So that you don’t have to deal with my daily lists cluttering your feed, I will now be tagging these using #I’ll be glad I did it when I’m done. Feel free to add these to your ignore list if you so desire.
Goals for January 5th
Professional
Send data to math faculty (Completed at 1:00 pm)
Review and analyze budget standing -> Moving to a later date because this egg somehow forget that the most recent pay period doesn’t post until 1/10 ♀️
Create draft presentation on best practices in remote tutoring -> Moving to tomorrow because some other productive tasks ended up taking precedence ‼️
Academic
Spend 1-hour studying Python in the context of data science (Scheduled for approx. 6:30 pm)
Purchase and download textbooks for Spring (Completed at 3:00 pm)
Create a draft daily study schedule (Completed at 2:30 pm)
Personal
Take a 1-hour walk and stay off social media the entire time (Completed at 11:30 am)
Spend 1-hour reading for leisure (Scheduled for approx. 7:30 pm)
Cook a proper dinner (I’m thinking stir-fry with noodles or curry over rice) (Scheduled for approx. 5:30 pm)
Bonus Content: Last night, my order for applewood perches came in and lemme tell you, these dang flightless birds already LOVE them. Just look at the dang floofball:
In my time away, I’ve learned that I’m especially bad at following through with my personal goals without someone to hold me accountable. As such, I’m going to try sharing my major daily and/or weekly goals here as a means of holding myself accountable. As with everything, we’ll see if this sticks.
Today’s goals…
Spend 1 hour learning Python in the context of data science (Due to a major energy crash, I was unable to complete this)
Take a long walk (minimum 1 hour) and stay off social media the entire time (Completed at 11:30 am)
Spend 1 hour reading for pleasure (I’m in the middle of The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and am really enjoying it so far) (Completed as of 7:15 pm)
Post an announcement for my employees reminding them to submit and revise their spring availability (Completed at 2:00 pm)
So it’s 2018.. HOW IS IT 2018? Wasn’t it just 2015? Anyway, I digress. Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2017 didn’t suck all of the life out of you and you still have something left to give 2018… For me personally, 2017 had some ups and downs, but I think I am looking forward to what 2018 has to offer, because I have figured out little ways to stay on top of the game.
New year new you right? I want to start the year off by talking about how to set goals for the new year (or in general, if you aren’t really a New Year New Me type of person). Personally, setting goals for the year allows me to stay focused throughout the year and work towards what is important to me. What you must realize is that even though you may have a set of goals you are working towards, life doesn’t always follow the straight and narrow path, so leave room for change and diversions. That being said, here are some tips I use to set my goals - both personally and professionally
Think broadly - Figure out which aspects of your life need improvement - When you are setting goals for the year, you should definitely be thinking broadly in a way that looks at various aspects of your life - your spiritual life, relationships (familial, platonic and romantic), your career, your finances, your health and more specifically your mental health / well being. Take each aspect and think about what you want to achieve. Do you want to save a specific amount of money? Do you want to improve your relationship with your family? your spouse? your girlfriends? Pick 3 - 4 things you want to focus on and figure out how you can set goals to improve those aspects of your life
Write it down - Be specific! Make sure you are putting down specific goals, that way you are more accountable to yourself when it comes to evaluation. If you just write ‘save more’, at the end of the year, if you have saved 10ghc more than you did last year will you consider that an achievement? Be specific with your goals - ‘Save 70% more than last year’, ‘Savings account should be at xxx,xxx by the end of the year’, ‘Save xxx per month’. When you are writing down your goals think about HOW you are going to achieve them. If you write down ‘Be a positive person’, how are you going to achieve this? Be specific! Think about ‘Practice gratitude everyday - write down one thing I am grateful for each day’, or ‘Do not swear when drivers cut me off on the road’ or ‘Stop complaining about work’. These specific goals are easier to achieve and in the long run will get you closer to where you need to be.
Measure yourself - Take the time every quarter to evaluate yourself and to see if you are achieving anything. There is no point in writing down goals and tucking them away under the bed for the year. It is important to constantly refer back to your goals to see how you are faring. Hold yourself accountable! Sometimes, you will realise that you may need to adjust some goals, especially those that are too broad and may be difficult to achieve in the short term. Keep a reminder close by to constantly be aware that you have something you need to achieve!
Reflection & Evaluation - You should take the time (usually at the end of the year) to write down what you have achieved (even if they do not directly pertain to your foals) and which goals you were unable to achieve. Now the fun part, you should take a minute to figure out why you were unable to achieve certain goals and what you can do different to achieve them next year. There will be some goals that you probably didn’t touch at all and there will be some that you halfheartedly attempted to conquer. Figure out WHY.
Some goals to consider for 2018
Practice gratitude daily - write down 1 thing you are grateful for everyday
Drink 3 Litres of water per day
Excersice for at least 20 mins everyday
Read a book for at least 20 mins everyday
Check on a friend you don’t speak to often at least once a month
Save at least 50% of your income
Limit alcohol intake - once / twice a week only
Take 1 hour per week for self care - face mask, pedicure, paint your nails
I hope this helps someone, I have been using these tips to set goals for myself in the last 2 years and I think we are making some progress. If you want to chat specifically about somethings you would like to achieve and how, send me an email at [email protected], I am always happy to help!
We are consumed daily with so much noise that we can’t take the time to think. Think about our goals, plans and dreams for our futures. We are inundated with so much that’s nothing but noise. I call noise anything that doesn’t allow you to focus on what you should be focusing.
