Me planning my 2018 Goals in a coffee shop today
I realise that we are well into January with less than a week left but I wanted to talk about New Year’s Goals, and NOT Resolutions in my next post. I may have stayed up till 3am to draft this up in bed last night so hey, don’t judge ;-)
Why Goals and not Resolutions?
On one hand, I feel like resolutions are so cliché right now. But on the other, I haven’t actually heard any of my friends or family use that term in a long time. Plus only about 8% of all New Year’s Resolutions are actually kept. I also feel like ‘resolution’ as a term just doesn’t do its justice.
Google search result for ‘define: resolution’
‘A firm decision to do or not do something’ just doesn’t do it. Decisions change all the time regardless of how firm they are. And ‘purpose’ just sounds too dramatic, I immediately think of ‘What’s my purpose in life?’, or ‘What am I doing here?’ Lol
So anyway, a 'Goal' makes a lot more sense. It’s an objective, an aim, a target that you can either achieve or miss. For me hearing this puts me in a much different mindset and gets me thinking of how to get there or what needs to be done.
My 2017 Goals
Last year I sat on a beach with my sister @allasyummyfood and a friend (a few days before the 31st of January) and we all discussed our goals, and what we wanted to achieve next year. I then literally went and wrote them out in my Notes on my phone:
How did I do?
Well, let’s see. I didn’t achieve all but I certainly achieved some of them, and for others I got half way through:
- Earn £10k more - I managed to get half of that by getting a promotion and Airbnbing our flat when we were away which is not bad. During this process, however, I realised that I was more excited about getting a 5 star review on Airbnb rather than getting that extra cash.
- Visit 5 new places - ✅ Last year I went to: Chamonix (France) to ski, North Wales to zip wire inside a cave and surf, Marbella (Spain) to spend time with my dad, Greece to sail and celebrate my 27th birthday, and finally Bahamas to island hop and meet NYE on the beach!
- Do yoga on regular basis - 50/50. There was a period of time where I did yoga minimum once a week, sometimes even twice but I didn’t keep it up as regularly as I would have liked to. The good thing is that after last year yoga has become part of my life and just another thing that I do now (on regular or irregular basis).
- Get a laser eye operation - ✅ I originally planned to get it done in March but it all felt a bit too rushed at a time, I didn’t have enough savings and I didn’t want to give up a bunch of exercises for a month leading up to the summer. So I pushed it back and got my eyes done in October instead.
- Pick up a new hobby - NOPE. I continued my street dancing classes through January and February but then we moved offices so I stopped and didn’t pick anything else up. I think one of the reasons why I didn’t achieve this goal was because it was too vague. Have I actually picked something like ‘learn to play a guitar’ or ‘dedicate more time to photography’ - it might have been easier for me to get lessons and push myself to then actually do it.
But really, when I look at my last year’s goals I can say that I’ve achieved 3 out of 5 which is not bad at all :-)
2018 Goals
There were a few learnings that I took from last year, like earning more money didn’t motivate me as much as I thought it would, or that I had to stay flexible when things didn’t work out as planned. Or that being too vague made me miss my entire goal all together.
So I’ve made some adjustments and wrote out things I wanted to achieve this year + 5 more things that would be NICE to do but are not absolute musts.
I won’t go into too much detail on these yet but instead try and provide you with a few tips on HOW to set up your New Year’s Goals (even if it’s February already).
My 6 TIPS
1. Don’t set too many goals at once
Or you will feel overwhelmed / too stressed and will lose your focus. 5 works for me but of course if yours are tougher, more challenging and will take a longer time to achieve - then have less.
2. You don’t have to start nor achieve all goals at the SAME TIME
Set yourself realistic deadlines but also don’t feel like you need to start doing everything on the 2nd of January. For instance, I know that getting a COO (Chief Operating Officer - for those who weren't sure what this meant) title will be a long run so I just need to stay focused in my job. Or getting my perfect bikini bod won’t happen overnight. Equally I will start working towards it at the beginning of February as January was dedicated to starting on Steemit.
