How to say goodbye to 2020 and prepare for 2021

We will all remember this fateful 2020 as the year a microscopic infectious agent turned the world upside down. Confinements, curfews, closed companies, people without work, with a mandatory complement on our face, hiding the most beautiful thing we have, our smile.

The distances, the lack of hugs and kisses from family and friends that we adore and give us energy; and a lot of uncertainty, which is one of the greatest fears that human beings have.

But not everything has been bad. This year has made us aware of many values ​​that we had totally forgotten, especially to those families who, being confined, have known how to enjoy the most valuable thing we have, time.

In many cases we have had time to enjoy each other, and slow down the rhythm of our usual life. The context has led us to appreciate the links more, that neither distance nor confinement have been able to destroy; It has made us in solidarity with the most disadvantaged, empathic with the whole world and has shown us that we are all the same.

Also has forced us to see our reality with another prism, value more what we have and live more in the present, treasuring every little moment lived.

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How to prepare for 2021?

Having said that, I think it is time to turn the page to this historic year that we will never forget, staying with the good it has brought us and focus on preparing for 2021. For this I am going to show you a very useful tool to start building our new year.

1. Make a list of purposes

The first of all that we are going to do is an internal action, of introspection; let's do a list with everything we want to do in 2021. Write without limits, without thinking if it is possible or not; write all your wishes, objectives, goals... as if all were possible.

There are studies that suggest that if you write everything you set out to do, 85% get it; The figure is very high! We cannot miss this opportunity to achieve it. No matter how long the list is, we have 365 days to complete it.

2. Choose

When you have the list already finished, choose the 6 that most appeal to you and that are easiest to get.

3. Make a mind map

Once you have them selected, it is time to move on to external action. Let's make a mind map.

A mind map is a graphic representation through words, drawings or shapes, with a hierarchical structure and starting from a central concept. Mind maps have great cognitive potential. It is also very useful to use the mind map for academic studies, work organization and, in this case, for a mental organization. Applied to this task, we will make it start from the objectives for the year that we are going to start.

In the central part we will put "2021 Goals", as it will be our central concept. From the central concept there will be 6 branches (arrows) and in each branch we will place an objective of the 6 initially chosen. From each objective, all the necessary arrows will come out to write in them the actions that we need to fulfill our objective.

I also advise putting small and easy actions to motivate you to continue moving forward, and thus we will comply and cross out actions. You can represent actions using words, draw pictures of them, paste photos... As it is more visual and more motivating for you.

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4. Meet your goals 6 by 6

Once the first 6 objectives on the list have been completed, we will continue to advance with the next 6 and so on, until we complete our list for 2021. Why 6 in 6? Because it is easier and faster for us to meet objectives; otherwise, if we tried all of them at the same time, the chances of getting them would be very small.

It is essential to carry out actions daily, even if they are very small. As they say, "a long road begins with the first step."

The Kaizen method is a Japanese method of continuous improvement. The word Kaizen comes from the Japanese "Kai": changes and "Zen": improvements, so it could be defined as "the process of continuous improvement". The main bases for the Kaizen method are Commitment and Discipline. It is of total importance for our objectives to be met, to be 100% involved and to carry out actions.

Commitment, discipline and effort are the three main ingredients for your 2021 goals to come true. Wanting is power. Happy 2021!