Goal-Getter's Guide: Simple Steps for the New Year

Begin with Journaling

Journaling has many benefits. Amongst the best of them is that it can help reduce stress/ anxiety and improve mental health. Through journaling you can put all of your thoughts, feelings, and ideas into writing, which makes soul-searching a little easier. Through journaling you can easily discover what’s making you happy and what is no longer serving you, making planning that much more simple and clear.

Set Measurable Goals

We encourage you to dream as big as you want, but in order to make these dreams come true, think about what the beginning steps are to accomplish these dreams. Start small to make sure you’re not overwhelmed from the beginning, this will make sticking with it easier.

When you’re thinking about what these first steps are, think about how you can measure progress, for example, if your goal is to run a marathon, your measurable goal can be to start running 2 times per week to build endurance. Thinking about trying to tackle the entire 26.2 miles will feel overwhelming but if you focus on building towards the race a few miles at a time, all of a sudden it doesn’t feel so impossible.

Organize Your Year into Segments

Whether all you have is one big goal or you have a bunch of smaller ones, the best approach is to not try to do it all at once. Instead try to divide your year into segments and divide the goals into each segment. If any goal is big enough that it’ll take the whole year or more than a year, divide it into the smaller steps you’ll take to accomplish it and assign them to different segments into the year. The year can easily be divided into trimesters and as mentioned before, keep writing everything down, so you can come back to it when needed.

Celebrate Every Single Accomplishment

Because you deserve it! Make sure to give yourself the deserved credit for every little step that you’ve accomplished, at the end of the day those accomplishments that seem small are what’s getting you closer to the finish line.

Have Fun with it and Don’t be too Hard on Yourself

Remember that what’s most important is how you’re feeling and if any goal becomes overwhelming, or changes into something you don’t want anymore, don’t be afraid to pause and come back to it later in life, or to just ditch it altogether. This doesn’t mean you’re a quitter, on the contrary, it shows you aren’t afraid to put yourself first.