How to Make 2022 Your Year

Hands up if you want to make 2022 your year. You, me, and the rest of the world am I, right? However, it is time to face the facts. That is not going to happen by accident. If you want to have an incredible 2022, it will take some focus and effort. Let’s hit the reset button and break free from stagnation and bad habits. 2022 is going to be your best year yet.

Set Goals

Starting a new year without setting some goals is like starting a road trip with no GPS. You might end up getting to where you wanted to, or you might end up in the complete other direction. To start, close your eyes. Now imagine where you want to be by the 31^st of December 2022. Immerse yourself in this vision. How do you feel? Who are you with? Are you happy? Is it everything you dreamed of? Next, open your eyes and write down everything you just envisioned. Now, we need to set some practice goals to help you get there.

To set a good goal is to set a practical goal. This means setting goals that you can achieve. For example, instead of setting a goal that says, “I am going to save 50,000 by the end of the year”, set a goal that says, “I am going to save a minimum of $1000 per month”. You are much more likely to do something about practical goals and as a result much more likely to have your best year ever.

For help setting practical goals, I encourage you to follow the SMART goal template. You can find an amazing SMART goals template right here.

Get Some Rest

In today’s very busy society, it can be easy to get caught up and let our rest suffer as a result. How long has it been since you’ve had a full eight hours of sleep? Ample rest is essential for letting your mind and body recharge. Adequate rest reduces stress, improves concentration, betters one’s mood and even aids a healthier complexion. So, if you know that you aren’t getting in the recommended hours of rest, you should start doing so as soon as you can. Don’t know where to start? Let us help you.

Some helpful tips and tricks to aid better rest include sticking to a sleep schedule, paying attention to what you eat and drink, creating a restful environment, eliminating any daytime naps, adding physical activity to your daily routine and managing your worries and stress.

When it comes to a sleep schedule, try to go to bed and get up at the same time every day. Being consistent reinforces your body’s sleep-wake cycle. When it comes to what you eat and drink, ensure that you don’t go to be hungry or too full. Try to avoid heavy meals within a couple of hours before bedtime and stay away from caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine. Creating a restful environment is key in getting adequate rest, like a baby, making the room cool, dark, and quiet. As we all know regular activity promotes better sleep so if this is something you have been avoiding, it’s time to stop. Even a brisk evening walk will do. And lastly, try to resolve your worries or concerns before bedtime. You could write down what is on your mind and set it aside for tomorrow. When writing this down, do it with the intention of letting it go for the moment.

Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

You might not love this one but that is sort of the point. Go somewhere you’ve never been. Try a new dish every week if you’ve been thinking about a career change? Do it. Regardless of how you get out of your comfort zone, the experience of trying things that are uncomfortable for you will help build your confidence and possibly change your current view of the world. When embarking on these adventures, make sure that you have a supportive group of people who can lift your spirits, not wreck them.

Eat Healthier and Smarter

I don’t have to tell you about the abundance of positive health outcomes that come with eating a healthy diet. We all know it. Healthy food is good for us. I’m not saying never eat a cheeseburger again. However, make 2022 the year that you master balance. See if you can eat healthy 6 days of the week and allow yourself that 1 day to eat your favourite foods that although your tastebuds enjoy, your body does not.

It can be difficult to know what is healthy and what isn’t. However, there is a multitude of resources at your disposal. If you want to track calories, MyFitnessPal, makes it easy, with a database of over 14 million foods. If something is not there, you can enter it manually or scan a UPC code. This app integrates with fitness trackers, giving users an overall picture of calories in, calories out. If you are worried about the quality of your food, download Fooducate, which gives every food in its database a letter grade for nutrition. To find a healthy alternative to some of your favourite splurges, scan a product’s bar code, and the app will offer suggestions.

Prioritise Your Mental Health

Your mental health is so incredibly important. It is rather odd that it becomes so low on our list of things to focus on. Therapy is one of the most valuable things you can do for yourself. However, we do understand that it can also bring its own issues, such as cost, worries of stigma and inconvenience. Fortunately, there are numerous online therapy apps that can help to reduce and eliminate some of these concerns. In fact, we have investigated the best mental health apps of 2022 so that you don’t have to. If one sparks your interest, download it and give it a try. What’s the worst that could happen?

