Goal Setting: It’s NEVER Too Late For A Fresh Start

It’s February.  How are your 2022 goals going so far?

If you’re like many of us, the drive and excitement of all the goals we want for the New Year may have started to dwindle a bit by now.

This is an absolutely normal occurrence, so if you’ve found yourself feeling a bit mundane, overwhelmed, or not moving as fast as you’d like, please know, you’re not alone.

At this point in time, many people may want to give up on their goals, or put them aside for a later date, and I urge you to fight this FEELING.  If we were to go with how we felt all the time, we would be swinging back and forth in life with no clear path.  And very often, what we feel to do is not always what’s best for us.  This is the difference between not feeling like cooking in the evening and giving your kids candy for dinner instead.   And then having to deal with the craziness of a wild sugar rush right before bed!

It’s easier in the short term, but not good in the long run.

Now is the time where the practice of our discipline comes into play.

My point is, now is the time to dig our heels and keep going. Now is the time where we remember our why, why do we really even want this in the first place.  Why is it so important to us?

Now is the time where we keep that vision of our end goal in mind while we focus on the first step.

Now for those of you that are either new to goal setting or want a little refresher, I’d like to walk you through a few simple steps that you can follow:

1.  Let’s start by taking out a piece of paper and writing down a list of your goals for the year.  I suggest an average of 10-12, but I have heard of people that write down as many as 500 and as little as 1.  There is no right answer. You do whatever works for you.
2. The next step is to choose one goal to work on.  This goal is “where you want to be.”
3. After you’ve chosen your one goal, ask yourself, why do I want this goal?  This “why” will be your driving force to get you where you want to go, especially when things get tough.
4.  The next thing we need to do is figure out your starting point, “where you are now.”  So for example, I might be able to run 1 kilometer now (my starting point), and my goal might be to run 5 kilometers.
5. After that, we are going to brainstorm all the things you need to do to get you from your starting point to your goal, aka from “where you are now” to “where you want to be.” Maybe I would need to find a running coach, invest in a good pair of running shoes, learn about the proper nutrition and form and best practices to be a successful runner.
6. After this brainstorm, we will organize the steps we listed in the last section.  We will put these steps in the order we need to do them and attach a date and time to them.  Please do not skip these little details.  Holding yourself accountable to a date and time is a crucial part of this process.
7. It’s always helpful to be prepared in life right?  Now while we can’t prepare for everything, it might be helpful to think of some of the obstacles that may get in the way of you achieving your goals, and how you plan to overcome them.  For example, if I feel like I may lack motivation in my running practice, I might consider joining a running club so I have colleagues to help keep me on track.  Be aware that the biggest obstacle to our goals is usually OURSELVES, our self doubt, our imposter syndrome, our busyness etc.
8. And finally, the last and very possibly, the most important step is to ACT!  We can plan all we want, but the results are in the action.  So take that first step and take action!  And then, keep taking action step by step until you reach your goal.

Now goal setting is not a one and done process.  It is a practice, a discipline, something that we need to do regularly to see results.  It is something that changes and needs to be tweaked and revisited from time to time- well actually, yearly, monthly, weekly and daily.

You know that saying, “What gets measured, gets done”

It is so important for us to keep track of our progress and re-evaluate if we still want the same goals as we journey along in life!

So, no matter the month (as I write this, it happens to be February), just remember:

Every  year, every month, every day, every moment, is a chance to start anew.

It is never too late for a fresh start.