Setting Goals: Getting Back into the Groove Thing

Hi everyone! Today I wanted to acknowledge a truth. Sometimes we cannot always be on top of everything. Sometimes life gets in the way and we just don’t feel like doing something. Another thing that I have noticed recently in my own life is that I have become unhappy with the goals I set for myself this year.

I feel like maybe I need to give you some background so I can explain myself better. Prior to 2020, I always wanted to set goals, but I didn’t know how. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. All I ever seemed to have time for was working my full time job, and looking after all the other people in my life. I had no time for me.

When I started watching Youtube videos, I found a lady called Cindy Guentert-Baldo, and she was using this Goal Planner; the Cultivate What Matters Powersheets Goal Planner to be exact. I didn’t buy it at first. I was interested, but I took about 8 months to think about it and decide whether it was worth it. I finally decided I wanted to change the way I was living my life.

I had recently quit my job, and I wanted to have a more intentional life - live life the way I wanted and figure out things I could do to work towards my happiness. I created my Youtube channel, and I needed a way to organize the way I thought about everything. Writing things down and staying organized is one thing, but working towards something with intention is completely another.

The Goal Planner that I used has a large section where you figure out what’s important to you. It helps you determine what your goals could potentially be. It took me DAYS to write out all the preparation work. Once I determined my goals for the year, I started feeling so much better. I finally had this motivation and necessary push for something that I was lacking before.

The year 2020 for a lot of people was a very un-motivational year. Surprisingly, I thrived the entire year. I was happy that I was finally working from home and I did some of my best thinking during that period.

Now, I think the stress of current events is getting to me. My goals this year still reflect things that are important to me, but I feel like they no longer matter. It’s not because I have goals of travelling, or doing things that involve being out in society. Rather, it’s more of a personal motivation thing. I have developed severe anxiety and I am on the verge of depression, and with every passing day, I feel like there is no hope for us as a human race.

One day, I all of a sudden had this mindset shift, and I can’t exactly explain what happened. I was feeling uninspired with my goals. I would go into my Powersheets every morning as part of my morning routine, and I would cross out the tasks I had assigned for myself, but it just didn’t seem to matter. I didn't feel like I was making progress towards anything, and if I was, I just didn’t care.

So, as part of my task list for the day, I wrote down “Check out other videos on Goal Planning”. It took me a few days, but I eventually started browsing Youtube and looking at what other people wrote down for their goals. I really try not to compare to other people, but I realized by seeing what other people do, that I really was doing ok. I just hit a slump for the month of May. I realized that what I needed was a small change. That is usually my trick if I find myself getting bored or un-motivated with a project. (That’s why my bullet journal changes so often). So, for June, I added some new and different goals for myself. I added in brush lettering practice, which is also a type of therapeutic art for me. I let myself be a bit more lenient when it comes to my work schedule, because right now I feel like I need to be gentle on myself.

I am also going to be more lenient when it comes to social media. I felt like I had to be posting on Instagram to “keep up” with others, and to market myself better; the more posts the better, right? Well, even if you’re simply posting a picture, there is still work to be done. The picture needs to be properly taken, edited, captions added, and hashtags developed. To take a good picture for Instagram, or a thumbnail for Youtube can take anywhere from 20 minutes up to an hour, believe it or not; staging is very important!

Through this experience, I learned that I should be more intentional and specific in how I develop and write my goals. This will help me to be more intentional in life, and pay attention to those things that really matter, like time management in my business, and spending time with my family.

Personal growth has become very important to me as well, so I have been trying to make time for learning new things about my business, and anything that will help me improve my time management, mindfulness and productivity. Also, I wrote my tending list in rainbow fine liners simply to make me happy whenever I check in. Every time there is something simple I can do to add that extra happiness, I always do it. Plus, just looking at my tending sheet makes me come back to my goals every morning to see how pretty it looks. The more I look at my tending list, the more motivated I get to do the tasks associated with my goals.

I would have to say the most important business goal I currently have is growth. I am in the beginning stages of my business, and although I have the stage set for success, it’s up to me to continue the growth and movement in my business. I am the only one who can move it forward at this point, and in order to do that, I need to follow through with my goals and my plans that I have set for myself. To do that, I need to be motivated and I also want to like what I’m doing. Becoming bored is one of my biggest downfalls, so I’m always switching things up for myself and re-evaluating what I could do better every single day.

I hope this short blog has helped you to see your goals in a new and different way. If you become dissatisfied with your goals, remember you are enough. Any progress is good; strive for perfection, but don’t pressure yourself to be perfect. That way, you always have something to work toward to learn more, do better, and be better than you were yesterday.

Love,

SAN 💙