We have to carve out time for ourselves to just think. My best thinking and ideas happen while I’m walking. I love…
If your only personality traits are framed around needing more money/needing more prestige, what happens when you get it? You’ll be fucking lost lmao. You can get to your destination at the same time, but with more enjoyment/fulfillment if you simply let yourself live life.
I don’t really make resolutions, but I have goals for 2017 and if I put them out there in the universe, maybe I’ll keep them.
Stop letting other people dictate my choices.(I have long been stuck in the oldest child mindset and I let other people dictate and manipulate me into doing things I don’t want to do even when I know it’s happening.) I acutally did a pretty good job of keeping this one…sort of.
Be more conscious of what I’m eating and drinking so I can make healthier choices. I started off strong with this one and then I dunno. So I’m trying again in the new year.
Change my hair and wardrobe - I can totally reflect my personality and still be professional.
Walk - at least 365 miles - that may mean a mile a day and may mean doubling up some days.
Take steps to do things for me. Okay, this one was actually a rousing success! I took foster classes which is something I’ve wanted to do for YEARS and I started working out with a trainer.
Be more financially fit.
Stick to a budget!
Make a dent in my student loans not nearly as much of a dent as Iwould’ve liked.
SAVEI mean a lil bit?
Make conscious choices to take care of myself
Pick up a new hobby. I started working out so that’s definitely a hobby.
Okay, so apparently I’m absolutely awful at keep these goals.
Everyone has a version of themselves that they’d like to be.
Someone who for instance, wakes up early on time; someone who gets work done fast; has enough free time in the world to pursue hobbies; avoids procrastination and so on.
Listing goals like this is child’s play:
1. I want to be rich
2. I want to wake up early
3. I want to work out everyday
4. I want to get good grades in my classes
But after listing it comes the problem. The first half of the issue has been tackled. But now what?
How do I work towards that goal now?
Let me teach you how to quantify goals.
There’s no point in having goals if you can’t quantify them.
I’ll use the exact four goals above to show you what I mean.
1. “I want to be rich.”
What does “rich” mean to you? What amount of money is “rich” to you? The amount isn’t the same for everyone. By simply saying that, you’re going nowhere because there’s no specifications.
Here’s an alternative:
“By the end of 2022, I should have X amount in my savings account. I have come to this amount by calculating my expenses and income. In order to live the lifestyle I want, I should have X amount in my savings.”
This is a better plan. Now you have something to actually work towards, a number, and not just an ambiguous “rich.”
2. “I want to wake up early.”
A lot of people, including myself, struggle to wake up early. How do you achieve the goal of waking up early?
Let me share my own example with you. I tend to get up at 8 am. My goal is to wake up at 5:30 am.
I have already established my main goal. Now I’m going to create steps for it.
I know that I can’t jump from 8 am to 5:30 am, because my body won’t be able to take it.
So I create short goals. Achievable goals.
For the next 10 days, I’ll get up at 7:30 am.
10 days after that, 7 am.
10 days after that, 6:30 am.
And so on.
By creating steps to my goal, I now have a strategy ready. I have quantified my goals.
The same applies to working out and getting good grades.
3. “I want to work out consistently”
= “I want to work out at least four times a week.”
4. “I want to get good grades”
= “I want X GPA by the end of this semester.”
Visualising goals is easy.
Strategising them is challenging.
Executing them is challenging.
By strategising your goals, you’re able to create a game plan. By creating a game plan, you’re able to follow through that plan. Execution then becomes a breeze.
The more you cram on your plate, the more you’ll stress.
“Getting your life together” - if this thought excites you, you may overplan and fail; if it burdens you, you may procrastinate and never start.
So how do you start?
How do you get your life together without feeling like every day is like clockwork?
In short, these are the kind of things that would help you achieve your goals:
1. Making a list of “big” goals (career move; applying for colleges; moving out, etc.)
2. Making a list of “small” goals (eating healthy; working out; meditating)
3. Writing down a timeline for the same (“by the end of the year I will have finished the applications for college; by the end of the month I will have meditated for at least 5 minutes everyday).
4. Keeping a diary to mark the progress. (“I achieved my small goals in September; I’m halfway through my college applications/ big goals as planned.)
5. Accounting for mistakes. Of course you’ll go off track. Always keep a buffer period of a week or two, just so that it doesn’t stress you out.
6.Accomplishing your small tasks weekly. Rather than setting a daily goal, set a weekly goal. (“This week, I’ll workout 5 days out of 7 days. This gives me 2 days of a rest in case I get tired earlier than expected.”)
7.Talk to your friends and family as you achieve every weekly goal. It’s nice for your circle to know that you’re working hard to trying to do good.
8. Take a break every now and then. Go for a pottery class. Go paint for a while. Take a walk in the park. At least once a week, rejuvenate yourself.
9. If you’re someone who needs to be pushed, do this with a friend or family member!
10. Remember to enjoy the process, even if you don’t like it. Don’t let yourself think that you hate this or it’s too hard. Tell yourself you’re doing a good job and that you’ll get there soon. Having a positive mindset changes a lot.
Usually I share this post on the first posting day of the new year, but because of last week’s special share, it got pushed to the second post. This is the time I talk about what I intend to accomplish this year, in several aspects of my life. Even with the way 2020 went, I still have plans and goals for 2021.
But let’s quickly talk about goal-setting in general, in case you have a desire to set…
It’s time for the last post of the year! Wow, can you believe it? Also… GOOD RIDDANCE.
ANYWAY. Now is the time I like to look back on my goals from the beginning of the year as well as what I managed to accomplish over the last twelve months. And even though I have shifted into being more of a books blog, this post encompasses all my goals – writing, personal, AND reading.
