Goal-getting!

Goals differ from person to person but that doesn't make them more or less important. Some may choose to focus on five goals while others may choose fifteen. I am the latter! I push myself to try to achieve all of them but that seldom happens, much to my dismay.

Goals also have different lifespans, some may need to be continually worked on throughout one's life and others can be achieved within a day. Most of my goals for 2020 cannot be achieved within one year but I can definitely make some progress towards them.

Tips for setting goals  

1. Make an action plan
An action plan breaks up the mammoth task into small, manageable steps. It allows you to reduce the pressure you or others put on you to achieve a goal and it prevents you from feeling overwhelmed. 

You can physically write steps out to tick off (which is very satisfying). Or you can keep a list in the back of your mind that you can refer to. 

2. Track your progress
I used to set myself countless goals at the beginning of the year, but by the end of it, I had no idea how far I had come. So this year, I decided to change that. I print a calendar of each month and I pin it in my cupboard. Then I use different coloured pens to track each goal, for example, blue is for drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day and pink is for when I exercise. I am a visual person so this works extremely well for me and it allows me to reflect on the month when it is over and see if I came any closer to achieving my goals. 

You can also be a bit more modern than I am and use an app to track your progress. I recommend Loop Habit Tracker or Repeat Habit Tracker. Their interfaces are very accessible and aesthetically pleasing and it is motivating to see the progress you have made in the form of a graph. 

3. Set a time limit
Setting a time limit forces you to work effectively and use your time efficiently. It allows you to feel a great sense of satisfaction when you achieve your goal under or within the time limit you set. 

As Parkinson's Law states, "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."  So if I set a shorter time limit for a goal or step, I will be more efficient and still be able to complete it within the time. If I make the time limit much longer, the task will become more monotonous and I will end up being inefficient with my time.

4. Set a goal with a partner
Making a goal with a friend or partner is a great way to get to know each other and share another part of yourself. It holds you accountable because you don't want to let that person down. Whether it is going to gym together or holding a competition about who reads the most books, it spices up a habit or activity that looked rather unappealing at first. Even sharing your goals with somebody else can inspire you to explore other interests and challenge yourself.

A Few of My Goals for the Year

Achieve my front splits and middle splits

I am a dancer, so being flexible is quite important to the routines we learn. At the moment, if I stretch very well and endure quite a lot of pain, I am able to do my front splits. However, when the dance routine is fast and we have to drop into the splits quickly, I find it rather difficult. 

By the end of 2020, I want to be able to drop down into my splits without any effort or pain. Now this will not happen overnight, as much as I would like it to. So I am trying to stretch at least once a week to improve my flexibility. Middle splits is another story and I don't think it will happen this year but if I can get closer to the floor, I will consider it an accomplishment.

Read fifty-two books

The first and probably most important goal for me is about reading. Last year I made a goal to read fifty books and I achieved it! It went extremely well except for the last few weeks where I had to read about eight books. It was really interesting to look back on the books that I read and see which ones were memorable and which ones weren't. I will write a separate post about books that I recommend and really enjoyed.

So this year, I have set the task to read fifty-two books. Hopefully I will be able to achieve it easily this year and allow me to challenge myself more next year. So far I have read sixteen books and I am sure that number will rise quite quickly because of lock down and not being able to go outside. This is good because once I get back to school it will only be a couple of weeks before exams and I probably won't have to read as often as I would like to. 

Stay up to date

This year I want to read the news more and stay up to date about what is happening around the world. My parents are always quizzing me about political and social events occurring and nagging me to read the news more. I finally had the last straw of being unable to answer their questions so I started reading the news. 

When I banned myself from scrolling through Instagram during the week, I found that I had a lot of time on my hands. So I started using this time to read the news instead. I am still doing that and it really is rather fun being able to tell my parents interesting facts and answer their questions.

What's great about goals is they allow you to challenge your limits, both physically and mentally. You are able to discover parts of yourself you didn't know about and you can learn more about your friends. So I challenge you to find that old notebook, get writing and start working!