January is a time which is rife with people setting new years resolutions, goals and you know what, it can feel very overwhelming.
Don’t get me wrong, I love setting goals and intentions, and think they’re important to have. Until I learnt how to create goals which were in line with me and my life map, I used to feel overwhelmed.
January would be met with great ambition and all of these amazing things I wanted to achieve. Two weeks later, I already feel deflated by them, they’re causing me to stress and by February they’re completely forgotten about.
Am I touching a nerve there?
But don’t panic, you don’t have to ditch that goal getting attitude. Instead, we need to work smart. Look at our big picture plans, and set goals which will help us get there.
A guide to setting goals which you’ll actually achieve
The key to setting goals is to create smart goals. These are goals which are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant & Time bound.
Are you ready to break that down?
Specific Goals
The first mistake we can make with goals is make them too vague. Things like I want to eat better/get fit/drink more water/spend less time on my phone etc
We’ve all made these kinds of goals and found them falling to the wayside within weeks, if not days.
Instead, it’s time to get specific. What do you actually want to achieve? Ask yourself what you mean by the goal and drill down to a specific
i.e I want to read 12 books, I’m going to drink 2 litres of water a day, I’ll have a phone free day once a month, I’m going to loose X amount of weight, I’m going to run 10k
Are they measurable?
When it comes to measurable goals, make sure there’s a way to track your goals. If you have a specific goal, then usually it is measurable.
If you’re wanting to run 10k, you can measure that. There’s an end goal of 10k and you can track your progress along the way (i.e when you hit 5k you know you’re had way there)
Attainable Goals
Having attainable goals is key to feeling less overwhelmed. Whilst you want your goals to push you, you don’t want to create a goal which is wildly out of reach. If you do, they overwhelm you, stress you out and ultimately you just want to forget about them.
Are these Goals relevant to you?
I would argue that this is the most important element to goal setting. Is your goal actually relevant to you, or are you doing it because it’s what you think you should do.
Set your goals for you. Don’t set goals to fit in, because of societal pressures or because it’s the trendy thing to do.
Set goals which align with your values. Look at what you want your dream life to feel like, and ask yourself what goals fit in with that.
What’s the time frame
Having a time frame keeps you accountable to your goal. It gives you an end date and something to work towards.
If you don’t have a time frame, you always keep pushing things back. However, by having a time sensitive end date, you push yourself. Imagine if your coursework at school hadn’t had a deadline, it would never have got done!
Some examples…
Let’s say you want to read more this year. Normally, you might right this year, I’m going to read more.
But what does that actually mean? It can easily be forgotten about and what does more mean?
A smart goal would be this year, I am going to read 12 books by December. This goal is specific, it is measurable (12 books), it’s attainable and relevant to what you want to achieve and it’s time bound (by December).
Another example might be this year, I want to cook more varied foods. Again, this is super vague.
The smart version of this would be I am going to try 1 new recipe every week for X amount of time
Remember, you’re setting goals for YOU. Thats a key part to feeling less overwhelmed. You’re goals should excite you, fill you with joy and the outcome make you feel good.
Have you set any goals for 2021?
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