Without noticing, the first month of 2018 is rapidly flying by us! Now, reflecting back on your overall performance in the past year, my question to you is: how well were you able to stick to the goals you had at the start of 2017? My guess is--not so well. This is why I want to share with you some strategies to help you accomplish more than you can imagine this year!

Make realistic resolutions

Ensure that your goals are attainable. Don’t give yourself goals that are extremely challenging, especially if you are not very self-disciplined. They say it’s good to start small with resolutions as they are easier to keep throughout the year. Then, you want to make sure that you set up reminders, whether you keep them on your phone or another method deemed appropriate, to help goals become easier to keep.

Set priorities, and be determined!

If you really wanted to do it, then there is always time. Give yourself a daily and/or weekly plan, perhaps, by writing it down as top priorities on your to-do list. People are usually disciplined at the beginning of the year. Yet, when personal schedules becomes extremely busy due to exams or work, you start to think goals become impossible to achieve because you are too busy. It’s like if you truly value your significant other you will spare time out of your busy routine to spend quality time with him/her. So the main idea is, don’t give yourself room for excuses to not follow through on your goals.

Say goodbye to distractions

Staying focused is important for goal attainment. Sometimes you may find yourself easily distracted by the things around you, which will alternatively make you less productive to the extent of preventing you from achieving your goals. So if your goal is to study an hour every day for each of your courses but you are aware that you can get easily distracted by your phone, then you will have to make sure to shut off your phone during those times to avoid the temptation of looking at it. Because each minute that you’ve wasted accumulates to potentially achieving one rewarding task. The point here is understand what distracts you and developing methods of your own to help you stay focused.

So there you go! These are my tips to help you become more aware of the changes that can make all the difference in you achieving your goals or not. Moving forward, I hope this little insight serves you well, not only during your studies but also in your career. Good luck!