When you think of a new start, you probably imagine the ball drop on New Year’s Eve or your birthday morning. You feel refreshed, energized, and ready to tackle the new year--but is it possible that your new start might come earlier than January? While the fall season is known best for its colorful leaves and family-centered holidays (not to mention the emergence of sweaters from the back of your closet), it might also bring a new start for you, and here’s why:
10. Back to School
Regardless of your age or education level, fall has always been the start of a new school year. As most schools break curriculum into the fall and spring semesters, this might be a great chance for you to go back to school. With the advancements in the education system and technology, online classes are the best way to incorporate an education into your schedule.
Depending on where you work, it is possible to get serious discounts or even a full scholarship to earn a successive degree. For example, some case manager nurses in certain insurance companies can work towards a MSN for free.
Consider finding more about your employer's policies or finding out if earning a higher degree can qualify you for a higher-paying job in your field.
9. Real Estate
This is an unlikely idea, but still holds true. Most people looking for a new apartment, condo, or home try to do so before fall starts. This may be because they are parents with students in the family or they themselves are students and need a home to settle in before school begins. By fall, most people have settled in.
Now, the reason why this holds a huge opportunity for you is since there is less demand from buyers, prices and rent for certain real estate venues dwindle down, depending on your location. Either way, late autumn and early winter hold fantastic opportunities for finding real estate or land to invest in.
8. Fitness
If you were planning on joining a gym in January, save yourself the trouble. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a fitness-related New Year's resolution, the routine of hitting the gym in January and weaning off by February has gotten old. According to IHRSA, a whopping 80 percent of January gym newcomers drop off by the second week of February. Even then, the remaining 20 percent of the crowd gets smaller and smaller throughout the year. Goals, especially fitness and weight goals, work best in small increments. Break up that 20-lb goal into four 5-lb goals and start now.
Also consider that this is usually the season for gaining weight and eating unhealthy foods, what with Halloween, Thanksgiving, and winter holidays approaching. Therefore, if you stick to a fitness goal now, you can prevent the extra pounds as well.
7. Cooking Experimentation
The best part about fall is the food. Autumn brings new flavors, like pumpkin and cinnamon spice, that you haven’t even tasted all summer! If you haven’t ventured into the cooking realm, then take charge this fall so you can practice until it’s perfect and then share it on Thanksgiving!
6. Family Holidays
Halloween and Thanksgiving are a great way to make memories with your friends and family. If there are people in your life that you want to strengthen a bond with, try spending more time with them this holiday season. It doesn’t even have to be a family member! Invite your out-of-state college friend home with you, or kindle a bond with a lonely neighbor. Put the skills you learned from number seven to use and make a treat for a distant relative. Get together with neighbors or someone you know who might be lonely this autumn.
Fall is the season of harvest and abundance, and it’s the best time to start sharing your abundance with the people around you.
5. Set Your Goals!
New Year’s Resolutions are far away, or so it seems. Sometimes, these resolutions aren’t reflective of a casual tradition so much as it is a burning wish for an improvement or change of pace that you want for yourself. Good news: You don’t have to wait for January. In the words of Eric Thomas, “Start where you are, with what you have, because what you have is plenty.” If you set your mind to what you want and then lay out steps to take in order to achieve that goal, then come January, you will be that much closer to your dream.
4. Plan a New Business
This is possibly the most out-there item on the list. If you have had a passion for business and an idea in your mind that you are willing to devote a lot of work, effort, and time to, then this could be a life-changing season. Businesses take months to plan out, apply for, and start. From the loan requests to finding a location for the store or office, the process can take a long time. That's why now is the best time to start, so that it is all set by Spring.
3. Write a Book
If you have a manuscript or a close-to-finished-but-I-just-don’t-want-to-deal-with-it book lying around, this is the right time to edit it, rewrite it, and complete it. By late November, people will be turning over every page in the bookstore in order to find “that perfect gift." If your ideas are a bit niche, that’s a pro more than a con, as you can use your concepts as a selling point.
2. Make a Healthy Eating Plan
You know what's headed. Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc., etc. You don't even know what it's about, but you're going to celebrate Kwanzaa with your co-worker just to bag in a few more desserts. This time around, do it like a pro, and plan out healthy meals so that you can splurge a bit more cleverly during the holidays.
1. Autumn Discounts
There’s a definite bargain that comes with fall. For starters, there are tons of items on sale for going back to school, and prices will drop even further at the beginning of September. Take advantage of all those discounts, whether it’s Amazon Student Prime or a price drop at Best Buy, in every useful way. Maybe you want to learn a new language, but you’re a grad or you can’t fit it into a schedule. Take advantage of the language books or CDs and DVDs that have gone on sale. Back to school sales on apparel and supplies can benefit everyone, whether you’re a student or not.
You might be wondering why I put this at number one. The truth is, no matter how we collectively praise eating healthy or starting a new project, there is nothing that applies to everyone. There is a chance that you have a dream or a goal that you want to reach that may be very unique. Still, because this world is so full of patterns and repetition, you might find that some of the rules that applied to the above pieces might also apply to you. There is never the right time to start. Again, in the words of Eric Thomas, "You can't wait for the perfect moment, you have to create it." The right time is all in your head. We're used to things like New Year's resolutions or blowing out the candle on your birthday cake, but the time to start is when you tell yourself so.
Whether you spotted your goal on this list or it's been kept quietly in your heart all this time, try to find a way to effectively create that perfect moment--for some of you, that means attaining certain supplies that may be discounted this month--and begin.
