Year 2010 will soon come to an end.

Hope it has been a great year so far for you. For others it may have been average. And there are people out there for whom it may have been totally forgettable.

I wish that it was a great year for entire humanity but that may not be true. Same time brings different experiences for different people.

2010 is almost gone. What lies ahead is these remaining days (almost a month) and remainder of our lives. 2011 is the next year that we will live through.

Do you have a plan how to make the best of 2011?

My plan is to move ahead by making some new beginnings.

Why a new beginning?

1. A fresh approach helps.

It helps to shed old ways of thinking and working if they are not working. You may face failure but “nothing ventured, nothing gained”.

2. Life is too short.

It is no good to be resting on laurels (if you have succeeded in past) or whining about past (if it wasn’t that good). No point tied up to your past. Past is already gone and you can’t change a thing about it.

We can delve into past to learn from our mistakes and also use our experiences to move ahead. Beyond that what we do in present that will matter now and beyond.

3. Every day is the first day of rest of our lives.

This is a simple philosophy to go by — if you want to stay positive and give your best shot. If you go by this philosophy then every day you make a new beginning. If you have hard time believing it, then utilize times like 1^st day of a month or beginning of a new year to make a fresh start.

4. You never know what lies ahead until you try.

Mistakes can shake a person’s confidence at times. Such thinking doesn’t help a person move forward.  As a sensible you got be realistic and also believe that future hold good things for you. Not believing will not help you either. So what not believe and put your best foot forward.

How to make a new beginning?

1. Give away old stuff that you no longer need.

We hoard for security but it only adds to clutter. Spring-clean – Your home, workspace, wardrobe, brain (hint: holiday is one way, mediating is other) everything.

2. Decide how you want the New Year to be different?

Make a list of what you want to improve in the New Year. Then make a plan to give wings to your dreams.

Start today or in a day or two and work with a pen and paper. Include what you think is realistically possible. Be courageous and stretch your thoughts a bit. Write down some stretch goals and commit to give your best to achieve these goals.

3. Use experience (if not money).

At times people start a New Year with less money, less love, less possessions than they had in the beginning of the New Year. But one thing each one of us has more than earlier is experience. Cherish this experience and use it to move ahead.

4. Make simple plans.

Do not have 100 items to achieve in a year. Start with something that you believe that you will be able to achieve. Once achieved – be happy about it and later if you have a lot of time left add some more items to your list.

5. Start with a clean slate.

It is easy to draw on a blank paper. A clean slate — with no baggage of past – can make fresh beginnings easy. It is good not to be tied up with past. Such thinking pulls you in different directions and your focus is not 100%.

6. Avoid spillovers.

From work to work, projects to projects, day-to-day, month-to-month and year-to-year. That is why not one should not have a very long to-do-list. This ensures that you will not have spillovers in form of remainder items on your to-do list.

When you are about to start afresh, keep some time (in between) to spring-clean, complete any small remainders and plan ahead.

On a monthly basis it is a good practice to keep last 1 or 2 days of a month to avoid any spillovers and be ready to start fresh for the next month.

In this last month of the year, I take more than a week to spring-clean, plan ahead and decide a new direction for the New Year.

Your career, business, and home — everything stands to benefit from this practice.

7. Use commonsense.

It is not about killing what is working for you. Keep what is working for you. Make a fresh start and add elements from old world – learning, connections, money if there is any and if you need it.

What new beginnings are you planning in the New Year? How you plan to achieve that?

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