New Year, New You–Goal Setting

The holidays are finally over … and some of us may be experiencing the two-day New Year’s Eve “hangover”. Some may be totally relieved it’s over, and some may be slightly sad because the holiday season festivities have officially come to an end.

Since I LOVE Christmas, I am typically sad that the season is over. I’m sad because there are no more parties or fun foods. I feel sad while putting away Christmas decorations and taking down the lights (not going to lie, I cried a little while doing so this year). I really do feel a sort of magic in the air at this time of year and I don’t want to see it end!

However, there is one thing that gets me through packing up Christmas… NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS AND GOAL SETTING!!!  

I love planning just as much as I love Christmas. I think it’s so exciting to have a clean slate, new goals to go after and taking time to daydream about what you want your coming year to look like. The beginning of a new year is a perfect time to have an official restart and refresh-and after what most of us consumed the past couple days, my guess is we all need a serious refresh.

Sometimes we don’t know where to start, and most of the time we limit our belief in how far we can actually go. We limit our dreams and play small, making sure we don’t go too far out of our comfort zone. That is exactly what we DON’T want to do… We want to go “balls to the wall”, dreaming up our ideal lives. The whole point is to stretch yourself, try to do something that you didn’t think was possible, and then work for it. If you do this, once you accomplish that goal, which you will, you will have this overwhelming feeling of “holy s^%it I actually did it!”. Which will (hopefully) then be followed by jumping, screaming and your own little dance party. Tony Robbins says it best: “If you’re not growing you’re dying”-morbid, but true. 

Now how do we do it?…

…I’m going to walk you through HOW I set my goals each new year:

1) Dream big-and think as if you already have it

Now this is the most fun part. This is when we set aside our fears and limiting beliefs, and then let our creative side take charge. Allow your excited inner child to run wild. Think about what your ideal life would be like and get super detailed with it. Ask yourself the following:

• “What do I do for a living?”
• “Where do I live?”
• “What does my house look like?”
• “What is the style and feel of my house?”
• “Where do I work?”
• “What is my office environment like?”
• “How do I get to work each day?”
• “What type of car do I drive?”
• “What does ‘a day in the life’ look like for me?”
• “What do I look like?”
• “What am I wearing?”
• “What is my lifestyle?”
• “Who am I friends with?”
• “How do I feel every day?”  

This sounds like a lot, and it is. But, it’s not like you’re writing a report for a teacher and being graded. You’re DREAMING and WRITING up your ideal life!!! It is supposed to be fun! 

While your dreaming up this new life you’re going to live, the most important part is to DREAM BIG!! And once you think you have dreamed big, go bigger. This is something I personally have to constantly work on. I think I am dreaming big and shooting for the moon, but I never fully let go and dream too big because I’m afraid. I am afraid I won’t achieve it, I am afraid of what will happen to my life if I do achieve it, I am afraid of what others will think. When I find myself falling into those thought patterns, I have to talk myself back up and sit with the uncomfortable and talk myself up.

Don’t play small. Allow yourself to want the absolute best for yourself. You will never know what will happen if you never try.  

2) Write down your goals every day

There have been numerous studies that prove if you write down your goals, you are more likely to achieve those goals compared to others who never write it down.

A recent psychology study from a professor at Dominican University found that “those who write down their goals regularly are 42% more likely to achieve their goals.” 

This just goes to show that taking that next action step of writing it down, is super powerful stuff. If you write it down just once a year that is huge. But, I suggest that you write it down EVERY DAY.

I was SO the girl who did everything to prepare for the new year, dreamed big, and wrote down big goals. But, then I would barely look at those goals again until March or April. It wasn’t until I forced myself to start writing my goals down daily that I realized it helped me put my thoughts into action, achieving them WAY faster. It’s not rocket science, so the real question is why aren’t we all doing this?!

3) Create a vision board, or keep images of your goals somewhere you can see them every day

I am a very visual person. I need to see the example and how it works, I need to see someone’s face to really remember them, so naturally a vision board really helps me see my dreams in true color. (For those of you who don’t know, a “dream board” or “vision board” is a collage of images, pictures and affirmations of one’s dreams and desires, designed to serve as a source of inspiration and motivation, and to use the law of attraction to attain goals)

EXAMPLE: When I am dreaming of my ideal lifestyle, I go on Pinterest, look for images that really resonate with me, and print them out and stick them on my board. The board is displayed somewhere I can see it every day (like on the back of my closet door, or at my desk). Looking at those pictures each day gets me so excited, to the point where it feels as if that is already my life…

4) Chunk your big goals into smaller quarterly goals

This is taking your goal-setting to the next level. Once I started practicing this, I noticed that my goals and dreams were coming true SO much faster than I had ever imagined they could. A common and helpful way to chunk down your goals is to look at the next 90 days and write down goals or projects you can complete within that time, getting you closer to what you want to achieve.

EXAMPLE: A common goal in the new year is to get in better shape. This goal has a lot of moving parts: meal prepping, starting to work out and move more, eating healthier foods, and cutting bad foods out. So break down your first 90 days. What are some small goals you can begin working towards? Maybe you start with cutting out sugar, and switching out white carbs for whole wheat ones. Or maybe your goal is to get to yourself moving two times a week to start. What small projects do you need to put into place and accomplish in order to get there? Write them down then every month start to implement that next small step. (Depending where you are in your health journey this planning can vary drastically)

5) Always be grateful

I love the saying, “Be in an attitude of gratitude”. I’m not sure if that’s the exact saying, but it’s something like that and I love it.

Gratitude is like the fast forward button for our future goals. When we are gracious while growing, we are in a state of abundance, attracting more abundance to us. If you are going after your goals, but are thinking about everything you DON’T have, you are in a state of lack which just brings your more situations where you are lacking what you need. 

The last thing you want to do is to go after a goal and think that you will only be happy once you hit that goal. If you have that mindset you will never be happy because you will always be moving onto the next goal. 

Counting your blessings at night is a real thing. Every night I write down in my journal what I am grateful for that day (it can be as small as a great jam out session you had in the car, or as big as getting a promotion at work). It’s a good practice to get into so we always remember the great things that happen to us, big and small.

So let’s get after our 2019 goals. Dream big dreams; write them down; print them out and paint ourselves a picture; chunk it down into small achievable goals; and always remember to stop and give thanks and be truly grateful for all we have ALREADY been given.

You’ve got this!  

-Emily

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