I love goals. I think that’s quite apparent from this blog, as I set yearly goals and monthly goals and I have been doing so since I started writing here in 2009. I just think there’s something really fun about setting goals, about envisioning the things you want to achieve.
I don’t set goals because there’s any part of me that needs to be fixed. On a day to day basis, I am generally happy with my life and proud of what I have accomplished with the odds that have always been stacked against me.
But life isn’t perfect and I’m not the best version of myself yet. Can I just admit that and admit that yes, I want to be better tomorrow than I am today. I have areas of my life that I need to work on. Some of that work will happen in therapy and some of that work happens with me taking serious, deliberate action to achieve my goals in order to live my best life.
Lately, though, I feel as though I have not been as intentional with the goals I set nor have I been putting in the work to achieve the goals I make. It feels as if I’m setting these goals just to set them, you know?
I want to change that in 2016. One of my themes for this year is “deliberate action.” What I mean by this is I want to be very deliberate and mindful about how I am spending my time and my energy. I want to set goals that get me closer to where I want to be. I want to spend my time doing the things that bring me joy, peace, and fulfillment. I have very specific plans for this year and I want to come to the end of it feeling good about the choices I made and the goals I accomplished.
So, I made a list of long-term yearly goals. And then I took that list of goals and I figured out what I wanted to focus on during the first quarter of the year. Because I can’t focus on all of the goals. I can only focus on some of them.
After making my yearly goals, I drafted up a little worksheet to brainstorm what goals I wanted to attack during the first quarter. (My nerdiness when it comes to goals has reached new heights this year, and it makes me the happiest.)
So, let’s talk about the brainstorming session. I started with my main goal, which is to finish my novel and prepare it for publication. (Side note: even though I had written more than 70k words in my novel last year, I felt the need to change up my story a bit because the conflict between my two main characters didn’t feel authentic. It’s going to require some major rewrites, but the story will be much stronger because of it.)
I know I want to have my novel completely written and ready for the lengthy editing process by the end of June, which puts me at writing 100,000 words between now and then. But I also need to rework the outline I had written, which is my focus for January. So, I decided that my Quarter 1 goal for this category is to finish outlining this new version of my novel and to write 40,000 words. (Obviously, Quarter 2’s goal is already set in stone: write 60,000 words.)
From there, I broke this large quarterly goal into three monthly goals. So, this is what it ended up looking like:
Now, it was easy to figure out my focus for my main goal because it’s just one goal. What does this goal-setting process look like for the other categories that have multiple goals I want to complete? Well, this is where the fun starts!
Let’s focus on the health and fitness goals I want to achieve this year. This year, I want to lose 20 lbs, drink more water and less soda, exercise consistently, start therapy, and to figure out what is causing my nighttime congestion. That’s a lot of goals! But it feels less crazy when I break it down into what exactly I want to achieve this quarter and how it works out on a monthly basis.
First, I knew I needed to set a goal of losing 5 lbs in order to stay on pace to lose 20 lbs this year. I also wanted to start working on my exercise and daily water drinking habits, as these are the two habits I want to really focus on in 2016. I also had to start figuring out this dang nighttime congestion this quarter because I am very tired of it. So, with all that in mind, here’s what I came up with:
So, you can see that I’ve broken down these goals into manageable, actionable steps. Step One is January, in which I am solely focused on drinking 16 oz of water a day and exercising three times a week. Baby, baby, baby steps.
Step Two in February adds in using a neti pot (in the hopes this clears up my nighttime congestion) and to research therapists.
Step Three in March adds in the super simple, itty-bitty goal of making an appointment with a therapist (as well as continuing with drinking water, exercising weekly, and using the neti pot).
It is my hope that by making simple additions to my diet – for this quarter, drinking water daily and exercising – it will lead to slow and steady weight loss. I’m only shooting to lose 5 lbs this quarter! That’s not even 2 lbs a month… a completely doable goal. (This is why I’m aiming to only lose 20 lbs this year, even though that will take me less than halfway to my goal weight. I don’t need to lose all my weight at once. Being 20 lbs lighter would be amazing and it won’t take huge, sweeping, drastic changes to get me there.)
I want to be much more intentional with the goals I am setting each month and to make sure that they lead me to complete the majority of the yearly goals I set. To be honest, there are really three main goals for me this year: to finish my novel, to lose 20 lbs, and to build an emergency fund of $1,000. Those are the goals that would leave me feeling majorly successful if I can mark them as complete by the end of 2016.
Okay, so all that said, what are my goals for January? Well, I have more than a few, but I won’t be sharing all of them on the blog. But here are some of the goals I want to achieve this month:
- I want to finish outlining my novel so that I have a good idea of how I plan to rewrite my story.
- I want to exercise three times a week for 30 minutes at a time.
- I want to drink 16 oz of water per day, using my new handy-dandy water cup.
- I want to re-read the first Harry Potter novel and I want to watch Forrest Gump for the first time (I know, I know – how have I not seen this movie yet?).
- I want to get in the habit of using my planner and budget notebook on a daily basis so that I feel more in control of my goals, my schedule, and my money.
What’s a goal you’re working towards this month?
Love the breaking it down into manageable steps! It makes those big goals all sounds so easy and doable. Best of luck getting it all done!
I’ll be curious what you think of Forrest Gump! I first watched it when I was in 5th grade, I think? I remember crying a lot while watching the movie, loving the soundtrack but that’s about it. I’ve seen it one or two more times since then and it resonates differently now that I’m an adult!
I love my pseudo neti pot that I use; I’ll share the link with you in case you’re interested. It’s a little easier to use than a neti pot, same results and I find it less scary 🙂
I’m intrigued by a budget notebook — what is that, or what are you using?
I used to use a neti pot when I have sinus issues and it was a Godsend so i hope it works for you as well! If you continue to have congestion you could consider seeing an allergist as maybe you are allergic to something that has a greater presence in your new home versus your old home?
I think breaking goals down to smaller achievable goals is the key to success. That’s the way I approached CFA studying and marathon training. It was so overwhelming to figure out how I’d achieve the big goal but when I just focused on what I had to do that week, it was so much more manageable. And that has applied to other areas of my life.
My focus for January has been on healthy eating. I would say that I am a healthy eater but I put on a bit of weight after the marathon as I was eating more treats and not watching my portion sizes, plus I was running way less. I know where that pattern leads so I am trying to reverse course and take off the weight I gained so I can go into marathon training at my happy weight.
Good luck with your goals!!
I love how organized you are in approaching your goals, and how much thought you’ve obviously put into what you want and what is doable for you!
Great goal breakdown! It makes it so much more manageable to look at and achieve goals with small steps day-by-day. I’d get overwhelmed at the bigger picture of yearly goals if I looked at mine too long. Best of luck with your January ones :).
A goal I’m working towards this month would be regaining my balance with healthy eating and exercise. Over the last year or so, due to stress and other factors, I was rather yo-yo-ing my eating habits. That lead to annoying weight fluctuations. Now I want to lose a little/maintain my weight and keep my eating habits under control!