Dec 30

Dec 30 Setting Goals

How did you do in 2017? Did you accomplish all your goals?

One of my family's favorite movies is Meet the Robinsons. It is from this movie that we got our family motto, "Keep Moving Forward." In order to keep moving forward, we must set goals.

It's January and many people have made New Year's resolutions. It's wild to think about the fact that today (just one week into 2018) 25% of people who made goals have already stopped working towards them. By the second week of February about 80% of resolutions will fail. With these odds against you, how do you keep moving forward?

Why is it important to set goals?

Setting goals helps us to move forward. It also forces us to recognize what is important. The process of setting goals and working towards achieving them creates discipline and self-confidence. It helps us to come to grips with what exactly we want in this lifetime.

How do we set goals?

REFLECT on our life and what we want to change or improve
WRITE it down
BREAK IT DOWN into small attainable goals
SAY IT OUT LOUD

REFLECT

How did you do in 2017? Did you accomplish all your goals? Did you give up by February? lt is so important to assess the situation and recognize the priority you placed on each goal last year. Think about how 2017 went for you. Reflect upon your successes as well as your failures. Decide which goals are important enough to repeat and which ones were not so meaningful. What can you do this year to move forward? Do you need to change your daily habits? Do you need to change the circle of people you surround yourself with? REFLECTion is necessary!

WRITE IT DOWN

This is probably the key step that helps me accomplish my goals. I utilize my phone and set reminders and alarms pertaining to my goals. Not only do I write my goals down in my journal and planner, but I also make a big Goal poster, which you can see in my last live coffee chat post on my Happy Moms facebook page. And every day I look at this poster which is hung on my bedroom wall near my bed. Some of my goals have dates attached to them, others I just want to accomplish throughout the year. Personally my goals consist of categories such as Spiritual, Physical, Mental, Financial, Kids, Family, and A Better Me. Some of my goals are related to my business, such as "get 1000 subscribers," while others are for fun like "go ziplining." I also include motivational quotes on my goal poster. One of my favorites is, "you want results, stick to the plan." The bottom line is "out of sight, out of mind." If you don't write your goals down and take a look at them regularly, you'll forget about them. So WRITE IT DOWN!

BREAK IT DOWN

A year can seem like a long time to work on goals, which is probably why most people don't make it past February. It helps to break each goal down to smaller goals, even twelve smaller goals coinciding with each month. I absolutely love my Living Well Planner by Ruth Soukup for that exact reason. It has a month at a glance section and also a weekly breakdown. Also the first page of each month is a Goals page with BIG THREE and TOP GOAL sections. There's also a Goal Crushing page and a Project Planning page for each month. Ruth calls it "breaking big into bite sized." I am still amazed that I found a planner that exactly fit my needs and wants. Breaking big goals down is so important. For example, last year one of my goals was to lose 30 pounds. I actually broke it down into lose 5 pounds each month for the first six months, then maintain that weight the second half of the year. I'm happy to say I did lose that 30 pounds. Remember, you can reach your goals if you set your mind to it and work hard. Set big goals for 2018 and go for them! No goal is too big. There are twelve months in a year. Just BREAK IT DOWN and do it!

SAY IT OUT LOUD

One thing that helped me accomplish my 2017 goals was sharing those goals with my family. Saying them out loud and announcing "I am going to help other moms realize their worth through my website" and "I am going to save X amount of money to take my kids on a holiday trip" made all the difference. Also, announcing on social media that I was launching a new website forced me to follow through and turn my dreams into reality. Sharing my health goals out loud with friends and family helped me accomplish those goals. Holding myself accountable as well as living up to expectations is an important driving force in accomplishing goals. It does indeed help to SAY IT OUT LOUD!

I hope you appreciate my four steps of setting goals. One more thing I need to address is failure. Failure is important. When you fail, don't give up. Failure is a driving force to success. Failure helps you to assess the situation, make adjustments, and keep moving forward. One goal I did not accomplish last year was do 1000 push-ups. But it's okay. I feel confident that by breaking it down to 20 push-ups a week this year will help me succeed. Also I did not meet my savings goal, but I'm definitely already getting started this first week of 2018.

Have you thought of your 2018 goals? Have you written them down? What's your plan to achieve them? You're not alone. Enlist a support team, figure out your WHY, and make 2018 your best year yet.

Let me know in the comments below if these tips help you. Also please share your 2017 goals that you accomplished and those that you didn't. I wanna hear about one of your 2018 goals and how you plan to achieve it. Maybe you will find an accountability partner in this Happy Moms Community.