It’s all about the Goals baby

Welcome to the 2^nd half of the year, like literally, half the year has already passed. I don’t know about you, but I certainly have no clue where this year went! I will say, this year has been… eventful… and perhaps getting caught up in the throes (or should we say throws?) of life, I have gotten away from the vision and goals that I created this year. As it is now the 2^nd half the year, now is a perfect time to revisit those goals, and while NOT beating ourselves up, evaluate where we currently are and make modifications. Let’s not look at “Oh, I haven’t done that,” or “I’ve failed,” “I gave up a long time ago,” “What goals?” Let’s take a look at what we’ve accomplished and make revisions from there. Let’s change it to “I haven’t done that yet,” “That didn’t quite work out, time for Plan B,” “That realistically wasn’t going to work out, lesson learned,” and “Whoo hoo goals to achieve and conquer!”

 

 

If it was only that easy right? It’s so easy to get caught up in life’s distractions. Little things add up, time passes and then we wonder what the heck happened?! I made my goal list at the end of last year/beginning of this year. If you’re anything like me, it looks more like a wish list: Hit the gym more, spend more time with friends and family, take work more seriously, the list goes on and on. I made 8 categories and made 3-4 things within each category. I should have realized that I was setting myself up. I got caught up in the goal making business and wasn’t realistic. Let’s do the math: 8 categories x say 4 goals each = 32 goals to achieve in a year. That’s almost 1 goal per week! Granted, some of these goals were super easy and some I knew it was planning stages/get the ball rolling/definite long-term stuff. I’m gonna get real with you and share with you my list that I made:

Professional Goals

• Get back into the trade shows
• Talk to Rose/Erin/Na’Dene about the blitz and other opportunities
• Take Rose/Erin/Na’Dene each individually out to a mentor/QA lunch/coffee
• Use LinkedIn better and much more frequently
• Work on developing business plan for [Silver & Gold Events]
• Talk to/take Haley out to lunch/coffee to ask her how she’s gotten started

Social Goals

• Meetup Groups: go when can
• Church – NEED to go/watch online/possibly study groups
• Visit Tina/Willy/Hannah more [my aunt/uncle/cousin]
• Write Nick [my cousin]
• Email PJ more [my best friend]
• Blogging – hospitality adventure and maybe other one [other one being this one! I did make Crescent Moon & Stars an accomplishment!]

Planning Goals

• Redevelop system for dry erase board, especially since boys will be around more
• Same and get better at using planner
• Use all the printables from Dating Divas, Healthy Moments, Warrior Queen, Household 101, Pinterest
• Get all technological and professional memberships, products, warranty dates and renewals written down and plan $ to get them done/renewed
• Use Household 101 printables for household use

Relationship Goals

• At least 2 date nights (1 in home, 1 out of home)
• Work on the home binder together
• Sit down and write out a real budget, relationship goals, plan for house, plans for boys, plan for parents, plan for holidays
• Use Household 101 printables to re-evaluate household chores/needs and write out a plan of action together

Health Goals

• Gym
• Find accountability partner(s) – either close or online/blog
• Walk at least 30 mins around apt (or mall if too cold/hot)
• Use the Kinect (get better stabling/better lighting?)
• See if bike is still good in Ladson and bike with Tina and Hannah whenever can
• Decrease the soda intake, increase the tea intake
• Work on food portions, introducing new and better foods

Being Generous Goals

• Tithing – Seacoast does a lot of good work
• Volunteer at least 1x a month at the VA?
• Get back on track with For My Troops – care packages (don’t overdo it this year)

Creative Goals

• Jewelry making – currently just sitting around the house
• Scrapbooking – also taking up room + helps against making it seem impossible to do it all in one sitting
• Talk to Tina and Hannah about craft nights every other month, maybe switching places each time?
• Start taking photos again (get Geek Squad to check out camera?)
• At least 2 brand new recipes a month (write any notes in margins of that cookbook/recipe notebook)

Mental Goals

• Read at least 1 fiction, 1 religious (non-daily devotional), 1 classic a month
• Word searches – dig out and do at least 1 a day
• Coloring Mandalas/Pinterest pages from Mom – at least 1 a week (1 completed/full page)

 

Yes, clearly I lost my damn mind haha.

 

Yes, clearly I lost my damn mind haha. Click To Tweet

 

*Yes, go ahead and tweet that*

 

Even as tiny as some of these may seem [to me], that’s still a lot of work to manage with a full-time job, juggling 2.5 households (our own, the kids and helping my parents out when I can), trying to continue bettering myself and my career, deciding to take on the blogging world… the list goes on. Needless to say, A LOT of this didn’t get accomplished and upon reflection, I now know exactly why.

• I did too many, they were small things, but too many things can add up and be just as overwhelming.
• I wasn’t realistic about my goals.
• I didn’t set time limits, benchmarks or check points for any of these goals.

Simply put, I wasn’t smart about my goals and I didn’t use SMART goals. What are SMART goals you ask? Easy.

Specific – the 5 W’s:  Who/What/When/Where/Why + How
Measurable – how it is checkable à how much, how many, by when
Achievable – are you willing and able to do it and is it reasonable>
Relevant – applicable to the long-term goal and what is the reason for doing it?
Timely –  how relevant to the sense of time à are there deadlines and what is the sense of urgency?

