here’s how you can start 2022 strong

We are in the first week of the first month of a new year. You can redefine yourself start today. You can also find out how to start the year strong. Most times, we focus on how to finish the year strong. What about how to start the year strong? So much happened last year? It was a repetition of 2020. For many of us, we didn’t achieve what we thought we would and as much as that is a bummer, you can also press restart.

You can always define how you want your year to go. How you want it to be like. If you want to be more successful this year or to have to better year than you had last year, that is possible. In fact, you would be shocked to discover that it’s easier to start the year strong than it is to end it. Often, we get bombarded with so many things on our to do list when the year winds down. So it is easier to start the year strong. How you start the year also will determine how you end the year? So, in this blog post I will show you how to start the year strong.

Give the year a theme

When you give yourself a theme that helps you understand what you want your year to look like. This also gives your year a purpose and helps you to define the year. It also will help you start 2022 year strong. My theme for 2022 is “to be present even in the silence and despite the noise.” What this means is that I should never give up on my dreams, whether people are cheering me or if people are discouraging me. This has given me a new perspective on what I want my year to be like and how I want to start it.

Often, we get blinded by what people think of us that stops us from going after what we want. We allow the opinions of people to prevent us from achieving what we want. Here’s a brutal truth. As much as we want people to cheer us on, most will not. Why? Because they have their own thing going? Chances are they won’t cheer you on. That’s okay. Be your own cheerleader. Find your own footing. 

A theme will help you understand what you expect from life? It will push you in the right direction. What it requires from you is that you take a chance. You need to take a chance on yourself. This is one way you can start 2022 strong. 

Stop looking back

I will be honest, 2021 wasn’t the best year for me. Good things happened, but they were a lot of bad things that happened as well. I could look at that and be discouraged at how much time I lost. That won’t help me. It won’t push me in the right direction. No. Instead, it will dissuade me from now on. Often you need to take what you learned from the year and make amendments. It shouldn’t be an obstacle. No. It should be motivation.

This is another way you can start 2022 strong. You need to understand that looking back on regret won’t help you. Instead, you will be hard on yourself. That will make it harder to focus on what you need to do. What lessons did you learn from the year? Every year teaches us something. I learned that the things we take advantage of often are the best things in life. For example, time and health. We always say time and health are invaluable, but how many of us appreciate it. How many of us value our twenties when we are twenty something year olds? The same can be said when we are in our thirties. 

Many of us don’t appreciate our health. Not the way we should. I learned I need to appreciate these two things more. Now, I could look back in regret that I didn’t. But like I said, that won’t help me. Nor will it help me achieve my goals. So, instead of regretting time wasted, I will appreciate the lessons I learned. Stop looking back. Stop being concerned with what doesn’t matter. Look at the lessons you learned as valuable steppingstones to help you understand where next to go.

Give yourself personal and professional challenges

Last year I learned something invaluable. When you stop learning, you stop growing. You need to learn something new, or you need a challenge. This is the third way you can start the year strong. This is how you start 2022 strong. Give yourself two challenges. One personal and the other professional. For example, a personal challenge can be to learn a new language. The professional one can be to make x amount or to be promoted or even to achieve a milestone.

Challenges are there to push us and motivate us. A challenge can help us learn something new about ourselves that we didn’t know before. When you give yourself a challenge, you will be shocked at how much you will learn about yourself. You also understand that you can do so much more than you imagined. My 2021 challenge was to learn a new instrument and language. As hard as it was getting into it. My eyes opened to the possibilities. Challenging yourself can provide opportunities you never imagined you would ever come across.

Because you took a chance on yourself. That’s what it is all about taking a chance on yourself. Once you do that, you will see doors open and you will succeed in ways you never thought you would. Many of us don’t take a chance on ourselves. That’s why we remain stuck in place. If you want to start 2022 strong, then you need to give yourself a challenge. 

Also Related: 5 Tricks to Kick Your Worst Mindset Challenges

Be present

What does this mean? Many of us don’t understand what being present is. Society has made it too hard to be present. Here’s the thing present can mean anything. It depends on what you want it to mean to you. For me, being present is all about appreciating every moment, no matter how small or big it is. It also means being who I am when no one is watching, or even if they are. You define what it means to you. This is the last way you can start 2022 strong. 

You need to be present. Look at the big or the small moments. Appreciate them. Maybe being present is about working when everyone is asleep or when you don’t feel like it. Being present to you could be about giving to the people who matter your time. Whatever it is, there’s something special about choosing to focus on the right things. Maybe the last two years have taught us that the people in our lives matter. What we stand for matters. It separates us. You know that saying that a sieve separates the wheat from the chaff. What builds you up matters? What you do with your time matters? It’s the small things in life that challenge us. It’s those things that strengthen us.

Do you remember falling from your bike as a kid? Did that deter you from choosing to learn how to ride? No. For me, it did. I gave up. Do I regret it? Yes. That thought pushed me to work harder on the things I struggle with. We all have fears, insecurities, and concerns. That should never stop us from going after what we want. It should never deter us. It should instead motivate us. Be present and realize that time is precious. What you do with it matters? Make sure you spend your time on the right things. Things that will build and not tear you down. That will give you a future and hope for a better tomorrow.

Also Related: 10 Tips to Start Living in The Present

How will you start 2022 strong? Love to know. Comment below.

                                                      Keep Pushing

                                                          Vanessa