You're Doing Just Fine: Setting Goals & Changing Your Life

The beginning of a new year always seems to bring about its share of hope, excitement, stress, and anxiety. The world is seemingly focused on a 'New Year, New Me' on the outside while many are struggling to find their footing on the inside. Whether you come up with a list of resolutions or not, you likely have some goals in mind you'd like to accomplish. Read more books, adopt a more sustainable lifestyle, workout consistently, volunteer, etc. We love resolutions because having a goal in mind and something to chase after keeps us focused on growth. The problem hits when we start questioning our goals against others or overly critiquing our progress towards said goal. Then what started as an internal dialogue about New Year's Resolutions has turned into a self-destructing mess and somehow we go from reading two books a month to fleeing the country and never looking back.

January is a hard.

Even if you aren't the most holiday-happy human, you can still feel the drop in spirit. We try to force ourselves to focus on resolutions to distract ourselves from the fact that the start of a new year is hard. It's the same reason why Mondays tend to be the "worst" day of the week. New work week. New time to look at all the things we did or didn't accomplish in the last seven days. At the start of a new year, we look at our jobs, relationships, hobbies, homes, vehicles, etc. and pull apart the areas that aren't living up to our standard. This can be incredibly destructive because a lot of those changes can't happen as quickly as we'd like them to and, typically, people aren't immediately coming up with a game plan when identifying those areas where they are unhappy. They're just bringing themselves down. You're stupid for being stuck in this job that makes you unhappy. Your car sucks. You're not doing as well as *insert person who is probably struggling in their own way here*.

You can climb out of the hell hole.

When you have the strength and the periods of motivation, sit down and take the list of those things making you unhappy and start developing a plan. If it's a new job you're after, write down what it is that you want exactly. Is it pay? Location? Highlight your non-negotiables, give yourself a timeline to make it happen, and write it all down. Goals are 42% more likely to be accomplished when they're written down (https://bit.ly/3qFMpkQ). You're also more likely to achieve your goal if you tell someone who's opinion you value. Finding someone you respect to tell your goals to will keep you more accountable because you care about what that person thinks of you (https://bit.ly/3tD87b6).

You may stumble.

The road towards growth of any kind is not always straight and easy. That's why it's important to focus on your plan more than the goal. Your plan will lead you towards your goal. It might take you down some winding paths but if you developed a good plan and are committed to following it, you will achieve your goals in the end. Those goals might have changed from when you started but if you stuck to the plan, it's likely that they were meant to change all along.

If you've found this post because you've found yourself in the rut of January or maybe you've just hit a road block in your individual journey towards your goal, take a deep breath and remember, you're doing just fine. Stick to your plan, lean on those around you, trust the process, and don't give up on yourself.