This year has been full of surprises. Many things happened that we didn’t see coming, for example, events like unemployment, quarantine, and the second wave. Regardless of all that, I want you to know that you can still finish 2020 strong.

We started the last month of 2020, and on this last month, we can surely maximize our year. Every year, we go through the same events; there was Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and then we will go through Christmas eve, Christmas day, Boxing day and New years.

Just naming a few here, December is clearly a month that screams Holiday. Therefore, the end of the year always comes with a price. So you have to decide what yours will be.

Are you going to spend the month relaxing because everyone is doing that? Are you going to spend the month over-eating, neglecting yourself because of the Holidays?

December, the month to maximize your year.

To be real with you, you can save more and even be a better version of yourself in December. When the pandemic started, some took it as an opportunity to save money due to travel restrictions and store closures. Of course, online shopping was still open, but did you really need it? 

If you didn’t take the opportunity to save this year, it’s okay. However, it’s not too late to start. No matter what your goals were for the year, know that you still have one month to get ahead.

Are you going to neglect New Year’s Resolutions?

When 2020 started, I shared a post about New Year’s resolutions. I remember many posts online were telling people not to make new years resolutions because they never achieve it anyway. 

Regardless of that, I made my new year’s resolution, and, because of uncontrollable circumstances, I didn’t achieve it. However, I realized that I’m closer to reaching my goal now than I was at the beginning of the year.

A New Years’ resolution is just a goal that you want to achieve. With everything that happened in 2020, I still went for it and kept working on it.

So what am I trying to say here? Well, I’m saying that you still have a few days to maximize your 2020. You can finish your 2020 satisfied with whatever goal you want to achieve.

You will probably not achieve the goal, but you will be one step ahead, which’s most important. In this blog post, I will share my voice on how you can finish your 2020 strong no matter what your goal is.

2020 was a whole life lesson

No matter what happened to you in 2020, you have to know that it happened for a reason. Many people didn’t give up on themself, and if you’re part of that group, I would like to congratulate you.

On the contrary, you probably gave up on yourself here and there. If that’s you, I wanted to let you know that it’s never too late. I want you to know that December is here to pick you up, shake you and encourage you to start 2021 with the right mindset.

Don’t give up on 2020

You probably wondered what my 2020 resolution was. Well, I had a whole list of things. I wanted to be consistent in my blog posts, get healthy, pay off my debts, and be physically fit. Some of these goals are for a lifetime, and some you can measure to see if I reached it or not.

At the beginning of this post, I mentioned that I was ahead in my goals.

The reason why I said that is even though I wanted to give up when I didn’t have any motivations or means, I still stuck around and gave my all.

If you had some goals that you wanted to achieve but didn’t make it, don’t give up. Even though you didn’t have a New Year’s resolution, you probably wanted to do something with your life this year. Some kind of change you wanted to do but didn’t do it. 

That’s okay. As I explained in how to turn self-criticism into Self-love, you have to forgive yourself. If you’re unable to do so, please learn how because it’s essential.

Many things happened outside of your control; therefore, your motivation or aspiration probably shifted. You probably went through depression this year, like me. It’s okay to feel the way you felt or are feeling.

Review your year

Since you have a few days left before 2020, I suggest that you pick yourself up. If you can’t see the end of the tunnel, you have to look for a way to see it. You’re probably wondering how. How can you pick yourself up?

The best way to pick yourself up is to be aware of why you’re down. Do a self-evaluation and see what brought you where you are. Even if you’re not down, you have to know how you got into this space.

So here, you don’t just review yourself or your situation right now. You check your entire year. Look at what you’ve done during the year, the activities, the spending, and the habits you created. You will see some positives and some negatives experiences. It’s completely normal.

When you see something positive, you congratulate yourself for it. Yes, acknowledge the effort that you made. When I do something good or accomplish something, I give myself credit for it, so should you.

When you notice the negative experience you had this year, you congratulate yourself for it also. Tell yourself that it happened and that you did great for surviving those negative moments.

Well, you can have your own definitions of negative and positive experiences. However, for the purpose of this post, a positive experience is something that worked to your advantage. For example, you got a promotion, or you were consistent with your self-care journey.

A negative experience is something that worked against you. For example, something small as you didn’t exercise enough, gained weight, or let someone down. 

Did you reach your 2020 goals?

Here’s how you can maximize the last days of 2020. You have to take time with yourself and evaluate your year. No matter what the goal was, you have to know how much of it you’ve accomplished.

What’s the percentage that you hit this year? Even if it’s 1%, you have to be real with yourself. It’s the only way you can maximize your 2020. If you didn’t reach your goals, even if you hit 80% of it, use 2020 to complete it.

For example, if your goal was to lose weight in 2020, and you barely did anything, start now. Try to create the habits around your goals. The only way to improve yourself is to know what is it that you’re lacking.

A personal example for me is, I’ve always wanted to create videos for this blog. In November, I took a speaking course. In the few days of December, I will use it to practice my speaking and share different content on my Social Media.

After I reviewed my goals, I decided to use the last two months of 2020 to reach them. Even if you only have a few days left, I want you to know that it’s possible to start.

Planning your 2021

After you made a list of the positive and negative events in 2020, you can now write how you can improve yourself. Don’t just focus on improving your negatives; you have to believe that you can do better in your positive. 

To me, once you’re aware of what you want to do in life, you have to start challenging yourself to take one step ahead. Even if you’re good at what you do, you still need to improve. Remember, someone out there is one step further than you.

To start 2021 with the right mindset means that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to reach your goals. There’s nothing wrong with having New Year’s Resolutions. I have Birthday Resolutions because it is a new year, and I’m growing.

Take resolutions as goals, and take the year to plan and re-plan whenever possible. Remember, to finish your 2020 strong, and you must review your year, know exactly what you missed or where you improved. Then based on those accomplishments or failures, you can set new goals for 2021.

If you haven’t done so, follow me on Instagram and have a Happy New Year!