The year has already started and a week into it, I started thinking about my goals. I freaked out a little bit, thinking that I lost “my chance,” but hubby reminded me that goals are meant to be year round. Starting them a little later meant nothing, so I calmed down and got to work!
Planner I chose & how I started
I’m going to be honest, I’m not the greatest at making goals. I used to think of something that I wanted to achieve, but then would not add any actions. This, of course wasn’t very helpful. Two years ago, I bought the Commit30 planner (check out my review from 2020). I didn’t know how to properly use it (I didn’t really understand how to come up with SMART goals), but after learning this, the Commit30 planner has become my favorite (this year I used the Happy Planner, but for me it didn’t work). I love using the “Goal Getting” sheet that comes with the planner. It helps me to organize my thoughts because it guides me step-by-step into writing my goals.
When doing my goals, I come up with 3 big ones: a Professional, Personal, and Relationship goal. I first start with a vision board. Some people like doing them, and some don’t, so do what comes natural to you. I love going through magazines looking for words and images that speak to me. I saw that they also sell on Amazon books specific for this (like this one), but I haven’t used them yet. Once I find the pictures I like, I glue them into the beginning of my planner. I also added some motivational stickers that I had. I try to make it unique to me and in such a way that every time I look at it, I get motivated to achieve my goals.
On the next page, I also added my core values, some motivational quotes, MORE stickers, and affirmations. Again, this is just more motivation for me. When I feel down, I look at these pages and it gets me pumped up again.
Next, I plan out my vision for the year based on different elements. My planner has this in the first couple of pages, so it helps me to brain dump how I want the year to go (or what to achieve). From this, I look at similarities, and come up with my 3 big goals and then what I have left over tend to become my actions. Here is a picture of my 3 big goals for this year:
After looking at my visions for the year, I came up with 3 big goals to work towards. This year, my goals are to:
- Relationship Goal: Monthly Date night & Family night/travel
- Personal Goal: Reduce Anxiety
- Professional Goal: Grow my Business
In my planner, I put all of my actions that will (hopefully) lead me to my goals. I always strive to reach my goals and sometimes in the past I’ve fallen off the wagon (it’s happened here and there already), but overall, last year I met most of my goals (the bigger ones). This made me super happy! I didn’t reach them at the specific time I had planned for, but overall, I met most of them. I always make sure to have big goals and then my little ones. Sometimes, some of my smaller ones don’t get met. If this happens to you, don’t let it deter you and just give up. I always want to celebrate the goals that I did meet during the year! Finally, I sit and analyze why I didn’t meet some of them (were they unreasonable, did it just become something I no longer cared about mid-year, etc.). This gives me a lot of insight.
Meeting your goals take a lot of effort! Just start slowly and work through your actions. Work towards one small action each month and go from there. Each action, although small, will help you to reach your goal!!
I also make sure to look back at my vision board, core values, affirmations, and quotes that I put in the beginning of my planner when I feel discouraged or need motivation. I hope this was helpful. There are SOO many ways that you can do this. However, this is the way that fits my brain and makes sense! If you do something different, let me know in the comments! It could help me or others along the way!
Grounding Fitness, LLC 