When it comes to goals, I have no problem deciding where to start. My problem is knowing where to stop. I want to visit Macchu Picchu, and take a ride in a hot air balloon. I want to go sailing, and camping, and hiking. Maybe all Image may be NSFW.
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at once.
I have fabulous goals because I know that I can make them come true.
I believe in setting goals, and have five suggestions that might help you set your own goals this year.
- Celebrate last year before you set new goals
There is something exhilarating about seeing what you have achieved. Sometimes it seems like you are not going anywhere and a quick review over what good things have happened might just cheer you up and motivate you to do even better in the coming year.
You deserve to celebrate your successes and honour that before you set yourself up with new goals.
If you didn’t write down your goals last year, you could make a list of what you achieved this year. Or even in previous years. I have a list that spans all the noteworthy things I have ever done. Seeing it grow each year, motivates me to make new goals that matter.
- Consider your true values
Like many people, my top goal for many years was to lose weight. Unfortunately, one of my other top goals is to enjoy life, and I really enjoy eating a wide variety of food. Losing weight is hard work for me. The only way I have found to do it is to cut out sugar, dairy and processed food. (And no I can’t seem to cut down. It makes me anxious and I eat more)
Eating a limited diet clashes with my desire to eat out with friends and family and to enjoy foods I find delicious and fun to eat.
If two goals clash then you will have to work out your top values to find a way to make a goal achievable or change your goal. Some of my recent goals have been to walk daily, drink no soda for a year, and to eat a healthy breakfast. Much more achievable.
- Remember that unfulfilled goals are not always failures
This morning in preparation for setting next year’s goals, I sat down and read my goals from last year. I had twelve goals and I achieved just two; we bought a second hand piano and acquired two rusty but usable pushbikes.
The other ten goals have been rolled over onto my 2015 list.
Am I sad? Heck no. Goals should always be flexible.
One of my goals was to finish renovating our home, but our floors are still part bare wood, part patchy underlay and our living room still sports the original smelly and stained carpet.
My husband and I had big dreams. But big dreams are a guideline. A focus. We did other things this year.
In January, we were invited to visit family in Malaysia; so we went. Within two months of that trip, we found an all-inclusive trip to China that was too good to miss, and we went again.
Sometimes goals are just guidelines. They set a framework and a point of reference. Sometimes something better comes along.
Feel free to set huge goals. Ones that make you excited. Because even if you don’t reach the goal, you may have reached somewhere else along the way.
- Work with what you have
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Everyone has limitations, but sometimes what seem like barriers, are just challenges we can overcome. Some people with young children have still managed to take a year off to go travelling while they home schooled the children. People with disabilities have run marathons. People with no money have supported charities by motivating others.
Don’t be afraid to consider some really big goals because if you want them badly enough, you might just find a way.
- Keep your goals where you can see them
This year, my husband and I bought a dog; a chocolate border collie. Now I see the same dog on TV, in magazines, and on the street. They must have been there before but I never noticed.
If you keep your goals where you can see them often, you will start to notice opportunities that may not have registered before. Some people write their goals down and pin them to the wall, or read them every evening. Others put pictures of what they hope to achieve on a vision board or use them as desktop wallpaper on the computer.
We didn’t write down our goal of getting a dog but we talked about it often. Whatever works for you, just keep your goals alive and they will become easier to achieve.
I believe that everyone should be in the driver’s seat of their own life. Life should not be something to be endured, but an adventurous journey. Real happiness in life can come from setting and achieving goals.
Best wishes to you for a happy new year. And I mean, a really happy new year.
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