The Art of Goal Setting

 The Art of Goal Setting


I used to really struggle with goal setting & New Year’s Resolutions. Nothing ever stuck. This year, I’ve tried a different approach, and I have to say it’s made a huge difference. I have broken my year into 12 focuses (one for each month), rather than trying to focus on 12 things at once.


New Year’s Day, 2023, I took myself on a coffee date with my planner and my laptop. I set in my calendar monthly & quarterly check-ins to review my bigger goals, along with weekly check-ins to review my short-term goals.


It very quickly became clear that this would need to be an evolving process, so I’ve made sure not to be too strict or rigid. I’ve already learnt so much about goal setting in January that some of the initial goals I set for the year have changed in the first month!


I started looking at what I want to achieve. But, I did this by looking at the habits (systems), not the goals. For example, I want to be calmer, more in control of my anxiety. That is a goal. The systems through which I can achieve this are daily meditation, therapy, reading etc. These systems are my focuses, not the end results. Another goal I have is that I want to be fit & healthy. The systems I will focus on are daily movement, drinking more water, having fruit/veg with every meal. I would like to develop my writing and one day write for a living. The systems I will develop are practicing and improving my writing by publishing weekly blogs & reviewing learning materials.


I also looked at what motivates me. I listed three things:


  1. Freedom. What motivated me to increase my earnings? Freedom; so if I was to earn a healthy salary in a corporate job where I work 12 hours a day, I would have achieved my salary goals but not the motivation behind it (freedom). Whereas, I could end up with a less well-paid job that has flexible hours and lets me work from anywhere I want. I wouldn’t have the money, but I would have the end goal of freedom!

  2. Experiences. Spending my final year of University and the beginning of my 20s in lockdown; I know that I want to make more memories. Travel, experiences, laughter, I want to know I am living my life, rather than living to work.

  3. Voice. Having a platform to be heard. I have a lot to share with the world, I want to make sure I have the opportunity to do that.


I created a list of books to read and podcasts to listen to this year. Some book examples are Atomic Habits, the 5AM Club and Attached. Examples of podcasts I want to listen to include Struggle Care, Diary of a CEO and Sad to Savage.


I also created a realistic bucket list for the year, including destinations such as Belfast, Paris, Edinburgh and Dublin.Some of the experiences I want to have are visiting Harry Potter World, the London ASMR Museum, and a balcony breakfast in Paris.


Finally, I created a ‘celebrations’ list, to look back on achievements. This will help me to appreciate how far I’ve come and not only focus on how far I have to go. One month in and I’ve been able to add taking my first solo flight to the list.


After I decided on bigger objectives for the whole year, I moved on to monthly planning.


Each month gets a theme.


To create habits/fit systems into your life, you need a place to put them. I made January a general GYST (Get Your Sh*t Together) month, to create a skeleton routine I can stack my habits into.


Let’s take one of my goals as an example here: I want to visit Paris, and I’d love to be able to speak the French language fluently. I broke this goal down into systems I can work on per quarter, and I’ve planned a trip to France mid-way through the year (coincidentally, my birthday is in June) to keep me motivated. The habit I will create during my first quarter is daily Duolingo practice. One thing I do every evening is make a cup of tea and get into bed. I started practicing Duolingo once I’d made my cup of tea (stacking a new habit with a pre-existing one) and it quickly became second nature.


February’s focus is Pleasure - How can I introduce more pleasure into my life? 


I have created the ‘Simple Pleasures Challenge’ for February. This is where I do something small that brings me joy every day. If you want to follow along this month, check out my previous blog post (The Art of Simple Pleasures) and my instagram (@learningtoswimblog).


Each month, I will work on creating habits that will help me to achieve the focus of that month, so they are implemented before I move on to my next focus. I have also committed to reading a book around the month’s focus, a habit I implemented in January. As January was about creating space for & building habits, I read Atomic Habits by James Clear. I was able to implement the things I learned as I learned them!


I also make sure to schedule the below every month, designed for personal enrichment rather than self-growth:


  • 1 no social media day

  • 1 self care outing (i.e. hair appointment)

  • 1 at home spa evening (doesn’t have to be big, could just be doing nails)

  • 1 viewing night

  • 1 night out

  • 1 lunch date

  • 1 breakfast date

  • 1 day just for me

  • In the summer, 1 day outdoors


Every month has an affirmation. January it’s “I have my life together”, February is “I center my life around enjoyment”. Every Sunday, I sit down with my planner and reflect on how the last week has gone/plan for the next. I schedule a day toward the end of the month to review and reflect on how I’m achieving my overall goals & use that to set up for the next month.


This has proven a really effective strategy for me, that introduces the novelty of ‘New Year’ every single month. I’d love to hear your thoughts or how you’re tackling your goals this year!






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Buying Yourself Flowers 💐

Image
  The Art of Buying Yourself Flowers  💐 You hear it all the time. In every self care manual. “Buy yourself flowers”. I can’t say I ever bought into this philosophy until about a year ago. I was going through a breakup and a TikToker told me to buy myself flowers every week. In avid anticipation of the day I’d feel better I religiously followed their advice. The first few times felt nice, but a little meaningless. I didn’t really understand. It wasn’t until I looked at my third batch of now wilting flowers, eager eyed at the prospect of waltzing through the flower stall at the market the next day, selecting the most beautiful bouquet for myself, that it finally clicked… Buying yourself flowers becomes about taking care of yourself. About maintaining your space. About ensuring that, in a corner of your room, exists a beautiful treat, which you refresh and repurchase for yourself. You put all of that time and money into picking out, purchasing and preening your flowers. All for ...
Read more

The Art of Reading Fiction

Image
The Art of Reading Fiction  📚 I was a huge book worm as a child. My room was littered with novels, my favourite subject at school was English and my ‘acts of rebellion’ were to stay up late reading with a torch under a blanket. I got older and, as with most things, life got in the way. I chose reading-heavy subjects at A Levels and University and something I used to enjoy for pleasure became a mandatory chore. Yes, there’s a difference between reading about the story of a young wizard and studying the ethics of medical law, but still… I stopped casually reading in my final year of GCSEs, and it wasn’t until the last 6 months (some 7 years later), that I’ve managed to pick it back up. The best advice I could give to someone looking to get/back into reading would be to start small . Whether you read complex classics and long novels before (or this is where you aspire to end up), reading for pleasure, like most things, requires some amount of build up. I have actually found the easy ...
Read more