3. Set realistic and achievable goals
For instance, I know that this year I have already planned a few trips to Scotland, Ukraine, America and Italy. But that still leaves me with 2 more new places to visit which I have to think about and make time for.
4. Have a healthy balance
I always try and have a mix of things that I want to achieve. This, of course, will entirely depend on you and what’s important to you but do try to achieve something towards bettering your health rather than just materialistic things like getting a new car or a house.
5. Make your goals visual or vocal
I know I only had mine in my phone but at least I kept on re-visiting that note every month or so to make sure I stay on track. There are better ways of doing it - tell your friends, family members, colleagues. Or simply print them out and put them on your fridge door or a mirror. Having a daily visual reminder should keep you focussed!
6. Organise yourself
This is probably the hardest part and as soon as the first few weeks of January kick in - it’s suddenly very busy at work, your calendar is full and you literally have no time for anything else. But remember, taking small steps or spreading your goals across the calendar (see my example below) will help you organise yourself better. Plus there are amazing apps like Wunderlist and Trello that I use on daily basis to organise my life/work.
My rough plan for the year
I’m not saying that all of these will work for everyone but I think it’s important to remember that a goal is not a sprint but a marathon and if you want to achieve it - you need to train for it for months, have people/support network around you, and of course, determination and motivation to do it in the first place.
I’ve recently read a great article on personal goal setting so if you’re interested to read more on this topic, here it is: https://blog.trello.com/personal-okrs-with-trello
If anyone has any more tips on what has worked or helped them - leave a comment! Or if this post has (at all) inspired you to go and set your goal up - let me know as it would make me super happy!
P.S. I'm off to a networking event now so I will answer to all your comments a bit later :-)
P.S.S. A HUGE thanks to @demotruk for giving me some Steem power so I can publish this post today!
Very nice. I am an entrepreneur I live on my own with my company and investments and goal setting and productivity play a huge part in my daily basis.
It takes different qualities for different people in order to achieve in general. Their goals, dreams and everything they want.
I recommend people to go and do instead of waiting for perfection and learn and fix on the go. "Imperfect action" is what lead me to live a wonderful life and I'm just getting started.
I'm definitely going to check the link you provided ill share a tool that has helped me a lot.
btw you and I share some goals like having a better smile.
https://brendon.mykajabi.com/p/v1-5x50?utm_source=Maropost&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=SUCCESSLive
Thanks for sharing that video, @neri0x. Really helpful and I can see how such simple things in life can make a much bigger impact/difference in you being more productive every day.
I have tried to challenge myself on some of these before, like sleeping 8 hours a day, no screens for 30min before bedtime and even meditating for 10min every day. And to be honest, I failed at all of them. But I like Brendon's approach on planning the day ahead so definitely will try to adapt some of his tips. But not all at once, I think it's important not to overwhelm yourself (just like I was advising with goals). How did you find it? Has it helped you a lot?
Thanks again for sharing :-)
It has done a huge impact on me. (being doing it for 5-9 days) and it's amazing what the early planning can do, and it's amazing since I used to plan at night the day before but that early day planning and stretching is amazing. It's like the brain says, dude, 20 min, seriously? cant you give your body 20 min? can't you plan your life 20 min to see if you can improve?
To me improving and success is everything since it has allowed me to live an amazing life.
I'll share a pic of my daily planner and then provide a link where you can download it, mine is handwritten every day en 2 min =D. it's divided in 3 sections, projects , people and priorities. Check it out.
you can find it here:
http://brendon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/BrendonBurchard-5x50ProductivityFormula.pdf
when you said "such simple things in life can make a much bigger impact/difference" you are 100% right, most high achievers I know didn't have to do amazing things to get where they are, they just had to do small and consistent steps every day with discipline and focus for 1-3 years to get where they are now.
wish you lots of good energy. take care.
Thanks for sharing, @neri0x. And yes, I saw that planning sheet whilst watching the video. I've already shared the video with my sister @allasyummyfood, my best mate @yasminep and even my boyfriend. You've started a chain! Haha
Keep me posted on your progress. I'm keen to hear how it works for you long term! And I will slowly start incorporating this into my day-to-day too :-)
You are welcome =), glad I could provide value to your friends. I've been following and voting on everything I can that comes from your sister @allasyummyfood, thanks to her i got to see your posts.
Take care, stay tuned =D.
I use to provide info about productivity, lifestyle, entrepreneurship and crypto.
whenever you can check this out.
https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@neri0x/free-crypto-and-airdrops
So glad to hear that! I followed you already so will watch out for more posts on crypto (I'm quite a newbie still) :-)
wow nice ill do my best!
The Imperfection of your teeth makes you look perfect, I suggest you don't do it. I love it when people have Imperfections on them, it makes them unique and beautiful, we are all different and each unique.
Very well said and I agree, 100%. So maybe I'll change my mind but I still need to fix them ;-)
I saw your picture and thought your teeth it’s charming, honestly! Then later i read:
Don't do it :-)
Haha, thank you @tradewonk. Fixing definitely needs to be done (some of them are dead) lol
Good stuff, but you probably shouldn't have told us what your goals are. The scientific evidence shows that writing your goals down makes you more motivated to complete them, however if you tell people, you become less motivated...!
Thanks, @demotruk but I disagree and I think it depends on how you look at it. Telling your goals to others makes you more accountable to actually complete them vs. having them written down/buried in your phone without anyone knowing.
I also think telling people (especially your close friends and family) creates a support network. Quoting Claire Drumond "People can’t help you if they don’t know what you are trying to achieve."
I you tell to like minded people, it helps you to fulfill your desires soon ...
Yes thats actually totally true! I have heard that as well - especially cos yoru brain thinks you have already done them, so you are not as excited!
@demotruk well said
What helped was Making short term goals under the longterm ones.
E.g, so, after saying I'll read 50 books in a year, I'll shorten it to reading 4/5 in a month. And then I'll shorten it to reading a number of pages per day, setting reminders per day
Also, for any goal I meet up to, I give myself a treat depending on how big the goal is ☺.
@seunnla - that's really helpful. I didn't even think about rewards but 100% agree that they help. So say you get a really nice bottle of champagne or cognac and put it somewhere visible in your flat - that can act as a great reminder for getting that promotion or achieving one of your other goals.
And breaking it down to smaller chunks is definitely the way to go. I'm going to try and use Trello board to write down "Key Results" for each objective following the OKRs method we use at work.
Thank you for the tips - really appreciate it! :-)
You're welcome dear @ingaaa. Please, visit my blog and check out my posts. Steemit.com/@seunnla
Upvote too 😁
I agree!
Steady, you have a good life planning and have a clear target
Really good read, and I loved it! but also TRIPS PLANNED TO Scotland, Ukraine, America and Italy.?? what the hell? when where you gonna tell me! hahah i really need to print my goals out as well!! well done :) xxx
yaah these tips make your goal easy ! thanks allasyummyfood your sister is now using steemit that great!
if we categorise our goals into 3 category master goal(yearly) montly weekly!
so it become more easy and we will be near to our goal!
Agree @addys, breaking them down to more achievable tasks and actions is a must! :-)
Haha, that made me laugh so much! I told you about... some of them... surely?! Haha
Yes, print yours out and let's put them up on our fridge or rooms! :-) xX
Must be a bad tooth in the back, because your smile looks nice. Thanks for the post. I personally do not like the word goals mainly the word Vision is better used! Goals can pressure people with time.
Haha, thanks and yes, it's exactly that ;-) Vision is a great term but important to remember that...
Very true!
@ingaa my friend, ladies and planning. Does it work for men?
Haha, good question. I think it does but some may need to take a slightly different approach to reaching their goals. The important thing is to stick to them :-)
very informative post thank you for sharing such a beautiful article
Thank you so much, @fazlehassan. It makes me really happy knowing that you and others liked the post :-)
This is great! You didn't just rehash the same old tips. Kudos on that. Also, some really great goals there, here's wishing you the best on those. @Markrmorrisjr
Thank you, Mark. I think most of these tips I took from my own experience so glad you liked it.
Well, keep it up. It's great to see people bringing inspiration from life, and not just recycling the latest book or blog post.
i concur.
Not dissimilar goals to mine, though 'beach body' is more how I'm thinking of it. My hairy chest would look awful in a bikini.
Haha, that made me laugh, Nik! I think you're right, the correct term is 'beach body' - I completed Kayla's Bikini Body Guide hence why the 'bikini' term stuck with me from that :-)
Hi ingaa.. Its good to read our goals.. Its was my habit before weding.. Now no goal no resolution only kids... Haha
But i ll do it surely now
Haha, I can imagine that it's hell of a lot harder to make some time for yourself with kids growing up but maybe you can at least set yourself 1 or 2 this year? :-)
Yeah may be i can.. Thanx dear.. God bless you..
Loving this post and your actionable steps to achieving your goals! Way to go :)
Thank you, @nocodinggenius. Hope it helps you or others setting theirs too! :-)
YES Ings. I bloody love this post! So informative and motivating. 'Make your goals visual or vocal' so true. I love writing them down and getting them up on my wall. I'm going to do this today! Thanks for pushing me to do it. Keep the awesome content coming, my girl!
Awww, thank you so much. This means so much to me, seriously. I know I've listened to your voice notes already but still, wanted to reply here as well. Share yours when you've written them down?
I will do!
Great posting! :)
I'm a @fitnessman ! Nice to meen you :)
Lovely tips on setting goals. Your first time is relevant to me as I seem to always set way to many goals for myself.
Thank you, @dragonslayer101. The important thing to remember is that even if you DO set up too many goals - is to spread them out / not start them all at once. Once one of the goals becomes more of a habit (e.g. going to gym / exercising on regular basis), you move on to your next goal and so on.
Good thing to be organized in life by making schedules of everything.
Very nice and informative post!
Keep it up!
Thanks, @drasad! Let me know if there is anything different that works for you.
New steemer here! What else I can ask from you apart from a lovely upvote from you! 😊
Nice one
Hope you follow true
A real travel addict lol
Haha, thanks @rowland!
Great post, I really like how elaborate it is. I do like the word ''resolutions'' still. I have a slightly different approach and philosophy when it comes to goals and/or resolutions, but I did pick up few tips from you as well. It is always lovely to read a different perspective. Good luck with your goals. I'll make sure to follow you on your journey.
Thank you, @big.mama - really appreciate you reading. Please feel free to share your approach and what works for you - I'm just as curious to hear about other people's experience and tips!
wow!look very beautiful.
"Nice to have" #5
Story of my life! As a plug for my own Steemit account, maybe it can help with that extra goal
Haha. Although having looked though your photos - I've got a LONG WAY to go! Your photos are incredible and I loved reading your intro post. Look forward to seeing more from you!
Thank you very much! :)
That seems like an odd goal. Like you can start a company and call yourself COO if you really want to... What's the actual ambition behind this? I'm guessing it's not just so you can tell people you're a COO!
Otherwise, great goals. I'm working on my bikini bod in February too, hah!
Haha, the ideal scenario would be to start my own company. But a more realistic one would be that I become a COO within the startup I currently work for. Ambition behind it - is personal growth, reputation and ownership. Plus a little brag over a pint never hurts ;-)
Good stuff and good luck, Ross!
I have a friend he told me he made a new year resolution years ago which he never broke. His resolution is to not have anymore new year resolution.
Hahaha, very good.
Even I am not a New Year resolution person too but I made some plans.😎
Haha, good to hear! Make sure you stick to it (to an extent) :-)
I like your goals, in line with your style :) looking forward to updates :)
Aw, thank you. I actually thought of this the other day - that I should write a short update every quarter about how I’m getting along :-)
Ye that would be interesting :)