How to reach your goals in 2024
Top tips on moving forward with your life this year
If you’ve often made a host of New Year resolutions, only for them to have completely fallen by the wayside come February, you might need a new approach when it comes to achieving your goals…
1
Enlist the help of a pro
Whether it’s getting fitter or achieving career goals, a professional coach can show you how to tackle it. A personal trainer will put together a programme tailored to your needs so you exercise at the right level and build up your fitness appropriately. A career coach, life coach or mentor can help you capitalise on your strengths and channel your efforts to where they will be most effective. As well as their expertise, it brings in accountability. Knowing that someone else is invested in your progress is a great motivator. Plus, once you’ve booked – and paid – for a session, you’re less likely to welch out.
2
Join like-minded others
If your goal is to learn a new skill or write that novel, sign up to a local group or class. There’s a great deal to be said for the camaraderie you’ll get from others with the same aims as you. A creative writing course, for example, will team you up with a tutor who will help you on your writing journey. You can also get useful critique from others in the group, and it will help spur you on: knowing that you’ll need to write your next chapter before the next meet-up can give you that push.
3
Crystal clear intentions
With celebs such as Adele and Victoria Beckham tapping in to the healing potential of crystals, interest in this age-old belief is surging. And they could be a great way to keep your New Year resolutions with the likes of amethyst said to help curtail bad habits and citrine enhancing creativity and bringing success. There are many ways to use the crystals – it can be as simple as choosing a stone you are drawn to and popping it next to your computer to remind you of your goals, or you can go for full rituals such as washing your stones of negative vibes, charging their energy under a full moon or in the sun, and repeating various mantras. The main thing is to give your crystal a purpose and set out the intention of what you are asking from it.
4
Join the January Challenge
Explore your creative side by signing up to the January Challenge initiative by social enterprise 64 Million Artists, which aims to boost wellbeing through what can be a tough month for many. Every morning throughout January, an inspiring invitation to be creative is emailed directly to everyone who is signed up. There are also virtual events, podcasts and in-person workshops, and everyone is encouraged to share what they create on social media.
5
Take a retreat
If you’re finding it hard to break out of a negative cycle or just need some breathing space to set your goals in motion, you could start with a retreat. There are a huge number to choose from where you can combine yoga, sound baths as well as time in the spa to get some headspace. Or get really specific: want better posture for the year ahead? Try Palace Merano in Italy, which has a team of experts to sort that for you. Want to take up dancing this year? Schloss Elmau, in the Bavarian Alps, has the retreat for you, offering tuition in waltz, swing and salsa.
6
Manifest the life you want
The idea of manifesting is nothing new but it has been gaining a huge amount of attention in recent years, and it seems particularly appropriate when it comes to setting New Year goals. Manifesting can be tied into certain rituals that harness the power or the universe – the premise being that like attracts like so if you send out positive energy, you will receive that back in return. But it is principally about resetting your thought process.
The theory is that if your brain believes something to be true, it will become your reality. This works for positive and negative beliefs – and those (often deep-seated) negative thoughts about yourself will hold you back. The first step in manifesting is to look at the self-imitating beliefs you hold and where they came from – write them down, then let them go. Be cautious though of ‘toxic positivity’ where you feel you can’t acknowledge any negative feelings whatsoever. It is more about being aware of how our thoughts can be so entrenched that they can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy.
This way of goal-setting also involves taking time each day to be grateful for what you have already and the steps you are making towards your aim, however small the win.
Visualise your goal – be very specific, write it down or create a vision board. Start seeing this future person as you right now, using all of your senses to really visualise yourself and who you have become.
