5 Powerful Ways to Start Your 2021

There is no secret that most of us are glad to be done with 2020, the year that provided us with consistent challenges and hurdles and really made us grateful for even the smallest of things. The start of a new year, while scary, is also a really exciting time. 

Here are 5 ways to make sure you are getting the absolute best out of 2021, whatever may come your way!

Journalling

Journalling is an incredibly important practice that shouldn’t be overlooked. It can help you clarify your 2021 goals, keep yourself accountable with new habits you want to implement this year and ensure you are always finishing each day with gratitude. We LOVE The Five Minute Journal – with gaps to fill in once in the morning and once at night, it will keep you on track, making journaling a habit, and we love the positivity and reflection the journal prompts offer.

Meditation

Another practice that is often overlooked or ignored is meditation. 2020 filled lots of us with anxiety and uncertainty and it is totally normal for this to follow us into the new year as we still have a lack of clarity about the future. Instead of honing in on this negative feeling, meditation and focusing on the current moment is a very effective way of combating anxiety, focusing on gratitude and appreciation for the present. Both Headspace and Calm are great apps for this – try to get into a routine of doing this every single morning and you will find it sets you up perfectly for the day ahead!

Reading more

It is safe to say that spending more time at home has led to an increase in our reliance on screens, whether it be binging a box set on Netflix or staring at your Instagram feed for more hours than you’d like to admit! Make 2021 the year that you dedicate some of these hours to books – it could be fiction (try out The Midnight Library) or self-development non-fiction (Elizabeth Day’s How To Fail is a fab read), giving yourself the time to sit down with a book is game-changing for your mental health. We love alternating between fiction and non-fiction to get your brain firing on all cylinders. 

Creating a morning routine 

2021 is THE year of the morning routine. Most of us are starting this year in a slower way, with no crazy commutes and ,instead, more time spent at home. This gives us the perfect opportunity to establish a strong and positive morning routine. This doesn’t have to be long and should contain a couple of key elements to set yourself up to have the most productive day you can. Depending on the time available to you, think about setting a fixed non-negotiable wake up time, then move onto a 5 or 10 minute meditation, a short walk outside, a stretching routine, reading a chapter of a motivational self-development book (something like The Power of Habit will get your inner fire burning!) and then get started with your day feeling calm but motivated. And don’t check your social media until your WHOLE morning routine is done!

Exercise

Yes, gyms might be shut and the dark mornings are not the most motivating of environments to wake up to. But it is time to reclaim that fitness routine for good – a game-changing development born out of 2020’s craziness has been online training. Whether it be following along with one of the many workouts on our Online Portal, or setting up a few 1-to-1 weekly sessions with one of our fabulous trainers for that accountability, making exercise a non-negotiable habit in your day will reap both physical and mental benefits. 

I hope these 5 tips have inspired you to kick off 2021 in the best way, no matter what may come our way. We’ve got this!