5 Ways to Prepare for 2021

It’s only a few days to 2021. It’s only natural to look back and reflect on what went well and what could have gone better. We all know that 2020 was one of the toughest years for many of us but there is something about a new year that brings a glimmer of hope for something better.

1. Reflect

Take the time to reflect on your many wins and yes, even your ‘losses’. I usually do a yearly highlight of the people, places and things that shaped my year, in addition to a ‘what went well’ and a ‘what could have gone better’ check list. I use my appointments diary, journal, emails and social media to do this as it is so easy to forget so many great events.List all of your achievements (by the way, just surviving 2020 is huge in itself) and let your achievements give you the confidence to sashay into 2021 with style.

2. Create an empowering vision for 2021

I am a huge fan of creating vision maps that will guide your path as you journey through the key areas of your life. I particularly love using vision boards and I create both online and offline ones. Vision boards are a way of declaring your intent to the universe and the visual stimulation actually activates your thoughts and feelings into moving in the direction you desire for your life.Online, you can have lots of fun creating vision boards using images on Pinterest and you can also use online resources like Canva to write your goals and quotes.Offline, as a very visual and tactile creature, I get hold of a large white board, images and lots of colourful marker pens and away I go.Your goals and ambitions don’t all have to be realistic. I often coach my clients to include ‘stretch’ goals on their boards and more often than not, these goals are actually achieved.

3. Thoughts, Words, Actions and Habits

There is a saying that your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions and your actions become your habits.Studies have shown that it takes 21 days of consistent action for your actions to become your habits.

The first step is deep introspection and reflection. You need to look at your good, bad and ugly habits without judgement or condemnation of yourself.For instance, upon reflection, you may tell yourself that you need to lose weight and get fit. You then need to know your why. Is it to improve your health, lower your blood sugar and cholesterol? You then need to decide on your how. Would you be looking at healthy eating options, consulting a nutritionist, joining a gym, hiring a personal trainer or do you prefer to exercise on your own? Will you dig deep to find the motivation? When would you start and for how long?

So many questions and thoughts can overwhelm your subconscious mind. That’s why I always advise you to start small. As in really small. For instance, go can go from lounging on your sofa to just 5 minutes a day small. Then build up the minutes incrementally. There is only one catch. You need to do this action every day without fail. This is how you form and reinforce new habits.

4. A change is coming

You cannot change the people around you. But you can change the people you choose to be around. Who we allow into our lives can shape our outcomes and the truth of who you are is shown by your associations. In 2021, you may need to choose and change those you associate with and renew and reconnect with other contacts. Achieving new visions and goals requires different thoughts and actions which move us away from the comfort zones that hinder our success.Another way to bring about change is to also start with our physical home and work environment. A tidy and organised work area for instance can actually help to improve focus and increase your productivity.

5. Plan a wellness routine

2020 was unprecedented in so many ways and it saw a great deal of us working from home. Out of necessity many created a wellness routine for their physical, mental and emotional well being. Self care is critical to your success therefore you need to revisit your wellness routine for 2021. Regular sleep, rest, exercise, nutrition for our physical bodies. For our mental health, we may need to remove toxic people from our lives, connect with positive people, develop an attitude of gratitude and give to those less fortunate. For our psychological well being, we need to practice self acceptance, find our purpose in life, seek out personal growth and autonomy.

Here’s to a wonderful 2021!

Elizabeth Solaru is a Luxury Business Coach and Strategist and the founder of the Luxury Business Emporium. Contact her at elizabeth@luxurybusinessemporium.com