals.

It does not matter the name you gave it, as long as you've got a system that works for you.

So whether you're keen to keep the momentum going for 2023, get back on track, or simply need some practical tips to get the momentum going for the next 11 months, I've got 3 things I want to share with you.

1. Self-awareness is the one thing that'll get you where you need to be

Self-awareness is a big theme on its own, I know. In the particular context of helping you achieve your 2023 goals, here are 3 questions to help you raise your awareness levels:

1. Are you clear on what you're looking to achieve and by when?

2. Have you put all the chances of success on your side to make it happen?

3. How are you going to ensure you regularly check in with yourself?

You might have answered these questions as you read along and here's the follow-up question for you: can you answer these again whilst being 100% honest with yourself?

If you're setting yourself up for failure or you truly don't know what or why you're looking to achieve X, Y, Z goals: you owe to yourself to be honest about it. Nobody else will challenge it better than you.

2. Think cycles instead of fixed routines & checked to-do-list

Here's a quick mindset shift that can make a big difference: your annual goals should not be nice things to have, to do, or to be. It should not be about the pursuit of an achievement feeling once it's achieved.

I mean don't get me wrong: that is still the end game but before that, you need to be prepared to enjoy the journey that goes with achieving your goals.

Some weeks might be more productive than others, and that's okay. Instead of thinking "I need to do, X, Y and Z but I don't know how I'm supposed to find the time to do so...", adjust your approach by asking yourself: "How can I make this work considering the workload/cycle/insert-external-factor-here I'm in?".

We are not robots, and you can't expect perfection every day, all year long. What you can do, however, is tweak your plans & your approach depending on what's happening.

To summarise: make sure that you're ready to ride the wave when all lights are green and identify what's the bare minimum you can achieve when it's looking all gloomy and sh*tty out there.

3. Put together a system that works to support you, not demotivate you

Self-awareness (#1) & planning for your cycles (#2) will allow you to do this third thing right. The last thing you need in your life is a system that works against you. And here's the catch: there's no one system that you should implement that will do the magic trick of supporting you.

You've got to be willing to do the work to test, implement, tweak, refine & update the system you'll use to help you achieve your goals.

Personally, it's a combination of goals & plans hosted virtually (in Notion), a weekly to-do list written on paper & daily habits tracker in a google old excel spreadsheet. All the while being able to have a quick & overall look at my yearly wall planner.

This is the process side of things for your system, but it's important that you also consider the people side of things. Being an extrovert: this plays a HUGE part in supporting me!

Think: who are the people who energise me? challenge me? can hold me accountable? inspire me? that I need to learn from?

Last but not least: make sure to tweak your plans & goals as time passes.

Most people fail at their new year's resolutions because they set unrealistic goals (see tip #1 to prevent that) but also because they take the Manichean approach of easier succeeding or failing.

Be kind to yourself, measure your progress and don't hesitate to tweak your plans as you go along but most importantly: celebrate your successes however small!

You've got this.

And now shoo: it's time for you to keep this momentum going for 2023. ??