7 Motivational Ideas To Kick Off Your Best New Year Ever

Do yourself a favor and take a moment between holiday madness to reflect on the last 365 days. You’ve had some great successes, and you should be proud of that. Write those warm and fuzzies down and put them somewhere easy-to-reference on a proverbially rainy day.

But as always, undoubtedly there’s some areas of your life you’d like to improve. And that’s okay, too! On personal evolution, Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying, “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” And he was a pretty smart guy, after all.

We asked a bunch of experts in common areas of self improvement for a little advice and inspiration to get us rolling like thunder into the new year:

On Boosting Productivity

“Saying yes to too much “cool” will bury you alive and render you a B-player, even if you have A-player skills.  

To develop your edge in the first place, you learn to set clear priorities; to protect your edge, you need to defend against the priorities of others.” Read more

- Tim Ferriss

 

On Getting Healthier

“It’s not about what you eat but why you do it, and it’s not about what workouts you’re doing but why you’re working out. Before you say you want to lose ten pounds, thinking about why you want to lose ten pounds might reveal that you don’t actually want to lose pounds, but put on ten pounds of muscle.” Read more

- Derek Flanzraich, CEO of Greatist

 

On Starting A Business

“Start with an idea that you are deeply passionate about. Then, do your homework. I wrote a 75-page business plan before starting LearnVest. Few people actually read it, but it forced me to be exhaustive about my research and helped prepare me for taking the leap into entrepreneurship.” Read more

- Alexa von Tobel, CEO of LearnVest

 

On Achieving Goals

“I make sure that my goals are actually achievable. Don’t be overly ambitious, be realistic when setting goals. I’m a visual person by nature so it’s important for me to visualize my goals first, not just write them down in a check-list. Whether it’s creating a mood board or flipping through magazines for inspiration, visualizing my goals actually motivates me to set a game plan.” Read more

- Brit Morin, CEO of Brit + Co

 

On Learning A Language

“Practice a little every day — it’s better to practice one hour a day for a week than seven hours in a single day. Don’t worry about sounding stupid or being perfect at first. Perfection takes a long time to achieve and is not necessary to communicate.” Read more

- Luis von Ahn, CEO of Duolingo

 

On Advancing In Your Career

“Life is very busy. That’s why it’s important to choose career goals that are genuinely important to you.  If you choose a goal based on impressing someone else or living up to their expectation of you, your goal won’t have staying power. Ask yourself honestly, is this what I want?” Read more

- Liane Davey, NYT Bestselling author

 

On Traveling More

“Having fewer more clearly articulated goals makes it more likely that you’ll hit them. Saying ‘I want to go to East Africa’ is vague and requires further definition, but saying ‘I want to write a feature on cycling the Lushoto Hills of Tanzania before the rainy season’ gives you plenty of specifics.” Read more

- Tom Hall, Lonely Planet Editorial Director

Inspiring, right? But the advice doesn’t stop here! If you’d like to receive more ongoing motivational ideas from these experts throughout the new year, sign up here: