At the start of this year, I had a new approach to my New Year’s Resolutions, and it didn’t involve some grand plan to turn my life around. I wrote about it at the start of the year—instead of setting a goal like “lose 20 pounds” or “read 25 books,” I set mini goals to tackle each month.
So how did that approach work?
Well, I can tell you that I didn’t hit all of my goals. Not even close. But, I hit a lot of them—like writing and releasing my new book, even though it took an extra six weeks from what I’d planned for in my goals.
Similar to setting a resolution, I did much better earlier on than I am doing with my June goals.
When I set out to make monthly mini-goals, I did it for the first half of the year and then decided I would revisit in June for the back half of the year. And it’s a good thing I did! What I found is that many of my goals built upon the previous month. For example, in February I hired someone to format my book, and I was supposed to release the book in March by my birthday… but the guy I hired gave me a terrible end product and I had to PIVOT PIVOT PIVOT, which delayed a series of goals I’d laid out for the following three months.
I also found myself demotivated in a lot of areas where I’d planned to focus my creative energy because I was so drained from my kids struggling through such a crazy school year. Month-to-month was definitely the way to go, but as I go into the rest of the year, I’m going to revisit the goals a bit more strategically so I don’t fall behind or have a set of goals that no longer align to what’s interesting or possible.
This week, I’m reviewing the goals I didn’t get to in January through June. Are they still important? Did I focus on one area more than another? (spoiler: yes, I did!) What do I wish I’d done differently and how can I stay more well-rounded in the goals I pursue?
I found that due to my lower energy level, I focused on my one big audacious goal (releasing the new book) but if one of the goals was going to take a lot of mental or emotional energy, I fell flat about half the time. But here’s the good news, the other half of the time… I rocked it. I set goals for my relationship, my health, and my business that I may not have done if I hadn’t had the goal staring me in the face every day.
This approach really seemed to work for me, and I would absolutely recommend it to others. I printed out my goals and hung them in my closet—a place I see every single morning and night. So think about where that location could be for you. Seeing it and thinking about them everyday is key.
For a while, I fell off the fitness and health train really badly, but then one day (not even on my goals list!) I decided I was going to start the 60 day Insanity challenge from Beach Body, and I’m starting my LAST WEEK of it on Wednesday. My weight hasn’t dropped like I’d hoped, but it’s given me great perspective thanks to the bi-weekly fitness tests I have to do. And seeing the jumps from where I started are insane (excuse the pun)—and a reminder to me that there’s so much more to health than a number on the scale or even how my jeans are fitting.
A few things that I found helpful when setting goals:
- Align them to your key values (This is a great exercise to do if you never have.)
- Try to come up with two or three themes/big goals for the year (mine were: having an exceptional marriage, writing my second book, and working for myself)
- Once you have your themes, write down some things that could help you achieve those dreams or end goals. Just one or two a month in each area.
I found that it was hard to achieve goals tied to each area each month, but I really want to keep striving for that. I find that I’m more balanced if I am hitting on progress in multiple areas of my life, and I’m more likely to be happier day-to-day.
Thinking about giving it a try? Let me know! I’d love to hear about some of your goals and how the process works for you as you break them down.
The Other Side of Motherhood 