Mary over at Uncustomary Art and Sarah over at Sarah Starrs had a fantastic webinar called  How to Make Big Things Happen Without Hating Your Life. Totally. Awesome. These ladies were great and the workbook + tips is equally amazing. Check it out here

 

So I wasn’t all that smart with my goal planning because I was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too vague.

Hit the gym? How often? [I know where since I go to Planet Fitness] With who? [I know why of course: need to get healthy, lose this unnecessary and bad weight (approx. 80lbs needs to go), get out of the households, stress reliever, actually become socially present in the adult world (haha)].

Write my cousin Nick? How often?

How was I going to use LinkedIn more professional to network to help further my career? How often was I going to do that?

As you can see (and if your mind still isn’t blown by what I thought I could fairly easily achieve), I actually set myself up unintentionally for failure. No wonder everytime I looked at my list I felt a little depressed! I had the best of intentions, but like C.S. Lewis said “The best intentions leads straight to hell.” In this case, the hell is what I unintentionally created upon myself.

 

So what now? Well, it’s time to evaluate, replan, rework, relabel, scratch off, learn from the lessons and rock the 2^nd half of the year.   After gaining some wisdom over the past few years when it comes to “That Time,” cough cough January 1^st, I learned to make goals vs. resolutions. In my opinion, a goal is a course of action that has been thought out, decided on and then acted on with checkpoints. A resolution is a mindset. You get resolved to do something (or like me, get stubborn about it.)   I feel that resolutions are a waste of time and are SOOOO much easier to break.

 

 

They say it takes 21 days to make a habit (3 weeks). Even with that, the mindset of being resolved to stick to your guns and not give in can be overwhelming. The distractions, the temptations, life throws curveballs, simply too tired, lose interest… the list goes on and on, but the end result is the resolutions becomes null and void. With goals, it’s like a good movie. There’s action, there’s drama, there’s comedy, hopefully a bit of romance thrown in and in the end, a happy ending comes about aaaaaand that’s scene. It all works out in the end.

 

Goals are like a good movie.There’s action, drama, comedy, bit of romance thrown in & in the end, a happy ending Click To Tweet

 

One of my favorite movies and one of my favorite quotes henceforth, The A Team with Liam Neeson (love that man btw): “I love when a plan comes together.” Who doesn’t?! In the end, we all just want to feel accomplished! Like winners! Like we rock that success and  come bask in the awesomeness! But like me, if we don’t make the correct goals, the right action plan, it can all come crashing down and we typically beat ourselves up much more than we need to. Ok, so we didn’t make the best plan or it didn’t work out so, well time to cowboy up, shake off and re-try again. It’s when we get in that resolve that we failed is when we truly experience failure. Don’t give up!

 

It’s when we get in that resolve that we failed is when we truly experience failure. Click To Tweet

 

So, over the month of July, together we’re going look at where we are now, what we have accomplished and what we’re going to accomplish. No beating ourselves up. No failures, just lessons learned. I’ve decided to break it down into categories like I did earlier this year. The following categories are:

• Planning
• Health
• Mental
• Creative
• Social
• Professional
• Relationship
• Self-love
• Generosity

Pick and choose what is right for you. Some areas you may be rocking and keep doing your thing! Don’t 2^nd guess yourself if it’s working out right now. Let’s focus on the areas that need help.

 

So to get the ball rolling…

 

Planning

Something that is easy AND hard at the same time.

Here I want you to take some time out for yourself. Go to a quiet place, shut the door away from noises, play some music that will help you relax (if you want something non-lyrical and soothing, I suggest the Noisli website and/or the app. You get to make your own background noise with 16 different noises. It’s honestly been helping me focus to write out blog posts! No joke!). Mediate if you want to, color or doodle if it helps. I want you to focus on the 5 Ws – Who/What/When/Where/Why. Once you determine the purpose of what you want to achieve, then you can focus more on the How – how you’re gonna create the action plan to achieve those 5 Ws. I’d like you to write them down, preferably someplace meaningful to you yet where you’re gonna be able to see it. If you’re in a big household, the fridge may not be the best place (but then again, it could be! Family and friends can be great help and accountability. Your decision!). If you have colored pens or markers, write it in a different color than what you’re used to (ie not black) and that’s gonna grab your attention such as : why did I write that in sky blue or hot pink?  Try to keep everything all together as some goals now may turn into other goals later or you may need to tweak your goals later and having all of your previous notes may help you decide on a new or better course of action. It’ll also help remind you to why you want to achieve the goals you’ve created in the 1st place.

 

I hope that you’re excited to join me on this journey. I’ll be doing this right along beside you! If you’re comfortable with it, share with me what your goals are. I’m always reachable by email and social media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr). Don’t worry if you feel that you’re getting “too real” with me. Life is real. Don’t feel ashamed of it or fear it. We’re all in this boat together! Use the hashtag #IRockGoals. I can’t wait to see what we’re going to accomplish.

 

#IRockGoals Click To Tweet

 

Let’s shine bright together!

<3 Jenn