Setting New Year’s Goals and Keeping Yourself Motivated
I can’t believe it’s nearly 2012! So ridiculously crazy! However, I’m soooo excited about what the New Year is bringing!
As the old year comes to a close, I start gearing up for the coming year…thinking about goals, things I want to accomplish, or how I’ll make a difference.
In some ways I’m not “for” making New Year’s resolutions…to me, resolutions are weak…maybe it’s just a word, but I prefer to set real, tangible goals. When I hear the word “resolution” it makes me think “I’ll try to (blank) this year.” I hate trying. You either do it or you don’t. So anyway, word associations’ aside, I love setting goals for the New Year! I love the feeling of a clean slate…of possibilities…and accomplishing projects.
But I don’t just set goals at the start of a new year. If there is something I want to change in my life…it’s important to me to start as soon as possible. I’m constantly setting new goals.
(Write out your favourite quote/saying and stick it somewhere you can see it!)
Time Organizing Tips to Make Your Goals a Reality!
I’m a goal setting, list making type of gal…all year long…and this is what I typically do to keep my goals in sight and achievable:
In December I start to write a long list of things I want to accomplish or change in the next year. I then stick it by my closet door.
At the beginning of each month, I pick a few of the “big projects” from my main list (for the year) and write them out on my chalkboard (under a heading of the month). I will add a bunch of smaller projects to that as they come up. That’s my monthly list.
I don’t stop there…sometimes I break that monthly list down into a weekly list. From that weekly list, I break it down into a daily list, which I ALWAYS write the night before.
If projects don’t get done on my daily list, they just get put on the next day’s list until they are done.
These lists are my life savers! They really do make my goals a reality! But you have to break things down! To leave everything on my yearly list is daunting…overwhelming…too much. So when you break a great big goal like running a marathon into monthly, weekly, daily goals…it is SO achievable. Make your lists detailed.
Don’t just say “I want to be more fit” in your New Year’s Goals. That’s lame. Like I said before, break it down! Say “I’m going train myself to run a 5k by March” instead…or “I’m going to set aside 30 minutes of my free time, 5 days a week, to run.” Be creative. Then check that goal off your list once you’ve completed it!
I always cross things off my list with a highlighter…I can still see what goal I’ve accomplished and yet know that it’s done!
You can also make vision boards…I LOVE doing this.
Here’s my vision board from last year…
This is the vision board I made for this year…
I put mine up on the back of my door, near my marathon race photo and my medals. (Yes, I’m a nerd!)
Just grab some glue, scissors, old magazines, and start cutting and pasting away! Maybe you don’t want to have your vision board visible for all to see…so do it in your journal. I do this a lot too (one of my favourite nighttime rituals is to do a little journaling). I even left some room for any pictures or quotes I might want to add later.
Maybe you want to get uber creative and draw a picture to visualize one of your dreams. I did this a couple months ago and painted this:
For you who were following my Art Challenge, I’m still doing it…but I’m doing the artwork somewhat out of order. (In the new year, I’ll share more of that) I did this picture as part of my Art Challenge I started earlier this year. So this is Day 21’s project, “Something I Want”. So “something I want” is to get better at is my music, singing, and song writing…so it’s fun to see this painting every day. Just another fun way to be inspired.
Another idea is to keep your life purpose statement somewhere you can see it. Ever since I was a teenager my life verse, from the Bible, has been Philippians 4:13.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
The message I see all the time is “to be strong”…but I can’t be strong on my own all the time. It’s too much. I’m only human. But when I ask for Jesus Christ’s strength, I can do hard things! Any hard thing! That strength is mine for the taking…
So I put my life verse reference (4:13) and the verse all summed up on a special custom necklace. I won a gift certificate for Joss & Main a few months ago…so I got them to engrave it (amazing company, check it out!). It might sound silly, but looking at my necklace when I’m going through something tough, has really been a great reminder to me of where I need to get my strength…and that I can get through hard things.
Whew…that was a long post! But I hope that maybe one of these motivation and goal organization tips has inspired you!
Another fun site to check out is Making Things Happen, a motivational blog site to inspire you to make your dreams a reality!
I won’t be posting for the next week or so….we have a lot of special family time coming up, I have a huge project I need to make time for, and we’re also doing a home reno project before the New Year comes!
Can you guess what it is?! I’m SO excited about this new room!
So I’ll see you in the 2012! I have some fun stuff coming up…some more great organizational tips, recipes, and ideas for this special new year God has given us!
Happy New Years!
What are some of your goals for the New Year? Do you have any tips for keeping motivated?
Category: Healthy Living, Life | Tags: 30 day drawing challenge, art challenge, motivation, new year goal tips, organization, time organization, tips for keeping yourself motivated, Tips for new year resolutions, tips for setting goals, ways to organize your time 12 comments »
This is such a great post.
I looove making vision boards! I make them pretty frequently and actually have a “vision diary” as well. For some reason, seeing pictures of things that inspire me really helps with staying motivated.
Hanging it on the back of your door is such a good idea. Especially since yours is so pretty!
I loved this post! That verse is awesome! Philippians is such an amazing book, my life verse is actually 4:6 :D How cool!
I love this post! :)
Your vision board is awesome,hopefully,it will help you accomplish all your all your goals even if they’re challenging sometimes.
I also can’t wait to see the result of your home reno project,good luck on it,lady!
This post is so inspiring. Love your necklace, too.
I’ve always made resolutions, but for now on, I’ll refer to them as goals. Thankfully, I tend to stick to them no matter what I call them.
I wonder what that room will be. Is it for a new addition to the family?
Hey, I just found your blog via TheHealthyFoodie. I was wondering if you have a recipe index (not just tags)?
I love that quote! I seriously want to do an inspiration board… I used to make them all the time and I swear they WORK! I really believe that.
hiya just found your blog through the healthy foodie :D
instead of doing a vision board another idea could be to use pinterest, if you haven’t heard of it you can ‘pin’ images on your board from internet sites and you can also scan in images to put on your board as a way of gathering inspiration
ps they have a categories like fitness and art so you can ‘repin’ images that others have pinned in that topic
here is the link: http://pinterest.com/
hoped this helped
Rebecca
HEY! I am loving this layout, girl your blog is awesome. And holy artist!! you and your painting and your inspirational boards are amazing!!! :D so glad you stopped by xo
I’m a total list girl too, so I can totally understand what you mean about breaking down big goals into smaller ones! I love your vision board, and I love both the Ephesians 5:16 and Philippians 3:14 verses! :)
I saw another blogger do an inspiration board for 2012 and I really want to make one. They are so cool, and such a fun way to keep reminding yourself the things you want to accomplish this year. And… I agree resolution always sounded kinda wimpy to me too.
hi! thanks for commenting for my blog! it made me so excited ! your blog is so cute! i love the layout and the design! AND you’re also super gorgeous!
I love the process for resolutions that you shared! I prefer to call them goals as well. I’m constantly making vision boards year round. There are so many things I collect that I can put on them, and I decorate my room with them so I’m always waking up and falling to sleep to inspiration!