3 Pro-Tips Everyone Should Know About Fresh Starts

“Fresh Starts” is one of those buzzword phrases which keeps popping up lately. We all know we’re supposed to be embracing them, accepting a new beginning as the means to accomplish positive and lasting change in your life. But have you considered just how to make them work in such a way, so failure is not an option?

It seems too good to be true.

In all honesty, fresh starts are fairly straightforward. But they’re also very intentional, and to do them right, you need to be aware of these three things:

You Have to Track Your Progress
There’s no way on earth you’re going to succeed with your fresh start if you have no idea what you’re measuring it against or even understand what success means. It’d be a little like running a marathon in a strange city where no one bothered to set out the course. You’d have no idea where you were going and have no means of knowing when you’d crossed the finish line (or even if you ever crossed it at all).

Tracking progress, though, doesn’t have to be complicated. You can do this in three simple steps.

* Set a check-in time, keeping it simple. No more than once a week is needed.
* Have simple goals. Ask yourself what success looks like for this week. It’s a simple yes/no whether you reached them.
* Get an outside opinion. Mentors are invaluable when it comes to tracking success. They can tell you exactly where you are. Even if you don’t have a mentor, though, having a good friend who can be brutally honest will act as a barometer as to whether or not you’re reaching your goals.

Keep the Momentum
If you reach one goal, immediately set another. The last thing you want to do is to let this energy drop and leave you stranded. Are you hitting the goals too often? You’re not setting them high enough. A goal ought to be challenging enough to be a little bit intimidating but still within reach. Remember, you can break down big goals into smaller ones so you can use them to track progress.

Have a Plan for When it Goes Wrong
Your Fresh Start isn’t always going to succeed. Occasionally you’re going to make a wrong turn or have something blow up in your face. When this happens, how you deal with it makes all the difference. If you can home in on the lesson to be learned and not get caught up in the blame, you’ll be able to get back on track a lot easier.