New Year, New Goals
Wow, it has been a WHILE since I last blogged. Sometimes life just happens, you know?
If I’m being perfectly honest, life just got busy, and my spare time was spent doing lots of outdoor activities and spending time with friends and family. I wasn’t able to prioritize blog writing but I definitely enjoyed living in the moment. After all, this blog is all about having fun and enjoying a balanced lifestyle.
Speaking of prioritizing, this is a perfect time of year to talk about setting goals for the upcoming year. A lot of people create “resolutions” for the new year, but I prefer to focus on setting specific goals instead. What’s the difference? I guess for me I see a resolution as being more of a broad promise to yourself to do or not do something. On the other hand, I see a goal as a specific objective that can be worked towards by acting upon it.
At the start of each new year, I spend time thinking about my goals for the year, both on a personal and professional level. I break down these goals and look at them on a monthly and weekly basis to help keep me accountable. Achieving goals takes time and it’s important to take small steps every day to work towards these goals.
You’re probably thinking, the new year has already started, how can I still set goals for the year? The truth is, you can set goals whenever you want, there’s no such thing as a bad time to start thinking about goals for your future.
Here are a few goal setting tips that I use to set myself up for success.
Make Your Goals Measurable
To make your goals easier to stick to, a best practice is to make them measurable by quantifying your goal. We’ve all probably heard the concept of a SMART goal before - specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. These are honestly really great guidelines for setting goals. I think I’ve always made goals that are attainable and relevant for me, but this year a big focus has been on making them more specific and measurable in a given time period. The more you’re able to quantify your goal, the easier it is to achieve.
Leverage Previous Data
To help quantify your goals, a great idea is to reflect on previous data, if you have any. For example, in order to get an idea of my cycling goal for 2022 I took a look at my 2021 outdoor biking kms from my fitbit data to help gauge what I want my goal to be for 2022. If you log your workouts or runs, bike rides, etc. in any fitness app this would be great data to reflect on when you’re setting fitness-related goals for this year.
Seasonal Goals
Another great idea is to have different goals for different seasons or times of the year. For example, you may have goals for different forms of exercise in summer vs. winter, like going skating or cross country skiing a certain number of times per week in the winter and cycling or running a certain number of times per week in the summer. Rather than just saying you want to “get outside and be more active” in 2022 you can get more specific on what activities you want to do and how often you want to do them (measurable).
Use Goal Categories
It can seem a little overwhelming to sit down with a pen and paper and just start listing goals for the year. To give your thoughts more focus, try breaking your goals down into subcategories. For example, I set activity goals, wellness goals, professional goals, lifestyle goals, financial goals, and behavioral goals.
Here are some examples of activity-based goals I have set for myself for 2022:
1,100 km of outdoor cycling in the summer
30 rounds of golf in the summer
Biking at least 2 times per week (indoor bike in winter, outdoor in summer)
Read 20 books in the year (in 2021 I read 18 books, so decided to increase the goal)
Complete at least 6 beachbody on demand programs (most are 3 week programs)
Stretching for 15 minutes 2 times per week
Decrease social media time - Facebook and Instagram totaling max 30 minutes per day
At least 1 lesson of French on Duolingo app every day
Holding Yourself Accountable
There are a lot of ways you can help hold yourself accountable to your goals! Here are a few I have found to be effective:
Write them down. And not just on a note in your phone or a place you never look. Give your goals the attention they deserve. Write them on a piece of paper and pin it to your fridge with a magnet, or use a portable whiteboard to write your goals down. Think about a place in your house where you’ll be able to see your goals to reflect on them often, ensuring you don’t just forget about them after a month.
Break your goals down by week and month. For example, I use a whiteboard to create checkboxes for my workouts and activities on a weekly basis, and check my accomplishments off as I go through the week. On the other half of the whiteboard, I list the goals for the month - so for example number of books to read that month, etc. I’m definitely a visual person and love feeling accomplished after checking off my goals for the week.
Take proactive action. For example, one of my goals in 2022 is to spend less time on social media. I’ve gone ahead and set a time cap on my phone for a maximum of 30 minutes total between Instagram and Facebook in a day. This prevents me from mindless scrolling that I really don’t need. I also have a “downtime” set on my phone where between 10pm and 7am all my social media apps are locked so I can’t use them right before bed or right when I wake up. This leads to a better sleep and a more productive wake-up.
I hope these tips and tricks for goal setting help set you up for success as you think about your own goals for 2022 and beyond!
