Goal Setting 2020

Each year during the month of December I have a desire to start looking toward the new year. It’s kind of exciting to think of all the possibilities that the next 12 months hold. However following that initial excitement always seems to be a feeling of angst. Not about the future, but about all the goal-setting that ultimately accompanies that time of the year! I am not unlike so many others who set their goals with earnest anticipation and eagerness! Perhaps this year would be the year I finally meet my goals and feel good about it!

First of all, the process of goal setting is SUPER overwhelming to me! There are so many areas of my life that need attention. How could I ever narrow them all down to a do-able list? The other issue is that I feel unfulfilled even when I do manage to complete a goal. In other words, I am doing the work, yet somehow I still feel a lack of accomplishment. Why was I still feeling dissatisfied and unfulfilled???? UGH.

A New Method

So this past month I stumbled upon a method that made a lot of sense to me. In a nutshell, you look back over the last 12 months and determine a general sense of how you feel about 10 areas of your life. Then you narrow those areas down and work on them for 3 months at a time.

Note
I was totally shocked after completing this activity! The results showed what I was subconsciously thinking and feeling! They revealed WHY I was still feeling unsatisfied even after I met my goals.

The Process

Here’s the process. Super simple. You need a pen/pencil and a piece of paper! (As usual, you can use your technology, but there’s something about the act of writing these things down!) Here we go

Number your paper 1-10 with these topics. You don’t need to skip lines.

Note
There are some questions following this exercise that help qualify each topic if you need more clarification. The main thing is to remember to make it your own! What does that topic mean to YOU?

2019 Year in Review

1. Physical health/fitness
2. Mental health
3. Physical surrounding of the place you spend most of your time/day
4. Self-Care
5. Romantic Life
6. Time with family and friends
7. Finances
8. Purpose, or “What Matters” to me
9. Spirituality
10. Personal Growth

You simply need to give yourself room to score each area from 1-10.

Next, you will need to think back over the past 12 months… You are going to assign each area a number from 1-10. 1 would represent feeling the worst about that area, 10 would be you feel the best about that area. Remember that all of these areas should be based on how “you” feel about them or how you see them according to your life…

Then, circle the three lowest scores. Are they areas that mean a lot to you? Areas that keep you up at night? Cause you concern? You feel badly about them? Things you need to address right now?

If not, skip that area and look at the others. Which ones hold the most value and importance to you? Please keep in mind that these areas may not be what you had expected. Mine certainly weren’t.

My Results

After doing this exercise, I found that 3 areas were substantially lower than the other areas. I’ll explain a little bit about them too, mostly because ALL of the topics are SUPER important to living a balanced life.

My lowest areas were

Spirituality
Time with family and friends
Self-care

I scored all of these about a 3 or 4. UGH. Why? If you’ve spent any time with me at all you know that my faith and family are SO important to me… How in the world could I feel so poorly about these areas of my life? Am I just being overly critical with myself? Or are these areas that I value greatly, but have not made a priority in my life? OUCH! I think the latter is true in my case.

Note
Interesting fact. When I saw the low score in “self-care” I shrugged it off as unimportant…. Hmmmmm…. The “mom-mentality” I think. Everyone else is more important than me. I’ve got bigger fish to fry… However, now that I’ve had some time to consider that topic, I see it definitely needs to be addressed as well!

My Action Plan

Base your plan on a 3 month time period. After that, you can revisit them and make changes.

Spirituality:
I want to spend time daily in a morning routine. A routine that involves prayer and meditation on God’s word. ( I’ll share more of that with you in another blog post! It’s really good though!)

I want to be involved in a weekly Bible study of some sort.

I want to read some books about spiritual development.

Time with family
I’ve decided to plan 1 trip to see my family within the next 3 months. (To see my family requires travel time in and out of state.)
I picked a date(s).
Scheduled it on the family calendar.

Time with friends
I will reach out weekly by text to specific people.
I will meet personally with people on a weekly basis over coffee or a meal.

Take-Aways

I’m able to name specific pain-points related to my life.
The 3 month time period seems doable to me.
It wasn’t overwhelming to brainstorm ideas to address these areas.
It forced me to preplan. (Made me pick a date!)
I already feel more accomplished and optimistic.
It doesn’t negate the other areas that need change. In 3 months I’ll re-evaluate and set a new plan, and potentially new areas.

In the end, only you can know what is and what isn’t working for you. I knew the way I had been trying to set goals wasn’t working for me. Something had to change! This method helped me identify pain-points in my life and then to do something to correct them. That is a “win” in my book!

I’d love to hear your feedback if you decide to use this method to help you set your goals! Was it helpful? Were you surprised by the results? Words of wisdom? What are you currently working on or towards? Please feel free to comment below! I’d really appreciate it!

Happy goal setting friends!
Cindyh

Topic Clarifications

Below you will find topic/subject definitions or questions that will help clarify the topics.
These are broad definitions/questions. You make them mean what you want… Tailor them to meet your own needs! You have permission to change a topic to one that is better suited for your needs, or simply omit it if it doesn’t apply to you.

Note
If you look at this list and none or most of it doesn’t apply to you, it may not be the best fit for you and perhaps you need to keep searching for a method that will help you achieve your goals. This is merely one way to look at goals and goal setting. Don’t give up if it isn’t the one for you!

Physical health and fitness: How do you feel physically? Are you struggling with health issues? How do you feel about your weight? How do you feel about your fitness?

Mental health: Emotionally how do you feel the majority of the time? Are you enjoy the good things and when difficult things happen you are able to grieve and then bounce back? Are you constantly in a dark place?

Surroundings: This refers to wherever you spend the majority of your time. It could be more than one place. Is it dark and gloomy? Difficult to get things completed because of noise, distraction, out of date technology… etc?

Self-care: Are you taking care of your physical needs? Spending time on a hobby you enjoy? Are you someone else’s care-taker 24 hrs a day? Do you make it a priority to schedule in some “me” time? There are always seasons of “business, however, you don’t want those to be 12 months out of the year!

Romantic life: Are you in a romantic relationship? Are you reasonably-happily married? (if you’re married) Do you date or date your spouse? Is this an area that drains you? Perhaps you are single and content, you may want to find a new topic to exchange for this one.

Time with family and friends: Are you able to communicate easily with your family? Do you get to see your extended family as often as you’d like to? Do you plan time to see friends? Are you spend time with friends and enjoy those relationships?

Finances: Do you have a budget? Do you have adequate money to pay the necessary bills on a regular basis? Are you happy (for the most part) with the money that is coming in every month? Are you going into debt every month?

Purpose or Doing things that “matter” to you: You have a purpose in life. Are you able to contribute to those things you feel matter the most in your life?

Spirituality: Are you growing spiritually? Are you able to find time to pray, meditate, fellowship with others? Are you disconnected in this area?

Personal growth: Do you have time to identify areas you’d like to develop? Do you actively read, take classes, listen to podcasts, go to counseling or therapy in order to move forward in your life?