SET SMART GOALS
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound
Happy 2020 all you lovely people!
We are already 15 days into the New Year and I am just now talking about goals on the blog. Tell me, isn’t that what you are thinking?
But you see, the thing about goals is that it isn’t something you set at the beginning of the year, follow through for a week or maybe even two and forget all about it come week 3.
Though a New Year lays a great foundation to get us started (I mean, you have got to start somewhere) Goal setting is an iterative process, as in, set SMART goals, track progress, revisit them every so often, refine as you go, rinse and repeat…
It is certainly not one and done!
And as we set goals, the most important question to ask ourselves is –
why many of us fail at achieving our goals?
The sole reason is that
WE LACK AN ACTION PLAN to achieve those goals.
As Tony Robbins says ‘Don’t make wishlists instead commit to lasting changes!’.
So I am going into 2020 with a clear mindset, goals written down on paper, and more importantly, with a PLAN OF ACTION, and habits (aka rituals) in place to ensure that I reach those goals!
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
And I am taking it a bit further this year and categorizing goals in our household as below:
- Personal Goals (both for Vinay and me)
- Professional Goals (both for Vinay and me)
- Aarush Goals (what we want to teach him, do for him, etc)
- Couple Goals (to improve our relationship, even if it’s just more ‘us time’, more dates)
- Family Goals (things we need to do more as a family to improve our lifestyle)
- Home-related Goals (from organizing to renovations to everything else in between)
I have realized that unless I categorize goals as listed above and prioritize them (a different theme or category each month) as in assign (approx) date/month by when we want to achieve ‘em goals they will just remain just that, goals.
And another most important question –
how do I know what these goals should be?
In this blog post, I was going to begin writing down the details of how to/what kind of goals to set but in the process, I realized that I have shared exactly that and more last year (so proud of myself for it!) and there isn’t much new information that I would now share that I haven’t already written about in those blog posts.
So listing those blog posts below and highlighting some new information since I last wrote those posts.
1) YEAR IN REVIEW, CELEBRATING ALL THE HIGHS & LEARNING FROM ALL THE LOWS
And if you are here based on my Instagram caption (more like a riddle ;)) – ‘You might not believe it, but it’s true… When you truly, deeply, subconsciously wish for something it is bound to happen, even against all odds!!!’ then below is what I meant…
One of our lows in 2018 was that we couldn’t make it out to NYC to have our little guy meet his little friends, uncles and aunts. And it was pretty much going to be a low for us in 2019 as well.
Cuz 2019 got away from us and amidst a lot of other travels we did in the year (we traveled every single month barring November because that was a ‘NO Travel’ month for us, something I want to do every year) we yet again didn’t plan a trip to NYC.
And end of November quickly rolled around and we don’t typically fly in December (we mostly only do road trips during this month) but something happened and we instantly booked our trip to NYC.
From saying let’s go to NYC for the holidays to booking the trip, it all happened in just a couple of hours (very unlike how we plan our travels, which usually happens months in advance).
So yes, we made it out to the east coast and our baby boy got to spend a whole lotta quality time with our favorite peeps!
This might not seem like much to you all but it was extremely important to us as a family and I was over the moon excited that this finally happened and we ended the year with a bang!
All this to say, manifest your dreams – if you truly believe in something or desire something then ask the universe and you shall receive!!!
2) DON’T MAKE RESOLUTIONS BUT SET GOALS, AIM HIGH BUT START SMALL
Everything I said in this post is 1000% something I strongly believe in and still say!
3) MY WORD FOR THE YEAR, TAGLINE AND MOTTO
I let this slide the second part of 2019 (especially September to December) and that really took a huge toll on so many levels, and everything went downhill after.
In retrospect, this happened solely because I forgot to plan ahead of time as far as my profession went and yet I tried to get it all done even if it was last minute which cost me my sanity, and my family it’s balance.
4) SIMPLE DAILY HABITS TO MAKE YOU SUCCESSFUL EVERY SINGLE DAY
Yep, so important to solidify your morning and evening rituals!
Makes or breaks a day!
The one thing I do differently now than what I talk about in this post is that I don’t really do big breakfast anymore. If I am at home and not traveling (on weekdays) I do intermittent fasting (learn why here). I know, I need to share details about it as I have been getting too many questions on it, soon!
5) 4 GAME-CHANGING, SIMPLE YET POWERFUL THINGS TO HELP YOU SUCCEED
All 4 are still game-changing… but if it was The Skinny Confidential in 2018, in 2019 it was Jay Shetty and Radhi Shetty, with 100x times more inspiring, powerful and impactful content! Read more here.
Also, I bought an actual timer since then and try to use it as much as possible on the daily.
6) A NEW HASHTAG TO MAKE YOU A GOAL GETTER #PACT15
Again, followed through for the most part last year and all went downhill from September. Another reason why my house looked like a disaster for the most part since then.
And as far as my goals go…
Largely, my highs and lows for 2019, or at least the theme of it has remained the same as the previous year, 2018 (at least for the most part). Now I am not sure if it’s a good thing or bad.
Maybe a good thing in the sense that the highs continue to remain highs, and lows have been a consistent work in progress, but I know more could have been done, so in that sense it’s bad.
But I am happy that it has been a work in progress and 2020 is the year when I have to kick it up several notches and hone in on all my highs and kick butt of all the lows!
So there, those will be my goals (if you made your way through the linked blog posts above then you know exactly what I am referring to).
But to be more specific about my/our goals for 2020 I am sharing a few examples below (our actual goals run several pages)…
- My Goals – SLEEP at least 7 hrs a day. Focus and spend more time on my blog and Pinterest rather than Instagram (will have to be a different blog post to talk about why?)
- Vinay’s Goals – Cook at least once a month (that’s not his forte so it’s a goal on the calendar now). Can’t share more as far as his goals go 😉
- Family Goals – make time and meet friends at least once a month, celebrate every festival and teach A about them (something we let our busy lives take over last year)
- Couple Goals – more date nights on the card (even if it means going out with A cuz sitters are too expensive, whew!)
- Aarush Goals – GET HIM TO EAT BY HIMSELF, it is really a BIG ONE for us!
There you have it, and now go get it, friends, we got this!
Let’s make 2020 our best year yet!
“Goal. Plan. Action.”
xoxo,
Kusum
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