Did 2020 not exactly go as you planned?
You’re not alone! Today let’s talk about the method I used this year to keep up with and actually meet most of my 2020 goals DESPITE a global freaking pandemic and how you can set yourself up to achieve what you want in 2021.
Whether it’s halfway through the year or to the year, start thinking about your goals NOW. You’ll need time to noodle on it. Goals should not be made in a mad rush on Dec. 31 or Jan. 1.
How I did it
After many many years of creating lists that ended up forgotten by March, I finally figured out a way to keep these goals front of mind.
Literally… If it’s not in front of my face on the regular, I’m going to forget about it.
Last year, I created a digital vision board that I saved to my desktop and laptop background and also as my phone lock screen. It’s pretty, aesthetic, and refreshes my goals in my mind daily as I see them daily.
Using this method, I met over half my goals in 2020, and I made some pretty giant goals… and I was able to do a lot of them despite the pandemic! A note that I was able to keep my main job during this whole thing and I was very lucky to do so.
Note: If you didn’t meet your goals this year, please give yourself all the grace in the world. No one could have anticipated this and beating ourselves up is incredibly counterproductive. Love yourself, be proud that you got through this and make goals for better days ahead. Hope and working towards something is so important.
Here’s my vision board – I made it in Canva and have a whole tutorial on how you can too. It’s a free software and its way better than the cut up magazines way of vision boards in my opinion.
So I recommend working up your goals in your digital vision board while you’re thinking them up. It’s more fun than just a list, but you should keep that on a second page as well for easy reference and scaling, which we’ll talk about in a minute.
Setting your goals
Take some time and really think on things that you’d like to improve on, accomplish, or do.
In this step feel free to aim high, think not about just this year, but even years into the future. What would make you happy in your life? How do you want your life to look? What do you need to accomplish to make that a reality?
Think about all the areas of your life and feel free to write down things for as many as you want. There are no wrong ideas in brainstorming. You spend 40+ hours a week using your brain and energy for someone else most likely, take your time to use your brain to set yourself up for success in your life.
Here are some categories you might like to consider when goal setting:
- career
- financial
- personal development
- relationships/ friendships
- travel
- health
Make your list / board and start organizing it
Here’s where we think about scale. For big goals like buying a home or saving a certain amount of money, you’re going to want to break that down into smaller, doable goals.
If you make your goal too big, you’ll feel overwhelmed and hopeless, but breaking it into years, and years into quarters or months and even down to paychecks will make a goal into a reasonable action plan.
The things that can’t be done in the next calendar year can be designated as longer term goals. You can still work toward these but they won’t be as high of a priority in most cases.
We’ve all heard of SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound.
So I’m going to skip that. Instead I’m going to tell you to be SMART about how you achieve your goals and to weigh your time and energy against what you want to achieve.
Here’s the tutorial on how to create your virtual vision boards in Canva!
After you’ve organized your goals list and vision board, export it in the size of your phone and computer screens. You can find these by googling their sizes. You could also print out a copy from Walgreens or your printer and frame it in a cute frame so you can see it regularly on your desk or in your office. Once again, much better than magazines.
Set calendar alerts
Next, I want you to set calendar alerts reminding you to check in on your goals. These can be quarterly, monthly, etc. but if you have goals broken down, it’s a good idea to check in so you can adjust.
A note for mental health.: you are the boss of your life and goals. You set them and you can adjust them if needed. Tiny steps over years will get you so much further than you think. Do not let your self worth be tied to productivity, achievement or arbitrary markers of success. I speak from experience in this. You are wonderful and worthy regardless of if you knock your goals out of the park or not hit a single one. Find the balance of challenging yourself and giving yourself grace, which was one of my goals several years running now… and I’m proud to say I’m doing pretty well with it.
If this method sounds like it might work for you and your brain, I encourage you to try it. This is the first year I’ve actually kept up with my goals throughout the year and I really enjoyed having that touchstone to check in with.
Discuss: Well that’s it! Will you be starting setting your 2021 goals and if so, will you try my method?
See also:
Check out my 2021 goals here:
7 ways to track debt payoff and savings goals:
More techniques to get stuff done!
The smartest way to spend your stimulus – based on your financial situation!
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