As is very typical with the start of the new year a lot of people tend to have new year’s resolutions or goals. Although there is commonly a negative connotation associated with new year’s resolutions (because a lot of times people don’t stick to them), I feel there is something to be said about setting some sort of goal. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a firm believer that you can set goals at any time during the year and don’t necessarily have to wait until the start of a calendar year but, it’s always nice to take advantage of the energy that comes with the start of a fresh new year.
Today, I wanted to talk about why I think you should set goals/intentions/resolutions for this new 2021 year, and what some of mine are.
Recently as I was watching a video from one of my favorite YouTubers, Mimi Ikonn, she was explaining how she does this, and what really stuck out to me from this video was a quote that I’ve heard before but, didn’t really “hit me” or process it until now and that quote is “if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail”. Like I said, this really hit me because I feel that it is true. Logically speaking, if you think about it, if you don’t have a plan, how are you going to succeed?
I love making lists and as of the last couple of years, I have heavily utilized the notes app on my phone to write things down. For the past couple of years, I have also used the notes app to write down my goals and I find that when I’m bored I sometimes mindlessly scroll through my notes and see them there and that serves as a reminder of the things that I said I wanted to do and even pushes me to do them.
Now, do I complete the list 100%? No. It hasn’t happened yet ,but I feel that by writing it down, I’m putting it out into the world and being mindful of pursuing that goal of mine. So, my first tip for you is to write down your goals.
Going off of that first tip I’ve realized (recently) that it’s not only important to write down your goals but to make a plan as to how you are going to try and achieve them or work towards them. For me, I’ve noticed that, that is a big problem. I tend to come up with goals that are definitely achievable but I never make a plan as to how I’m going to make them happen so, this year, I’ve taken my planning to the next level and made actionable steps to ensure I try my hardest to achieve my goals.
Next, I feel that goals can be separated into different categories. You can separate them by personal, career, relationships, hobbies, etc. You can literally put them in whatever category you want. I liked this idea because it strives to create a balance in all areas of a person’s life. For example, my categories are going to be personal, career, finances, and blogging. Below I will share some of my goals for this 2021 year and a little note about how I plan to achieve them.
If you’re not a big fan of new year’s resolutions, I feel that goals are good regardless of the time of year we’re in. Take some time to plan things out and work towards them so that when time passes you can look back and see everything you’ve accomplished.
Side note: I feel that a lot of times, especially when we’re at a low point in our lives we tend to only focus on what we don’t have or on what we didn’t accomplish but if we write things down, we can look back and see that not everything was bad and that we actually did accomplish some of our goals if not many of them. 🙂
Now, I will share some of my goals for 2021:
- Take one “trip” per month: I’m being intentional about this one because I am a creature of habit. A lot of times, I am perfectly okay with staying within my routine and doing the same things I’m used to every single day so, this year, I want to branch out a little bit and explore a little more. Since I’m currently working from home and not driving to work everyday, I thought it would be cool to do one thing that is out of my comfort zone and explore at least once per month.
- Post one blog per week: Last year when I started my blog in July, I said to myself that I wanted to post 1-2 blogs per week. Well, as you can tell if you have visited my blog ? that didn’t happen. I can give many reasons as to why it didn’t but, I feel that since I didn’t have a plan I was more likely to fail, which I did so, this time around I have a plan and will try my best to stick to it.
- Finish grad school: As some of you may know, I have been working on my graduate degree for almost two years now and I’m crossing my fingers I can finish this year. I know this will take a lot of planning but I’m hopeful I can make it happen.
- Save “X” amount of money: This is the first year I make this kind of goal for myself. I came up with a random number (I tried to make it as realistic as possible) and I have a plan of how I’m going to make this happen. I will be excited to see how much I saved at the end of the year (in December 2021).
- Continue my fitness journey and do a better job of documenting progress and switching things up: It has been a few years now that I haven’t had a “lose weight” new year’s resolution mainly because I have adopted the mentality of making it part of my lifestyle. I’m proud to say that I have been going to the gym and working out for over 8 years now and I have been consistent the whole time. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when life happens and my body just doesn’t want to work out but I have never stopped. This year, my goal is to switch things up. I was forced to do this when quarantine hit and I’m proud of myself because I came up with a new routine to keep my body moving and not stop all together. My goal is to continue to try new things (whether it be videos, types of exercises etc.) and to also document ways in which I’m making progress. This could be in the form of photos, or writing down my non-scale victories.
These are just some of my goals. I have others but for the sake of the length of this blog lol, I won’t share them. I hope that I convinced you to write things down and think about what you want to accomplish. I promise that even if you don’t complete all of your goals, you’re bound to at least accomplish one and that is always something to celebrate. I again, thank you for taking the time to visit my blog, I really appreciate you if you’ve read this far. I wish you a great 2021 and hope that lots of good things happen in your life. Let’s make this a great year!
Before I go, I wanted to share my outfit of the day ☺️
See you soon!
XOXO
Marisol
