What a year. Many of us are anxious for it to be over! I am incredibly thankful for my health and that non of my family has contracted Covid19 this year. We have known many to come down with it, and I attribute our health heavily to our favorite nutritional supplement. I have not gotten ill in the 3 years I have taken it, if I did feel sick it was minimal and only lasted 24 hours or so. Get yourself on multivitamins and get active! Your immune system will thank you. Now I am excellent at the vitamin part, but I struggle with the active part. That's not to say I am a couch sloth. I move a lot, chasing kids, up and down while I work, errands, housework, intimacy with my husband, exercise with the family, or when I GET to dance and teach... But it's not consistent enough to create any sort of fitness for me... I have goals. BIG goals... As I have been studying how to set good, attainable goals- I started to realize what my New Years Resolutions were missing. Followthrough and forgiveness. It's not always possible to follow through and sometimes we FALL short instead. But allowing yourself some grace and forgiving yourself when you do is perfectly acceptable... As long as you try again. Don't give up. Start over, that's okay! What did Chutes and Ladders or Candyland teach us? Sometimes you get sent back, but it doesn't mean you can't win. You just have to keep playing.
I will share tips on goal setting as well as a download for you to set your own goals should you feel the need for one. Let's dive right in! There are eight main areas of life to think about when setting goals. Health & Fitness, Career & Business, Finance & Networth, Family & Friends, Spirituality, Recreation & Hobbies, Personal Development, followed by Romance & Relationships. Each area is important to be a well-rounded human. Some areas mean more to us than others and it's definitely not the same as anyone else. Sometimes we are strong in a few areas but lacking in others... This system will help you round yourself out and work on the areas you want to improve.
Before you can set any goals you need to be self-aware and understand yourself and where you are at this point in your life. What makes you happy? Do you have passions? What things would you do if money weren't an issue for you? Would you travel, buy a car or a house? I'd love to give back and do more service locally and internationally. Obviously, that's a lot harder to do in a pandemic world, so strategies would need to be in place. How do you want to be remembered? Do you want to leave your mark somehow? After you make these discoveries about yourself, you have to cast a vision for yourself. It has to be something you can believe in, but you also need to stretch your beliefs to be big enough. If you cant believe it, you won't achieve it. My favorite mantra right now is "See it, Believe it, Achieve it!" My family's Mantra for 2021?.... "Persevere". When I put these together, magic happens. So what does that look like for you? What does a successful life look like in your eyes? What's your perfect day?
Do you remember when you were a kid and you had amazing dreams of what life could be like? Forget "could", you were absolutely certain it WOULD be your reality. What did you want to be when you grew up? Did you become that? Why or why not? Did you give up on a dream? Did your dreams change? Did they change because you grew or did they change out of necessity? Take a minute and think about your dreams. Remember those 8 life areas we listed above? What dreams do you have for each area of your life? How many dreams do you have? If you can count them on one hand- dream bigger! Dream MORE! Maybe you have 50 or 100 dreams... That's more like it! DREAM BIG! If you don't have dreams, you can get stuck in a place you don't want to be and feel miserable. Having aspirations to reach is key to pushing you forward with your dreams! Which of those dreams are MOST important to you in those areas? Maybe pick 1-3 in each area to develop your goals around.
Create a vision board based on those dreams you thought about... images from a magazine, words, photographs, quotes, and even color swatches that promote joy! Put a vision board somewhere you will see it regularly to remind yourself of your dreams and to look back at your goals. Next- set 3 long-term goals (the long-term being 1 year out), in each of the 8 areas of life. If it's an area you are strong in, you may only have one or two goals. But think about something that might take some work to get to. Write them down. If you don't write it down, it's not real. It's an imaginary dream in your mind. Next, you need to layout your strategy to complete these goals.
What skills or habits will you need to form and which behaviors will you have to stop? Which uplifting people should you surround yourself with, and name the toxic people you should remove from your life. Now, create daily routines and rituals to keep your goals relevant and remembered. What will you do in the morning and what will you do at night? Do you have a gratitude journal and affirmations to help keep you positive? If not, I have some printouts you can access here. We are almost done setting your first set of goals. After your 1-year goals are set, you will need to create 3-month goals as your baby steps to those long-term goals. You can choose to focus on one area at a time, or you can multi-task and slowly work towards multiple goals every month. Name the goal, why you want it, and how you will reward yourself for achieving it.
Now be smart about this part... If you have a fitness goal- don't create a reward in junk food or unhealthy behaviors... Reward yourself with something that will make you feel good! A new OUTFIT or a special date with your girlfriends or hubby would be more suitable rewards. Now that you have decided on the short-term goals, why it's important and what you get if you reach it, you need to set your tactics to achieve these. What are your action steps? What do you need to do in order to make these goals a reality?
Once you make the plan, it's time to implement it. Follow up and check in with your written goals, regularly. Find a friend to keep you accountable. You need to pick someone who will check-in and who will tell you to get your butt in gear when you slack. But you also need someone who is compassionate and who will help you get on track without making you feel like a trash bag when you fall short. We are all human and falling short happens. But so long as we try again, we can keep improving to be better. Why? Because mama, YOU are worth it! Together, we can rise and do hard things. I look forward to setting my 2021 goals and I hope this helps you set your own! If you need help you can use my printable to set your goals. Happy New Year!
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