Goals

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”
– Tony Robbins
If you are going to achieve your best life the first step is visualizing it... and then create a plan to get there. That's where goals come in. They are the first step towards achieving your dreams and building a life you love. There are many methods to creating goals and visualizing the life you want. Try out different methods and pick what works best for you! I've tried several different methods myself including: 
  • S.M.A.R.T. Goals
  • One Word Challenge
  • Vision Boards
In past years my goal setting has included either a vision board for the visual reminder each morning (or wherever it is posted) or a list of written goals. This year I decided to change to a two pronged method combining both for a one-two punch of the visual and verbal (written) variety and I'm loving it. I find that this helps me to fully hash out what I really want and keep me motivated. I am also choosing goals in each sector of my life for a more well rounded approach to goal setting.

S.M.A.R.T. GOALS

Goals that are "SMART" have the highest chance of being achieved as they are well developed with a timeline to keep you on track. What is a S.M.A.R.T. goal you ask? Simply put, "SMART" is an acronym that describes the qualities of an achievable goal. A goal should be:
Specific
Measurable​
Attainable
Realistic​​
Timely
One thing to remember is that even though you are creating your goals for the year, month, etc. you likely won't work on every goal you come up with at the same time. Also, you should make sure to not overload yourself with goals to the point that you will not be able to complete them or stress yourself out trying to get everything done on the timeline you set. Give yourself some grace and be ok with setting limits for your goal setting. If you complete a goal early its perfectly ok to add another goal but failing to complete a goal set on an impossible timeline may derail your goal completion for a long time to come as it can be demoralizing. Know your limits and stretch but never break them. I currently have a TON of goals but at any one time I may only be working on 3-4 of them actively.

Career/Business

Since most of my career goals are either long term or relate directly to my current place of employment I'm keeping them offline. They exist, promise!
  1. Get back into blogging at least bi-weekly.
  2. Grow my RLH YouTube channel by posting consistently 3-5 times per week. 
  3. ​Enroll in and complete a basics of SEO class by mid-year.

Relationship/Romance

  1. Maintain an open and honest relationship with M. 
  2. Make time daily for communication and making sure he knows how I feel about him.
  3. Plan room in the budget for regular date nights and travel/visits

Household & Home Life

  1. Keep Bella’s anxiety under control.
  2. Get the pups back to being better behaved (we got a little off with the anxiety issue taking precedence).
  3. Transition back to homemade household cleaning supplies

Social & Recreation

  1. Be fully prepared each week when it comes to my music/chorus.
  2. Make time to socialize with friends on a monthly basis

Financial​

  1. Pay off $10,000 in debt before December 31, 2020.
  2. Minimize eating out and costly entertainment options.
  3. Get 1 month ahead on all bills.

 Education & Personal Development

  1. Read eight non-fiction books in 2020

Health & Wellness

  1. Get under 180 pounds before my birthday.
  2. Incorporate the app "Zombies, Run!" alongside basic weight training into my routine. Make working out a normal part of the work week schedule.
  3. Take my medications on time each day and make sure I am being proactive in lifestyle necessities to live my best life.
  4. Make, and take, time for your health every day through self-care, drinking water, skin care and stretching. 

Spiritual

  1. Start a self-study program.
Note: Goals come and go on my list as my life changes and/or I accomplish them or decide they no longer have a place in my life due to changing circumstances. They are rarely static and always a work in progress, like myself.

One Word Challenge

I also choose one word to focus on for the year.  I pray on it and really do some soul-searching to figure out what word will help me on my journey. If you're interested in choosing one word for yourself as well I suggest the website Get One Word for free resources and ideas.

This year my word is:

Presence

My goal this year is to be fully present. I know that multi-tasking isn’t real but yet I still try to make it a part of my life too regularly. This year I want to make it a goal to stop this practice and be fully present in whatever I am doing. To fully enjoy the moments that will never come again but also to efficiently use my time on tasks I don’t enjoy as much rather than trying, and failing, to do multiple things at once all the time.

Previous years' words were:
2019: Growth
In 2019 I decided I wanted to focus on growing as a person in all areas of my life. To me this meant making sure my time commitments align with my goals and passions while leaving space in my schedule to take care of my mental health (read: not become a stressed mess).
2018: Balance
Focusing on balance in 2018 was a difficult task and caused a lot of introspection throughout the year. It meant saying no to things I really wanted to do but it also meant accepting that I'm not Wonder Woman and need to take time for my mental health when I start getting stressed. This looked like taking a step back from some major things in my life (such as the blog after my Oma passed and singing in various functions when my work life got a little crazy). I'm going to try to remember to keep this word's lessons present in my life going forward.
2017: Joy
Focusing on 'joy' throughout the year led me to live my social life to its fullest, go to an awesome conference, start learning new skills that brought me happiness, and surround myself with awesome friends. It meant that this year I needed to chose the word 'balance' as I had over-committed myself but I love my life and all the crazy that sometimes comes with it.
2016: Peace
I chose this word when I moved back to Texas. A focus on 'peace' helped me to heal after my divorce. This was the first year I chose a single word to focus on... it was also the year I decided I needed to choose a word every year due to its effect on my life.

Vision Boards

Vision boards are great for people who are very visual... but they're also great for those of us who need reminders daily of what we want out life to look like so that we don't settle into status quo. I'm not going to post my vision board on here right now as its in the process of being redone right now (but also, I'm not sure that all the photos would be public domain to use... I'll have to look into that).  I will however share my process!

I start the same way as I do for my S.M.A.R.T. goals- by writing down each area of my life:
  • Career/Business
  • Financial
  • Health & Wellness
  • Relationship/Romance
  • Social & Recreation
  • Household & Home Life
  • Education & Personal Development
  • Spiritual

Next I try to visualize what my perfect life would look like and why I would like it to look like this. Then I focus in on each of those areas and find a particular photo or word that sums that area up. Once I have every area covered I lay them all out and look to see if it represents my ideal life accurately and cohesively. Pasting them down is the last step. It may be a multi-session process, it is for me. The last couple of times I've done this I simply did it in Word rather than doing it physically but I did print it out for my bathroom mirror so that I would see it at least twice a day while I was brushing my teeth.  
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