 Best overall: Moodfit
Best for learning coping skills: Moodmission
Best for therapy: Talkspace

Best for stress-relief: Sanvello
Best for meditation: Calm

Best fun app: Happify

Best for depression: Depression CBT Self-Help Guide
Best for BIPOC: eMoods

Best for symptom tracking: Bearable

Best for ADHD: Todoist

Best for PTSD: PTSD Coach

Meditation is another way to bring more peace to your life. Even a few minutes a day can make a difference. To get you started, try headspace’s Reset: Decompress Your Body and Mind.

Quit Smoking Now

A hard one but an important one. If you are a smoker, 2022 is the year to finally quit. You deserve better. Your body deserves better. Your family deserves more time with you. There are a massive array of resources and products available to help you quit smoking. You just must find the one that works best for you.

If you prefer to do things on your own, then we recommend downloading an app called SmokeFree. It has various activities to keep you on track, motivators, tips and even a chatbot to guide you. If you think you need assistance with supplements, talk to your doctor about various nicotine replacement products or even prescriptions such as Champix. If you like receiving the help of others, maybe consider trying out hypnotherapy? Or if you’re really hardcore, you might want to just go cold turkey. However, you choose to do it, try and make 2022 the year you become smoke-free.

Open a Savings Account

Even if saving money isn’t one of your New Year’s resolutions, saving money is a good habit, even though it can be hard to start and maintain. One trick to increase savings is to open multiple savings accounts with different financial goals. For example, you could create a holiday fund, a shopping fund a house fund. Not only will you be more aware of your financial goals, but it’ll encourage you to simplify your financial decision making when you receive your income. Another way to help you save money is to set up an automatic direct debit. To do this you simply go into your mobile banking app, pick a date and an amount and then your bank will automatically put that money aside as savings for you.

If saving is hard for you (don’t worry it is for me too!), start small. Save $100 a week for 1 month. Then increase it. You will be surprised at how fast those dollars add up.

Give Back to Society

The act of charitable giving allows one to appreciate one’s life and feel the joy of making a positive difference, which ultimately leads to more content and meaningful life. You can give back to society in numerous ways. Such as, participating in a coastal clean-up, making more eco-friendly choices, donating blood, supporting local farmers, donating to charity, volunteering for a local group that interests you, such as helping the homeless or becoming a mentor at a school. If you have children, get them involved as well! This is an invaluable lesson that will provide them with an abundance of positive outcomes.

Declutter Your Home

It’s time… that cupboard that you throw everything into, it must go. That section of clothes in your wardrobe that you don’t fit anymore, it must go. That kitchen draws with Tupperware all over the place, it must go. The garage and all its clutter, it must go. Let’s go into 2022 more organised. It is a known fact that clean, organised living space, prompts a calm and happy living environment.

Have you heard of Marie Kondo? Well, if you were like me and binge-watched her Netflix show during the pandemic then you will understand my obsession with her. Her method encourages tidying by category, not by location, beginning with clothes, then moving on to books, papers, miscellaneous items, and, finally, sentimental items. She says that you must only keep things that speak to the heart, and discard items that no longer spark joy. Set aside some time to revamp your home, you won’t regret it!

Stop Buying Items You Don’t Need

Look, this one was hard for me to even type. As I am easily seduced by a good deal. If you are like me and often buy things on impulse or shop every payday, then unfortunately my friend, we are feeding a habit of buying things we don’t really need. But hey?! 2022 is the year we can both stop. Upon investigation, tools to break this habit include figuring out what our shopping triggers are and consciously avoiding them. It is time to unsubscribe from mailing lists, delete those shopping apps and stick to the shopping list when we’re at the shopping centre. Don’t mind me… I just have some tears on my keyboard.

Let Go of the Small Stuff

Finally, with life’s constant ups and downs, it is vital that we let go of the small stuff we can’t control. 2022 is the year that we are going to take it easy, accept what we can’t change and only focus on the things we can. Time goes fast, let’s not waste any more of it.

So, there you have it. Some tips and tricks to make 2022 your year! It is important to figure out what you want to work towards to start the new year on a positive note. And remember, don’t feel pressured if you don’t accomplish all your goals by the end of the year.  Here is to everything we have achieved thus far and the things that are yet to come! Have the most amazing year, you amazing people.