Goal Setting
Goals used to be a completely foreign concept to me. Sure, it was discussed in school and the word is thrown around constantly in social media and as we grew up. But what is a goal actually?
According to the Oxford dictionary, a goal is the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result. Pretty bold and broad if you ask me. You can literally assign a goal to any part of your life. You can create your identity based on your goals.
Since becoming a wife and changing my name, moving to a whole new town where no one knows who I am and becoming a mother, I have really struggled with my identity. Who am I? Better yet, who do I want to be? Not to be fake and create an illusion of who I am, but truly discover my likes and dislikes, goals and ambitions. I have changed so much from who I was when I was younger because I have learned so much, done more research, listened more. As much as I am still the same person deep down inside, my lifestyle and habits have changed in so many ways.
That is a part of the reason why I am so devoted to setting realistic goals for this year and sticking to them. This can be my year to truly come through with who I am, who I want to be and discover things about myself that I never knew before.
Setting goals can be hard. Especially when you don’t know where to start. This is why I like to separate mine into 4 specific categories, each ranging in parts of your life that vary from each other.
Personal Goals
This has to do with our actual lifestyles. Physical, mental, our health, and our overall wellbeing. This can include weight loss, strength training, meditation, reducing processed foods or sugars from our diets, reducing or eliminating caffeine, the options are endless but personalized to you. How do you want to feel each day and what steps do you need to take to get there? Setting a schedule for yourself can help with this, like a morning or evening routine to include steps to get you to the bigger picture. The bigger picture can also be specified to things like running a marathon, challenge yourself to 100 days of doing a habit straight through, waking up earlier or reading daily devotionals. This is where you get to be selfish and set straight forward, yet realistic goals for yourself. Try not to aim to high at first because if you’re not as successful as you may have hoped at first, you’re more likely to give up on yourself when you don’t see results right away. I say this, because this was me. I always set overly ambitious goals, too much at once, and would give up before even seeing the significant results I was capable of. Do yourself the favor of being kind to yourself with a personal goal.
Professional Goals
What kind of career do you want? What kind of lifestyle do you want to live? How can we achieve these things? While professional goals can hold their own obstacles, striving and working towards more is never a bad thing. If you are unhappy in your work place, if it is a toxic work environment, if you are questioning if you could possibly do this for the rest of your life, I would highly consider moving on. While all career paths have their ups and downs, if it is a constant struggle to get out of bed on a work day due to dreading going in, that is no way to live. We all have to make sacrifices to get where we want to professionally, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of your daily joy for too long.
Family Goals
Family planning, location of where you would like to live, trips and vacations, hobbies and activities, all of this and more can be up for discussion. My husband and I sit down quarterly throughout the year to discuss our family goals. We review the previous list and check off what we have accomplished, and add to the list the new things we would like to see happen. This can include home renovation projects, discussions on when we would like to start trying for another baby, retirement plans for us and RESP’s for the kids, appointments to be made, activities and sports for the kids to be signed up for and so much more. We have our list of long term goals and dreams we would love to see happen in our lifetime together and our short term goals that we can accomplish sooner. It doesn’t take up much time, but it also helps keep you on track, outlines your path and gains a better understanding of each others wants and needs. In the future, we will include our children in some of the discussion to hear out what they would like to try and see within our family.
Financial Goals
Setting financial goals can be scary for some and also seem like a far fetched dream for others. But laying it all out, what you’d like to see in life, puts things into perspective of what is realistic versus what is a farce. There is nothing wrong with having big financial ambitions, I actually encourage it. You can’t complain about not having certain things or be jealous of those who do if you have nothing to strive towards yourself. While circumstances can throw a wrench into situations, I completely understand, I have experienced it myself, letting that defeat you won’t fix anything. Understand that this is just a season in which you will get through and can appreciate being on the brighter side once it is all over. Investments, savings plans, paying off debt, lavish vacations or big purchases can all be categorized under financial goals. The sky is the limit!
The whole point of a goal is to have something to work towards. And there is the key word, work. Working towards something make it that much sweeter of a reward once achieved. Gaining that victory is worth all the blood, sweat and tears. Hard work pays off, I strongly believe in that. And setting the right mindset can make all the difference. Stay positive, stay ambitious and reach for the stars!
Melanie xoxox