With the new year in full swing, I’m excited about a fresh start in different areas of life. New goals, new ambitions, and a lot of exciting energy. So let’s get into the 6 ways to start 2025 off right!
How to start 2025 off right
This year, I have a few goals that are important to me. By the end of 2025, I want to be able to run a 5K, be consistent with my blogs, and be an early riser. I’ve already started working on these goals in the past month or so, but want to make sure I’m sticking with them in the new year.
Staying disciplined is a trait I’m working on within myself. It doesn’t come naturally to me and it’s a lot easier to go with the flow and do whatever I’m feeling in the moment.
So I need all the tips and tricks I can get when it comes to sticking with my goals in the new year and starting 2025 off on the right foot.
It’s all too easy to set resolutions on January 1, keep them for the first month or two of the year, and then give them up completely.
This year, instead of setting resolutions that I’ll inevitably give up, I’m going to set realistic, attainable goals.
Which brings me to the first tip…
1. STOP making resolutions, START setting attainable goals
We’ve all fallen victim to the New Year’s resolution trap.
It’s January 1 and you’re feeling super motivated to accomplish everything you’ve ever wanted out of life.
So you set out to hit the gym EVERY DAY (even though you haven’t worked out once since last July…) You’re also going to eat “perfectly healthy” (NO sugar OR carbs OR…anything enjoyable).
Not only that, but you’re going to get a promotion this year, be a perfect spouse/parent/friend, keep a pristine home, start biking to work, run a marathon… You get the idea.
Setting goals is amazing and it’s something that I’m a firm believe in in day-to-day life. But let’s be real, you’re not going to change your entire life in a year if you’re 1) taking on way too much and 2) setting unrealistic goals.
When setting goals for the year, take a step back and visualize completing them in your day-to-day life.
- Is it something that you can fit into your schedule? If not, re-work it so it doesn’t take up as much of your time.
- Is it something you feel excited to do (& will be able to stay disciplined enough to continue doing it even when you aren’t feeling it?) If not, it’s time to re-work the goal or set a new goal entirely.
- Most importantly: Are you setting this goal for yourself (because it’s going to bring you joy and truly improve your life) or because of societal standards / other people’s expectations of you / what other people are doing? If it’s for you, great, let’s freaking do it! If it’s for anyone else, scrap it.
2. Stay organized with a planner
Staying organized and keeping track of your goals, schedule, and to-do lists each week is essential for accomplishing your goals.
I’m a sucker for a cute planner and a firm believer that having one you love boosts your productivity by 1000%.
Is this scientifically backed? Probably not. But from my own experience, if I love a planner (or anything for that matter) I’m way more likely to pick it up and use it. If I have a boring gray patternless planner, it’ll end up on the shelf all year.
This past year, I stepped up my planner game and bought a Papier planner.
Some other great planners (that are a bit less pricy) are Paperage, Anecdote, and Kokonote.
Each week, I wrote down my goals for the week (based on yearly goals), to-do lists to make sure I’m staying accountable, and weekly plans based on what’s going on that week.
It’s so much easier to accomplish your goals when you stay organized and hold yourself accountable. Another awesome way to stay accountable is by convincing your friends to be your accountability buddies…
3. Find an accountability buddy
A few of my good friends and I have been doing on & off goal check-ins with each other for the past year. It not only holds me accountable to my own goals, but seeing them crush their goals is so inspiring!
For Christmas this past year, I thought it’d be fun to get us all matching planners. So we could be equally inspired to hit our goals throughout the year.
For the goal check-ins, we’ve all been using different systems or habit-tracking apps, and doing monthly check-ins for our goals. The check-ins can either be over text or in-person, whatever works for you!
4. Track your habits
For the past year or two, I’ve been using an app called “Habit” to track my progress and share in our accountability group text.
It allows you to track daily and weekly goals and see your progress over weeks/months. It even celebrates you when you knock out all your daily habits. It’s amazing! & even better, it’s free!
Here’s an example of my daily goals:
- Up by 7 am
- Night routine
- Move for 30 mins/day (includes stretching, walking, etc.) (my Apple watch auto-tracks this to the Habit app which is a really cool feature!)
- Mobility/stretching
- Log into my blog (I learned this from a habits book, that setting the habit as something as simple and quick as just logging in really helps! Oftentimes I’ll end up spending a lot longer working on the blog, but I don’t put the pressure on myself that I have to every day.)
The fun colors, emojis, and customizability of the app keep me motivated and excited to check off my goals every day.
You can track your progress by week, month, and year as well. Here’s an example of my weekly habit progress:
It also lets you add widgets to your home screen, so you can have a little habit reminder whenever you open your phone.
5. Use a focus app
Okay, this is the end of the apps section after this, because I know we all have enough apps on our phones! But honestly, this one has changed my life and exploded my productivity.
The app I’ve been using is called Forest. It lets you plant a tree in your virtual forest every time you complete a focus session. You can customize the length of your focus sessions, the type of tree you plant, and the category of your focus. For example, I have different categories for blogging, personal development, work, and simply being present.
The Forest app costs a few dollars on the app store, but there’s a free similar app called Flora. They’re both super helpful, I just like the design/aesthetic of Forest a bit more, which helps motivate me to actually use it. (Sensing a trend here?) 😉
6. Give yourself grace
Starting new habits and working towards goals are hard work! Remember that where you currently are in life is already more than enough. Personal development and working towards goals are amazing, but we all have our days where we just don’t want to do anything.
I’ve tried to stick with a rule for my daily habits: one day off at a time, but not two in a row.
This allows me to have bad days where I don’t want to get up early, work on my blog, go on a run, or do anything besides lay in bed.
But I know that the next day, I’ll get back to it. So I can fully enjoy my day off without beating myself up for not accomplishing my goals.
How to Start 2025 Off Right: In Conclusion
I hope this helped you to find some inspiration going into the new year! These tips and tricksare what have worked for me, but I’d love to hear from you! If you have additional ideas or life hacks to make 2025 the best year yet, comment below.
Comments will only be open for a month after a post goes live now. Unfortunately, I had to disable fully open comments due to a ton of spam comments coming in. But you can always send me an email if comments are closed and you want to get in contact. 🙂
If you enjoyed this blog, you’ll also like:
- The EASIEST Way to Create Better Habits
- How to Organize Your Life (with 7 Simple Habits)
- “Good” vs. “Bad” Habits
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