At the start of the new year I cannot see but for goal setting, this year seems to be ‘ins and outs’. I tend to set goals, this year I wanted to get a new job, pass my coaching qualification, start my own company, do a pull up and live with ease, calm and positivity:

Fast forward to the end of the year, I damaged something in my shoulder which meant I could hardly use my shoulder for 6 months, I was told I’d get promoted and instead got made redundant due to company restructuring and had some terrible personal news which meant that the hour a day I used to dedicate to my business I needed to re-direct. Essentially whilst we can plan, anything can happen in life and it can quite literally flip upside down, within a week, making our best efforts at goal setting, redundant.

However, I started looking at what I had done, outside of my goals, I went from running in my once weekly Blaze classes at a top speed of 10 kmp/h to 20 kmp/h, I got back to lifting the weights I was lifting pre-injury, I did get a new job, I passed my coaching qualification, I’ve completed all my pilates challenges for the year, I work out at least 3 times every week, taught myself SketchUp and I at least set up my own company. Even just realising this I can see how I have achieved things.

I also have set a lot of goals - do an architecture course, interior design course, eat healthier, complain less, do 10,000 steps a day, do pilates, workout, buy a house from memory, amongst other things. I set these probably 3 years ago, and whilst it was a lot, over the course of 3 years I have done them/realised some things weren’t for me/goals I wanted to complete. I suppose it’s about reframing your goals, whilst you can set 10 goals for the year, that’s quite a lot, it’s quite a good idea to roll them over until they’re complete as you’re more likely to get them done by rolling them over rather than never trying - and don’t beat yourself up for it, you could just focus on one goal, and recognise that some goals are out of your control (getting engaged, having a baby, finding your dream house on the market can be out of your control). But equally, don’t feel the need to set goals, you may just want to go with the flow for a bit as life can just have a way with it. I will admit writing this has made me realise how much I have achieved with my goals, and it doesn’t point out the things that I hadn’t even dreamed of setting as goals but achieved and things coming about differently, and the things that are completely out of your control.

If you do write your goals, really break them down into tiny steps - if you want a big following, ask people what do they want to see and hear, go to networking events, create a bulk load of posts and a scheduler to post, set aside time each day to talk to your community, research how else it will grow.

Given things being so crazy, yes I am going to set a couple of goals thinking where do I want to be in the future, how do I want to be as a person and what can I do this year to help me get there - admittedly I’ll break them down into one for career, one for learning and one for personal (find a job that makes me happy, grow my business, try new things career wise, learn how to get better at CAD) I’m also going to not be hard on myself, recognising life’s craziness at the moment and go with the flow - see how the year pans out, and that in itself is a goal, to go with the flow, not beat myself up for things and also recognise that whilst I have the best intentions with goals - being happy in my job - I also have a mortgage to pay which could de-rail that!