Hello and welcome to 2017. It’s been a little while, but I needed some time to get started up again. Not just because I took some time off around the holidays, landed a nasty cold and had to deal with the taxman. Mostly because the first couple of days of the year I focused very much on practical tangible steps to take towards the goals that I had set to myself.
I started on the 1st of January. Even though it was a sleepy and lazy day (as January 1st really should be) I decided that I wanted to do something that would help me reach my 2017 goals. Just to get the year off to a good start. So I went into my office and started clearing things out, creating a lovely work space for myself. I added some plants, put my planner on the wall, got rid of some stuff that I didn’t need anymore… It was an enjoyable day, and it got me excited about the work that lies ahead. It made me jumping at the bit to get started.
Take Slow and Easy, But Take Some Steps towards Reaching Those Goals Every Day
That’s what I committed to doing this year. Every day no matter how tired or sad or happy or busy I find myself to be, I will take even the smallest step towards reaching my goals. Simply taking a moment to file away some receipts (because one of my goals is to have my admin be somewhat more organized) or maybe it’s taking an extra 5 minutes just to meditate and/or cuddle the cat for a while (I find that cuddling the cat counts as meditation). Perhaps it is taking the day off, so I don’t burn-out while working on my goals… every little thing counts, just as long as they are conscious choices.
Taking time off because you feel you need to rest or maybe you need to create some head space, is perfect. Just vegging on the sofa because you “cannot-be-bothered-to-get-up-and-who-is-going-to-make-you-anyway?” is entirely different. It might well be that you need a kick in the bum instead. Considering the benefits of your choices, makes them more likely to contribute to your goals. Even if that choice is to binge watch Netflix for a day…
There Is Always Something Bigger
This is really the first year that I have become very specific about the goals that I set for myself. It’s not just ‘I want to be a little bit more…’ or ‘you know, it would be good if a little bit less…’. I’ve set goals that are tangible and measurable. And I’ve written them down, and note them on my big wall planner too. Every month I will add a little more, so that I can adjust and review as I progress through the year.
After all I can’t oversee the entire year. So I don’t know what’s going to change in my life. I don’t know how the world is going to change. There are so many aspects that may influence how and what I will want to accomplish.
I can always adjust the goals that I set for myself, but by writing things down and holding myself accountable for those goals it makes it easier to actually realistically adjust. It helps me to see what it really is I’m setting out to achieve. Because even those goals that I’ve written down, they are indicative of something bigger that I’m trying to build.
For example, I have written down some numbers. They are numbers, but they are indicative of growth in my business, of financial security. The numbers are just a way to specify what I want and how I see myself achieve that.
So when I set my goals, I thought about what I would want to feel, and what would help me feel that way. In terms of financial freedom, or in terms of health goals, or in terms of whatever…
Should the Goals Be the BIG STUFF?
You have to work it out; what you would love your life to be and feel like, and the things that will make you be able to accomplish that. It is complex to really capture feelings and a senses of being as a destination. We need goals to be tangible, and we need them to be measurable.
In that way we can say to ourselves: hey, well done! It becomes easier as well, to be grateful for the things that you have already achieved. Being more specific about what it is that you’re after, also helps us focus on what it is that we want in life. It’s too easy to get caught up in the day-to-day business of running your life. There’s so much to do. There’s getting ready for work, there is doing the dishes, hoovering the floors, feeding the pets, the kids the husband or wife, or whoever else you want to feed, there’s the shopping that needs to be done, or the bills that need to be paid, and most of us want to have a moment on the sofa to just not have to think and watch something on TV.
So it’s very easy to get distracted by everything that you have to do, and feel you need to do. We forget about what it is that we’re trying to get out of this life, what it is that we’re trying to accomplish, all the more soulful stuff.
Even though some of the goals that I set for myself a business related, or are about overcoming old trauma triggers, they’re still soulful to me. They are ways for me to make my life feel better, to make me a more rounded person, to help me achieve personal growth (because even professional growth to me is personal growth and vice versa) and to become better able to feel both filled with purpose and soul in this world.
Whatever You Call It, Do It!
So, call it a New Year’s resolution if you must, but I’m calling it “taking small steps every single day that will help me grow and become an even more beautiful version of myself”.
On January 1st it was simply cleaning out my office, adding some plants and give myself the right tools for the year to come. So far for 2017, it has meant that each day I’ve made a small adjustment, or taken a small step. All those small steps will built like a tsunami (but a good kind). Like the taxman for example. The taxman usually freaks me out. But this year I decided to meet that challenge head-on, and not wait until the very, very last day to get my paperwork sorted. I even decided to create (and in fact already created) a better system for the coming year so there is less to organize next time the taxman comes a knocking.
Small steps, every day.
If you feel tired, maybe this step is to take a day off. Maybe that is a step towards your goal. To allow yourself some time to rest so you don’t burn-out. Or maybe the step towards your goal is to find a quote or an article, something that is going to just fire you up again. Because maybe you kind of lost your innate motivation in the daily hustle and bustle. Sometimes the most important steps you can take towards reaching your goal is to just stand still for a moment and enjoy the view. Take time to actually look what you’ve already accomplished, and how wonderful your life already is. Be grateful for what you’ve already got. Be proud of yourself for already reaching those goals and reaching those heights.
Take a moment to reflect on that that will help you. Please realize I’m not saying that you should always be working, working, working. Just make the effort to do something every single day that will help you to keep going. Whether that is actually clearing out your office and creating a space where you can work, or if it’s clearing out your kitchen cabinets because you really want to eat healthier, or it’s actually giving into feeling tired and spending the day on the sofa with a magazine and a cup of tea…
Whatever will help you achieve your goals, go do it! And have fun! That is the most important factor when we talk about reaching your goals.
Good luck!
Originally published at www.holdthefluff.com on January 18, 2017.
Originally published at medium.com