Goal Setting in the New Year
It’s the new year and that means humans everywhere are making lofty resolutions with albeit good intentions. You see this every January. “I’m going to travel to these places.” “I’m going to finally complete my list of home DIY projects.” “I’m going to buy a gym membership and work out every day.” Before you know it, reality, responsibilities, and finances get in the way. Suddenly, hopes are dashed before you can say, “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Let me start by saying that there is nothing wrong with setting major goals for yourself. Having the drive to achieve life-changing milestones is a great quality to have.
However, convincing yourself that you have to accomplish multiple massive aspirations in such a short span of time can be overwhelming and will often lead to a downfall. This immense pressure prevents you from truly progressing in life.
Since my college days, I’ve managed to keep nearly every promise in the new year by following a series of goal setting guidelines that I’ve created for myself. These rules have been instrumental in my growth, so I thought I’d share them with you:
Start small
In order to achieve great things, we all have to start small. You can’t earn a degree overnight. You can’t hone your craft without practicing first. You can’t exercise without stretching properly.
One achievement is just a series of hurdles and little building blocks. Think of the *THE BIG GOAL* as though it were one of the tallest mountaintops. If you were a hiker, you’d have to tackle winding trails, steep rock faces, and a string of rest camps before arriving at the summit.
Don’t say you are going to write an entire book in a year. Rather, promise to develop an outline or write a certain number of chapters in that time.
Select smaller goals that still align with your overall objectives.
Stay realistic and recognize your limitations
In any pursuit, you can’t just jump from zero to sixty right away. If you decide to reach for the impossible in just a year, you will ultimately end up disappointed.
Let’s say you’ve never done something before and you want to learn a new skill. Don’t start yourself out in hard mode.
Instead of saying you want to create your own website from scratch in a month, tell yourself you’d like to learn the basics of a single coding language in that time frame. To be a proficient full-stack developer, one must have mastery of both front-end languages, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and back-end languages, such as Java and Python. It can take over a year of part time study to learn it all and have the ability to build a website from the ground up.
Also, think about the many other responsibilities in life that need your attention. Remember there are only so many hours in a day and you may not be capable of dividing your time amongst all of them.
If you want to improve your cooking skills and you make a resolution to fix a new recipe every single day, but you also have a day job that consumes 40+ hours of your week, you will not be able to keep up. Instead vow to yourself that you will make one new recipe each weekend.
In addition to time constraints, fiscal commitment is important to consider, as well. For example, we all want to travel the world and enjoy new experiences, but you have to remember your budget and know what adventures are actually doable in the coming year.
Don’t set yourself up for failure.
Be more specific
Sometimes failure to attain your aims can purely be attributed to creating a task that is too vague.
Saying you want to be a stronger swimmer is a worthy feat to strive for, but it doesn’t provide you with direction or a plan forward. It would be better to say you’d like to practice swimming at least two hours a week.
It’s easier to strive towards something when you have an exact target.
Re-frame your goals with a positive mindset
Don’t give your objectives a negative slant. You shouldn’t be unhappy when going after something you desire.
For instance, if losing weight is your entire objective for the year, that will lead to nothing but negative eating habits and a toxic body image. Make goals that revolve around getting healthy and building instead of taking away, such as expanding your weekly meal prep to include more nutritious recipes, having better endurance during cardio, or improving your muscle strength by moving up incrementally when weight lifting.
A positive mindset is half the battle when working towards what you want.
Give yourself grace
Are we always going to achieve everything we want in life in the precise moment we imagine? No.
Sometimes this is due to our own missteps. Sometimes the world throws a few curveballs and we don’t succeed because of challenges beyond our control. It’s OK to pack it in for the day and try again tomorrow or the next week.
This is especially true for daily goals you are trying to integrate into your routine. Life happens and you are not a failure for missing one day. Just pick up where you left off. The whole goal of these resolutions is to establish positive new habits, not beat yourself up.
Furthermore, don’t let others influence your progress. It makes no sense to compare your efforts to someone else’s. You are working hard and doing your best every day. That’s all that matters.
Everyone is operating on their own timeline and taking their own path. Just because someone got there before you or did something differently than you, doesn’t make it better. You’ll do things in your own time and, when you do, it will be beautiful.
