5 new year challenges to a positive mindset (and how to overcome them)

The new year is a time of new beginnings, new opportunities, and new challenges, and it is also a time when many of us set goals and resolutions for ourselves, hoping to achieve them in the next 12 months.

However, sometimes we may face difficulties or setbacks that can make us feel discouraged, frustrated, or overwhelmed.

These negative emotions can affect our mental health and wellbeing, and prevent us from reaching our full potential.

That’s why it is important to start the new year with a positive mindset, focusing on the bright side and seeing challenges as opportunities, rather than threats.

It is a way of believing in yourself, rather than doubting yourself.

A positive mindset can help you cope with stress, boost your confidence, enhance your performance, and improve your happiness.

So, we wanted to share some simple and practical tips on how to start the new year with a positive mindset to help you overcome some of the common challenges that come with the beginning of the year.

Positive Mindset Challenge 1: Procrastination

One of the most common challenges that people face at the beginning of the year is procrastination, delaying or postponing a task or decision that you know you should do, but don’t feel like doing.

Procrastination can have many causes, such as fear of failure, lack of motivation, boredom, distraction, or perfectionism.

Procrastination can have many consequences, such as missed deadlines, wasted time, poor quality of work, increased stress, and reduced satisfaction.

Tip: Set SMART Goals

One of the best ways to overcome procrastination is to set SMART goals.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

SMART goals are clear, realistic, and actionable goals that you can track and evaluate, and they can help you break down a large or complex task into smaller and manageable steps, ensuring you stay focused and motivated.

For example, instead of saying “I want to write a book this year”, you can say “I want to write 500 words every day for the next six months”.

To set SMART goals, you can use the following questions:

• Specific: What exactly do you want to accomplish? Who, what, where, when, why, and how?
• Measurable: How will you know that you have achieved your goal? What indicators or criteria will you use?
• Achievable: Is your goal realistic and attainable, given your resources and abilities? How can you make it happen?
• Relevant: Is your goal aligned with your values, interests, and priorities? Why is it important to you?
• Time-bound: When do you want to achieve your goal? What is your deadline or timeframe?

Once you have set your SMART goals, you can write them down, review them regularly, and celebrate your progress.

One of the great side-effects of goals is the act of working towards them – as opposed to achieving them – stimulates positive emotion, helping them to become self-motivating and leading to a positive mindset.

Positive Mindset Challenge 2: Negative Self-Talk

Another common challenge that people face at the beginning of the year is negative self-talk, with that inner voice that criticises, judges, or doubts yourself and creates major barriers to a positive mindset.

Negative self-talk can have many sources, such as past experiences, social comparisons, unrealistic expectations, or negative feedback.

Negative self-talk can have many effects, such as low self-esteem, reduced confidence, impaired performance, and decreased happiness.

Tip: Use Positive Affirmations

One of the best ways to overcome negative self-talk is to use positive affirmations that you say to yourself or write down, highlighting your strengths, abilities, or qualities.

Positive affirmations can help you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, and help you boost your self-esteem, confidence, and happiness, leading to a positive mindset.

To use positive affirmations, you can follow these steps:

• Identify your negative thoughts and beliefs. What are you telling yourself that is holding you back or making you feel bad?
• Challenge your negative thoughts and beliefs. Are they true, helpful, or rational? What evidence do you have to support or refute them?
• Replace your negative thoughts and beliefs with positive affirmations. What do you want to tell yourself that is empowering, encouraging, or inspiring? What are your strengths, abilities, or qualities that you can acknowledge and appreciate?
• Repeat your positive affirmations daily. You can say them out loud, write them down, or display them somewhere you can see them. You can also use affirmations from books, websites, or apps.

Positive Mindset Challenge 3: Loneliness

Another common challenge that people face at the beginning of the year is loneliness.

The start of the year, coming out of the festive period, can bring a heightened sense of feeling isolated, disconnected, or unsupported by others and can have many impacts, such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, poor health, and reduced happiness.

Tip: Connect with Others

It sounds obvious, but it’s also the hardest to do.

Loneliness can be incredibly counterintuitive, because its impacts – depression, anxiety, low mood – can lead to a lack of enthusiasm to connect with others, thus becoming a positive feedback loop.

That’s why it takes conscious effort and will power to force yourself when you need it to reach out to people who care about you, or finding new people who share your interests, values, or goals.

Connecting with others can rebuild your positive mindset and help you feel valued, supported, and understood, and help you improve your mood, health, and happiness.

You can try to connect with others by:

• Calling, texting, or video chatting with your friends or family members regularly.
• Joining an online or offline community, group, or club that relates to your hobbies, passions, or causes.
• Volunteering for a local or global organisation that helps others in need.
• Seeking professional help or counseling if you feel overwhelmed or depressed by your loneliness.

Positive Mindset Challenge 4: Boredom

Boredom might sound surprising, but like loneliness, it can be heightened by the festive period, during which many people have been exposed to continuous, highly-sensory, highly-stimulated environments and events.

Then comes the new year, with all its mundaneness.

Boredom can have many reasons, such as lack of variety, challenge, meaning, or purpose in your life and can result in low motivation, low energy, low creativity, and low happiness.

Tip: Try Something New

One of the best ways to overcome boredom and cultivate a positive mindset is to try something new.

Trying something new can help you break the monotony, stimulate your curiosity, challenge yourself, and discover your potential.

Try something new by:

• Learning a new skill, language, or instrument that you have always wanted to learn.
• Traveling to a new place, either locally or internationally, that you have never been to before.
• Reading a new book, watching a new show, or listening to a new podcast that can expand your knowledge or entertain you.
• Experimenting with a new recipe, style, or hobby that can spice up your life.

Positive Mindset Challenge 5: Burnout

Burnout is, quite simply, the state of physical, mental, or emotional exhaustion that results from prolonged or excessive stress.

It’s basically the opposite of a positive mindset.

We often think of burnout as taking place towards the end of the year, as we “limp to the finish line”.

But while December might bring reprieve from work stresses for many of us, it can also bring its own source of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion.

Burnout can have many effects, such as fatigue, irritability, cynicism, detachment, and reduced performance.

We’re not talking casual tiredness here. Burnout is a danger you need to be mindful of.

Tip: Take Care of Yourself

It’s important to remember the age-old adage here: you can’t pour from an empty cup.

You need to take care of yourself by prioritising your own needs, wellbeing, and happiness so that you can restore your energy, balance, and resilience, and cope with stress better.

If you’re feeling burnt out, turn to the Holy Trinity of Wellbeing:

• Sleep: Getting enough sleep, rest, and relaxation that can refresh your body and mind.
• Diet: Eating healthy, balanced, and nutritious meals that can nourish your body and mind.
• Exercise: Exercising regularly, preferably outdoors, that can boost your mood, health, and immunity.

As a bonus, you can throw in practicing mindfulness, meditation, or yoga to help calm your mind, body, and emotions.

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Starting the new year with a positive mindset can help you overcome some of the common challenges or obstacles that you may face at the beginning of the year, and help you achieve your goals and improve your wellbeing.

We hope you found this post helpful and informative.

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Happy new year!