It’s that time of year again! Time to set goals and do a full January reset to prepare yourself for the new year. Here are the best methods to reset your life in the new year, no matter your goals.
Can you believe it’s a new year already?! This is the time everyone starts setting goals for the new year, going to the gym and taking care of themselves. It’s easy to start new goals and routines in January because there’s not much going on this month.
The holidays are over, it’s cold outside and a new year has began. Naturally it’s the easiest time to start focusing on yourself. But as easy as it is to start focusing on your resolutions this time of year, it’s even easier to fall off track with your progress just a few short weeks later.
How do you change that though?
Here are my favorite tried and true methods to reset your life after the holidays, and create actual long term goals you can stick to all year. This is the best time to start diving into how you want the next 12 months, or 365 days to go. And setting up goals and habits that you can actually stick to year round.
So this year, follow along with the January reset and learn how to finally stick to creating the best version of yourself you can enjoy year round!
This post is all about January reset.
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The Steps To Your Full January Reset Game Plan
Get real with yourself.
It is my strong belief that no new year can start without first deeply reflecting on the past year. But why is it so important?
Getting honest with yourself and refelcting on your past 12 months is the quickest way to identify what is going right in your life. And what is going not so right. By getting truly real and honest with yourself you can start to identify what exactly you learned. And what you want to change moving forward into a fresh year.
Start by reflecting on your favorite moments from the year. What was good, what are the most important lessons you learned and what goals did you achieve? Spend some time giving yourself credit for all of the amazing things you went through in the past and all of the work you have done for yourself.
Then you can start diving into the not-so-good things. What were your worst habits, what goals did you not achieve, and what did you waste your time on this year? The more real and raw you get with yourself the better.
Reflecting on your past is the quickest way to start making changes in your future. As long as you can identify what went wrong and how to fix it.
So start off your January reset with a solid few minutes of deep reflection. The best way to do that is to journal. There are plenty of journal prompts you can find online. But if you are unsure where to start, try starting with these journal prompts to reset your life.
Write out your goals using the What, Where, When, Why method.
Now it’s time to get serious. Setting goals for the new year is what January is all about!
But there is a difference between setting goals and setting good goals. You need to be setting good goals if you want to stick to them all year. This is where the What, Where, When and Why method comes in.
Identify a strong goal as your what. What is your goal? Get as specific with it as you can. Here is a bad goal example: ‘I want to read more this year’. And here is a good goal example: ‘I want to read 1 new book a month’. See the difference?
Now specify exactly when and where you will do the task to reach your goal. Going off of the reading example, you can say something like ‘I will read a chapter every night in my bed at 10 pm after I complete my nighttime skincare routine’. By being specific and noting an exact time and place to work on your goal, you will be more likely to do it.
Now specify your why. Why is this goal important to you? Once you identify a why that is deeply meaningful and important to you, you will want to stick to your goal.
Setting up your goals in this format makes them feel a lot more meaningful. When you know exactly when, where, and why you should work on your goal, it will be impossible not to!
Start the new year by decluttering your life.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t start on any new goals or projects without first organizing my surroundings.
It truly wouldn’t be a January reset unless you declutter your life first. Once you have your goals figured out, it’s time to clean things up! Plus cleaning up will get you excited to start working on new goals in your new clean space. At least that’s what works for me 
There are many areas of your life you can start with decluttering. Work on cleaning up your home. As well as your computer. Get rid of subscriptions you don’t need, unfollow people you no longer want in your life. Organize your photos from the past year. Go through your emails. The list can honestly be endless.
But don’t let that overwhelm you!
Pick a few things that are most important to you to declutter and just start with those. Keep it simple. Even making small changes can have a big impact on your life and productivity in the coming year.
Plus once you feel organized and clutter free, it will be much easier to start making progress towards your goals. This way, your January will feel like a fresh start in more ways than one!
Establish solid daily habits.
Setting goals is one thing, but working towards them daily is another. This is where daily habits come in! January is the perfect time to start creating solid daily habits. January feels fresh, and you are already full of motivation.
Start by analyzing your current daily habits. Are you working towards your goals daily or weekly? Is there a better way you can be spending your time?
By understanding your current habits and daily routines you can start to understand your patterns. It’s important to remember that your life is made up of your habits. And while having goals is important, you will never really get anywhere unless you have habits that support those goals.
Write out your current daily routine, and then compare it to an ideal daily routine. Ask yourself what you can add or remove in order to be more successful. But remember to start slow and not change everything all at once.
Set small but doable changes that you can make every week or so, so that you don’t overwhelm yourself. This way you can make slow but meaningful progress throughout your year. Think how productive you can be by this time next year! (PS: While being productive is great, but don’t forget to add time for self-care to your routine for a healthy balance!)
Define how you will be accountable with yourself.
Have you ever started the year strong, but then abandoned your goals by February? This is super common, it happened to me for years. A big part of this is not following through with being accountable to yourself. Setting weekly or monthly check-ins can be a game changer though.
You can either set reminders to do check-ins with just yourself. Or it helps to have an accountability buddy. That way you have someone with you to keep you on track and sticking to your goals.
Start by defining exactly how you plan to be accountable. Set progress points you want to meet, or questions to ask yourself to keep yourself on track. It’s so easy to fall off track, especially in the first few weeks. So set daily reminders to do accountability check-ins if you need to.
Remember that the more often you make promises to yourself that you don’t end up keeping, the easier it gets to stop trusting yourself. So start small and rebuild the trust you may have lost with yourself over the years. Like with anything else, the more you do it, the easier it gets!
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January Reset Goal Ideas:
Now that you know exactly how to make and stick to your goals at the beginning of the year, it’s time for a full January reset!
Goals can be big or small, so here are a few good ideas to kick off the year strong! These goals will help you build a great foundation for the upcoming year, making it the best one yet!
- Start a gratitude journal and add to it daily.
- Clean out your closet by donating anything you haven't worn in the last year.
- Stick to eating 80% clean every week.
- Set a goal to track 1000 hours of outdoor time for the whole year!
- Focus on saving an extra 5% of your paycheck each month.
- Clean out your social media follow list, and email list.
- Create a healthy morning and evening routine.
- Set aside 1 social media free day a week.
- Take 1 new course a month in whatever topic interests you.
- Set a reading challenge goal.
Want even more ideas? Check out these 100 life goal ideas to see which one’s resinate with you!
