5 Ways to Start Your Year Off On The Right Foot

The beginning of a new year often feels like a new chapter is beginning in your life. It’s a great opportunity to look back at how you spent the last year of your life. Going into a new year with a clear vision of what you want to accomplish during this chapter is a great way to set yourself out on the right track towards happiness, fulfillment and success.

There is a lot of great advice when it comes to starting your year off on the right foot and paving the way to accomplishing your goals. In fact, sometimes it can become overwhelming and it feels like there are too many tips.

Here are a few simple and powerful ways to start your year off on the right foot with clear intentions and on the pathway to happiness:

Discover Your Goals (For Real Though)

Of course you knew you were going to see this one at the top of this list. It may seem like New Year’s goals are sort of over-rated. But in all honesty, setting goals is the best way to push yourself to achieve more. The thing is, your goals have to be realistically achievable. One of our biggest mistakes when setting goals is to set goals that are unrealistic. Start small, and work your way bigger. One way to do this is by setting monthly goals, and then breaking them down into 4 smaller weekly goals that represent the steps you can take to achieving the bigger goal. Trust me, looking back at your planner and seeing that you did actually accomplish what you set out to do makes achieving your next goal even easier. Long story short: start every week with a clear intention, and break bigger goals into smaller, bite-sized tasks.

Budget: Self Love

Often, starting our year off on the right foot comes with a new budget; or at least a look at your current budget and some financial shifts. Budgets are constantly shifting and monthly expenses often vary. However, what many people forget to include in their monthly budget is a budget for self love. We all love to pamper ourselves in one way or another. This could mean setting a specific amount of money aside to treat yourself to a facial or mani-pedi, or a buying yourself a beautiful flower arrangement just because. Self love is important, and we should never need an excuse to treat ourselves to something that makes us feel good at least once a month. No, this does not mean a budget for wine night with the girls or family movie night, this is a budget for you.

Plan Things to Look Forward To

No matter how focused on starting the year off on the right foot, it’s very easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of juggling work and social with family and relationships. Sometimes we get so lost in planning the week to week or month to month, that we forget to plan in little things for us to look forward to. Building healthy anticipation in your life is proven to have the potential to improve our lives in a huge way. Planning a weekend out of town at least once every two months, a fancy lunch break to help you get through a tough week, or planning a future vacation are all simple ways to build anticipation in your life. It is inevitable that we will find ourselves in not-so-ideal present moments throughout the year. Giving yourself something to look forward on both short and long-term basis makes it easy to get through tough moments. It’s important for us to disconnect as often as possible so that we are our most effective selves when it’s go time.

Ask Yourself Powerful Questions

With every year that passes we continue to grow and evolve into new versions of ourselves. We make new connections, leave behind old ones, overcome all kinds of obstacles and take advantage of new opportunities. All these things pave the way for us to become new versions of ourselves as the time passes. Asking yourself powerful questions is a great way to get to know new versions of yourself and decide what aspects of yourself to keep or let go of. Sarah Biermann wrote a great article with a series of powerful questions that are a great place to start when it comes to doing this. Read her article here.

Express Your Gratitude

Another great way to start your year off on the right foot is by taking a second to think about all the people in your life that you appreciate. Even if you haven’t spoken to them in a while, take a few moments to call them up or write a quick message to tell them you appreciate them. We all need positive affirmation in our lives and giving it out will almost always result in it coming back to you full circle. Don’t let the hustle and bustle create too much distance between you and the people you want in your life.

Starting a new year off on the right foot doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s really only about giving yourself a bit of time for yourself, recognizing what and who is important to you, and remembering life isn’t all always about reaching the next level. You are always exactly where you’re supposed to be. In fact, one of the greatest things of all that you can master is the art of being present, and recognizing that everything happens as it should.

Here at the Erica Maree studio, which doubles as a bohemian fashion and accessory shop in beautiful Puerto Vallarta, we believe in the value of supporting artisans whose handicrafts have been made in Mexico for generations. Each one of our pieces is created by hand with heart and soul, and provides fair labor wages for artisans in order to keep the magic of traditional Mexican hand embroidery alive. We’re looking forward to starting our year off on the right foot with these tips, and hope they are valuable to you too!

As always, thanks for shopping handmade!