If you’ve been here long, you know I’m a big fan of goal setting, productivity planning, and pretty much anything that enables me to write lists with color-coordinated pens.
As you have probably guessed, the past year hasn’t been my best, struggling with low energy and mental illness following a voluntary surgery. Whenever you don’t see blog posts, it’s almost certain I’m not putting much effort toward monthly planning or goal setting either.
But as my energy starts to rise again I’m focusing again on getting organized and growing as an individual and business owner.
Goal Setting Best Practices
Okay, that sounds really official, but all I mean is I have some general guidelines for myself around making goals that I’ve come to find after years of practice.
1. Only set goals that you, personally, can control.
What I mean by this, is your goal should be more focused on your input than an output that is dependent on any other contributing factor.
For example, as I start to grow my blog, a seemingly good goal might be to hit a specific number of page views each month. But at the end of the day, I can’t control who comes to the blog. I want to be proud of my actions and what I do, even if the intended result doesn’t quite get there. So instead, I would have my goal be something like post twice a day to Instagram – which, in turn, should drive page views to the blog. I can control how often I post to Instagram.
2. Don’t set too many goals.
More is less! I’ve found that the more goals I set, the more likely I am to feel overwhelmed by all I have to do and not reach any goals at all! I like to look at my monthly calendar and find chunks of time (usually free weekends) that I could realistically work on my goals – then fill in from there.
3. Treat habit changes separately.
In addition to big goals that I’m working toward, there are a few habits I’m looking to alert – mainly that have to do with self-care (i.e. washing my damn face so my skin stays clear!) I track these on my goals sheet but don’t count them toward the above. It’s not like I need to set aside 6 hours each month to work on my skin care routine.
4. Check in regularly.
Once a week, usually on Sundays, I fill out this weekly planning sheet to get ahead of my schedule. During this time, I’ll usually check in on my monthly goals as well to see what I could potentially tackle in the week to come. When I don’t do this, I’ll usually get to the end of the month and realize I’ve forgotten entirely about the goals I set in the beginning.
Another note on this – if, say, a goal is to post on the blog three times a week and you get to week 3 and realize you haven’t posted at all, it’s really easy to throw your hands up in the air and say not this month, I won’t even worry about posting the next two weeks since this is already a bust.
5. Speak to yourself with grace and kindness.
This is especially important at the end of the month, when, inevitably some goals have fallen off the radar. Not meeting goals is only a sign that you’ve been busy with other priorities and living life. Don’t be too hard on yourself!
My March Goal Setting
Okay, so on to the actual goal setting. I’ll keep this part short and sweet – just to a. hold myself accountable, and b. show an example of how I put the above into practice.
- Make a spring-cleaning checklist and tackle it! I’ll probably share the list here too!
- Make at least one healthy meal at home each week and make at least one in the Instant Pot.
- Send someone you love a care package.
- Read at least one book each week. And add them to the blog’s book reviews page.
As you can see, most of those aren’t time intensive – most of my dedicated goal time will be spent cleaning – joy!
What are your goals for the month? Or have any goal setting best practices to share?
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