Stepping into a new year can be taxing to say the least. After the ball drops, we constantly charge ourselves energy in exchange for the threshold of our biggest goals. We demand the most from our drive until we end up over-drafting the will to go on. Then, we lay exhausted — unable to crush the milestones that still lie before us in a journey we call progress. It’s a cycle that is known as well as our birth-given names, and a cycle we must break to reach our truest potential.
Each time we deter the progression of our lives, we cheat ourselves of knowing who we can become. There is power in setting realistic goals for ourselves and reaching them. Yet, how do we begin; how do we stop getting in our way? Well, BAUCE is here to tell you how to how to stay on track with your 2021 goals.
Be Real with Yourself
While there is no limit to what you can accomplish, it is important to know that you can not do everything at once. There’s a reason we crawl before we can walk, and walk before we can run. Pace yourself when running for your dreams so you don’t exhaust the possibility before you reach them. It’s easier to do this when you find a similar connection in your goals and use one as a stepping stone to get to your next one. It’s as simple as saying “I want to archive this certain goal because it can help prepare me to reach the next one.” We can call it Goal Prerequisites in the School of Life: you can’t reach one without completing the other. This can help with being real with yourself when it comes to setting goals within a certain period of life because while you are capable of completing anything you set your mind to, you have to ask yourself if you are ready to take the steps needed to secure that goal.
Seal it in Ink
Setting realistic goals that may connect to an ulterior purpose comes with making lists of what needs to be done. Quite honestly, most things never feel official until they’re written or recorded and it is important to make your goals feel as official and urgent as possible. Otherwise, we see them as mental pinpoints to get done among the hundreds of other thoughts that drift in throughout our minds daily. In a study conducted by Psychologist and Professor Gail Matthews from the Dominican University of California, those who write down their goals are 20% more successful in accomplishing them than those who did not.
Writing down your goals doesn’t have to be the basic tedious process we see in bullet journals or monotone colored desk calendars. You can put your spin on scripting your goals, making it a ritual you can’t wait to do when you think of the new things you want to accomplish. You can draw yourself a nice bath to ease your nerves, pick out a creative journal, and write down your goals over the candlelight. You could write your goals with lipstick on your mirror and look at them each morning until they’re complete. Online, there are a plethora of examples of digital and physical Vision boards and Vision journals. You can do it however you choose, as long as you’re getting these goals down somewhere you can easily access. There is no guide to self-care, and setting goals for yourself is indeed taking care of yourself.
Hold yourself Accountable
With big goals comes the big responsibility of making them a reality. Procrastination should be something that is removed from our dictionary, and perfectionism should be a status that no one should attempt to obtain. Nothing you do should be “perfect,” because then that leaves no room for it to grow. When we hide under the excuse that is perfectionism, we convince ourselves that the things that are worth sharing are the things that are without fault. Yet, how do we evolve if we are beyond the point of being fixed — changed?
Breaking from these thought processes is apart of the discipline that is holding ourselves accountable. You have to be strict with yourself when reaching the things that you desire. Being strict means pushing yourself to go further, and also allowing yourself the rest to reset so that you can continue to work toward these milestones with the same energy you began with. Carve out a healthy amount of time and space to contribute to these things actively. In the same study with Matthews, it was reported that those who set actionable tasks for their goals and initiate weekly progress reporting to their supportive peers tend to achieve 40% more than those who did not. If it becomes too much for you to hold yourself accountable, or you do not trust yourself to, set goals with a group of friends who you can depend on to make sure you stay the course until it feels natural to do it with yourself.
Make Sure your Goals Challenge You
What’s the point in reaching your goals if you don’t grow from it? While it’s safe and responsible to set goals that you can easily achieve — make sure that some goals allow room for growth so grinding toward these things feel more like an achievement rather than a chore. Identifying the tasks that will aid you in shaping who you are is a magical process that rewards with the benefit of self-improvement, bringing you closer to determining who you are mentally, socially, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. There is a never-ending warmth in finding your light and clarity in eliminating the distraction of self-doubt. Yes, your goals can be the sky — but they can be the stars too.
