Setting Goals that last the WHOLE New Year!
Setting Goals for the Year
Setting your goals and intentions for the New Year is not only an exercise to help you achieve success, but also allows you the time to reflect on how far you have come, the opportunity to ask yourself where it is you are going, where it is you want to be and ultimately – who do you want to be?
I know this time of the year can get vey hectic and it is a struggle to find some quiet time alone to set your goals. I’ll admit I am currently sitting on a plane on my way to the UK and it is the first opportunity I have had to sit, reflect, write and set my own goals.
Goals are Dreams with Legs
I am a big fan and advocate of goal setting. If I was to show you my goals and dreams I wrote down since finishing high school – it is as if I was telling or forecasting my future! Everything I wanted the universe has delivered!
I would love to think I was responsible for making these dreams come true – but I know setting those goals were essential in getting me to where I wanted. Goals provide you with direction and purpose. If you know what you want, what you are working towards and what is important to you – this can help guide you in every decision you make, provide clarity when you find yourself at a crossroad and empower you with motivation and direction when you find yourself lost.
Tips to making and sticking to New Years Resolutions
I am always writing blogs and sharing tips challenging your mindset and perspective, so you are able to become aware of your own values and desires, make sense of your own thoughts and get to know the real “authentic” you.
Now I want you to commit to honoring the real “authentic” you, with Nutritional and Health Coach Chani Carroso’s (some may know this amazing lady as ‘Healthy Peach’) simple goal setting activity that will start your New Year off with a Bang and will make sure it is filled with everything that makes your heart full!
Before you start, remember it’s about you
You need to ignore what everyone else is doing and achieving – Your life is about breaking your own limits and outgrowing yourself to live your best life. You are not in competition with anyone else – plan to out do your past not other people.
The first thing you will need to do is get yourself in the right head space. Find a big chunk out of one of the coming days before NYE to sit down and inspire yourself. Depending on what floats your boat, you may like to sit on the beach with a pen and notebook, or sit down on the couch with a yummy candle burning, or maybe in bed wrapped in donnas and pillows with your 2015 playlist playing in your headphones (For Chani she wrote this as she sat on her bed, in a pillow castle, fave candle burning, Chet Faker singing to her through her Bose and hair sandy, wet & salty from her morning ocean swim).
The fun part.
Writing down your wildest ideas. Section each page into the following:
Things you want to do
Who you want to be
What you want to see
What you want to have
What you want to learn and experience
Your one ultimate, main goal (Chani call’s it the biggie big)...
The one thing you're chasing in life. The thing you go to sleep dreaming about and wake up thinking about. Let your imagination run wild. If you have a blank spot, go to the next section/page and come back to where you got stuck later.
It will come to you. You need to have at least 3 blank moments before you have squeezed all the goal chaser juice out of you to have all of your wildest ideas on paper.
Now for each section, ask yourself the following questions:
Is it really my goal?
Is it morally right and fair to all who are concerned?
Can I emotionally commit to start and finish this goal?
Can I see myself reaching this goal?
Will it take me closer to my ultimate main goal (your ‘biggie big’)?
If you answered No to any of these questions, don't erase the goal, just strike a line through it and come back to it the next time you do this activity. It may not be the right time in your life for you to pursue it.
Go through and give each goal a date you want to achieve it by. Depending on how often you do this, you will have different dates for each goal, divide them into 3 month, 6 month, 1 year, 2 years and 5 year goals.
Ensure they are given a realistic time frame and work towards reaching that goal in time. You will probably find that all your little goals become the steps and journey you need to embark on to reach your biggie big. So order them perfectly and write your own future on paper.
SMART GOAL SETTING
This step is the last but the most crucial. You have to go through everything you've just written and use the S.M.A.R.T. formula. Work through one goal at a time, and take them through this process.
Your goals have to be ‘SMART’, which means: Specific , Measurable , Achievable, Results based and Time based
SPECIFIC
Be specific, cross all your t’s and dot all your i’s so to speak.
Example: “I want to buy my first home. Not an apartment, not a duplex, not a townhouse or in home in an estate, but a home with a yard in a central location close to my work.”
MEASURABLE
The best way to do this is to break it down into smaller achievable goals.
Example: “I will aim to have a deposit in 18 months time. I’ve worked out I need to save 15% of my earnings to achieve this. I will budget each pay, and begin a ‘do not touch savings account’ no exceptions and I WILL NOT touch this account until I'm ready to withdraw my deposit.
I will stop online shopping to help me get here and to attempt to erase this genetic inbuilt habit of shopping, I will unsubscribe from boutique emails and delete the eBay app off my phone. Anything I have left over at the end of my pay cycle will go into my ‘do not touch savings account’.”
ACHIEVABLE
Your goals should challenge and stretch you a little, to make you work harder but make sure they are realistic.
Example of what NOT to write: “I will play the lotto once a week and enter a prize home draw every month to increase my chances of getting my first home.” This type of thinking will just putting a bad seed in your head. Abort! Earn your goals, don't bet your luck on trying to win them!
RESULTS BASED
If you have a goal that you’re a little iffy on, one that is hard, or will be hard to achieve (you went through 3 blank spots, its only natural to give yourself more then one biggie big), write down the obstacles and the benefits of eventually overcoming them, and achieving this goal.
Example: “I will probably miss out on a few expensive and fun outings with friends such as holidays and weekend get aways, but when I have 2/3 of my house deposit, I can start the fun part… shopping for houses, going to open homes and getting some inspo for my new home”
TIME BASED
Remember what it felt like the night before an exam, five coffee’s deep and cramming as if Dumbledore was going to give you a lifetime access pass to Hogwarts the next day if you got all the questions right?
Well same thing, give yourself a sense of urgency and a good timeframe. Anyone can save for a house deposit in 2 or 3 years time, but why not make it sooner. This will make you FOCUS on your biggie big and help you stay on track. Make your dreams real as soon as possible!
Thanks to Chani this fun little planning and goal setting activity will have you feeling inspired, motivated and focused - just in time for the New Year. It works by attracting those things in life you want to become a reality, helping those wildest ideas you thought never possible, an absolute reality. Be sure to check out Chani’s Website for more health and nutrition inspiration www.healthypeach.net.
TIPS
Use this activity to also reflect…
reflect on your year, what did you learn, what made you happy, what worked, what will you do differently next year. Remember there is no such thing as failure – only feedback. This strategy and way of thinking will help you in strengthening and practicing your mindfulness and gratitude.
A balanced life is reflective of balanced goals.
When you are setting your goals make sure they are reflective of your values. An easy way to ensure this is by listing your 5 top values, aspects of your life you prioritise over others - they don’t need to be in order.For Example; Health, Happiness, Family, Career, Finances.
If you're not sure what your top 5 values are... do this quick 5 min quizz and it will help work it out for you.
Then for each value make sure you have a corresponding goal – whether it be a big change or maintaining your current efforts. This ensures that one goal does not consume all your energy in the new year causing you to neglect other areas of life that are also important to you. This way you now have have a written commitment to hold yourself accountable to in the new year; to approach your life with a holistic and mindful approach.
Wishing you all a safe and Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with health and happiness, and a big THANKYOU to my friends, family and followers (old and new) for the support getting Life Above Zero off the ground.
I can’t wait to see what we all can achieve in 2015 and who I get to help on their journey. I’m excited! See you the first week back in January!
Sending Love and Light