A new year brings a new chapter, which for many can sound like the chance to begin a new year of self-improvement and the creation of better habits moving forward.
I truly believe setting goals can be so important, not only for self-improvement but to help us work toward the life we want to live! This post is all about creating realistic goals for 2020, and how to achieve them! To help you create the life you’re ready to live and to be your best self!
When it comes to creating realistic goals for the new year, I used to just write down a list on my phone and never really did much else with them. This year, I really tried to reflect and figure out a way on how I could make changes to my daily routine to help achieve my goals. To break it down easily, it’s important to start off with 4 easy steps.
- Create a List of Goals
- Organize and prioritize
- Begin to take Action
- Be Consistent + Accountable
1) Create a List of Goals
Before we begin writing a list of goals, think about what it is about writing a list of goals that has you motivated or excited. Are there certain areas of your life that you feel need improvement? If so, you need to envision what you want your life to look like in a multitude of areas. Whether that’s school, career, finance, health, spirituality, etc. Personalize it to your liking and what matters most to you!
“By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands—your own.”
Mark Victor hansen
Once you’ve reflected, take some time to write out goals in those different aspects of your life. In nursing, we actually have goals for our patients that we try to follow through on every shift, using an acronym called SMART. This could be a great template for helping you figure out how to write out your goals to make them more achievable.
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Realistic
- Timely/Time-Based
If we create goals for ourselves that are unattainable and with too many external factors that are out of your control, you run the risk of being unsuccessful in achieving your goals. Follow the SMART guideline to help you create goals that are realistic, and hold you accountable.
An example of a well-constructed goal would be (let’s say in regards to gaining more traction to your Instagram) “I want to have 1000 more followers this year”. While that’s measurable, It would be more attainable to say “For the month of January, I am committed to posting 3x a week to help with my growth”. This goal follows the SMART goal criteria, as well as helps with ridding of external factors that the original “I will reach 1000 followers” would have had, as you can’t control who follows you; but you can control how much effort you put into gaining growth.
If one of your goals is on self-care and positive mindset, check out my blog post here on helping you achieve a positive mindset
2) Organize and Prioritize
Once you’ve written out your list of goals pertaining to the different areas of your life, it’s time to prioritize what goals mean the most to you!
It’s important to note that your top goals are normally the ones that make the biggest impact on your life, and the ones that seem scariest to achieve. This is a way of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and making the biggest changes towards self-growth and improvement.
3) Begin to take Action
- Once you’ve prioritized your goals, write out alongside them 3 things that you can do to help achieve said goal. What steps do you have to do in order to be successful? What step can you do TODAY to bring you towards success?
I’ll show you an example of one of my goals and what I’ve done to hold myself accountable:
“I will post one blog post per week for the month of January”
- Choose one day of the week to upload to help with consistency
- Dedicate 30 min each day to writing + preparing a blog post *set a timer if you have to!
- Bring your laptop with you during the week (this will help to avoid being unable to work on the post if I am not at home)
4) Be Consistent + Accountable
When trying to take action in achieving your goals, it’s important to be consistent. Just like anything we want to become successful at or make long term changes, it takes consistency and dedication.
- If you find that you are unreliable in holding yourself accountable, tell your goals to a loved one or friend (or maybe even online) so that they can help keep you accountable and hold you to it. I do suggest working on keeping the promises you make yourself, as when we don’t keep those promises we start to believe in ourselves less and less. Thus making it harder to follow through on goals, as you’ve already given up on yourself before trying. This is why you are creating small, realistic and attainable goals that can help you to reach that sense of accomplishment!
- Be consistent daily, and if you’re following through on your steps don’t be afraid to reward yourself! Associate your hard work with a reward, such as “If I work on this blog post for 30 mins, I can watch a Netflix show”.
- Get a calendar, Bullet Journal (habit tracker), or productive notebook to help you track your progress and stay organized.
- Here is a bullet journal I recommend, a productive planner that is highly rated, and a happiness planner for those whose goals may be focused on internal growth as opposed to external goals!
- Surround yourself with inspiring people, books, podcasts, and social media influences that can help you to stay focused!
Now that you’ve got your goals written out, I hope you’re feeling inspired and ready to take on the New Year with a whole new outlook. You can achieve anything you set your mind too, and I’m sure 2020 will be the best one yet!
Are you someone who creates a list of goals for the new year? What is one thing that helps you to stay on track? Let me know in the comments!
