New Year Goal Setting 101
Hey guys, I’m your host Taylah and welcome to the Hidden Creative Podcast - or more fitting, welcome to the first week of 2023! Wow - The start of a New Year! I hope you had a fantastic Christmas + New Year celebration + have come back with a relaxed + refreshed perspective.
So, what’s the #1 thing that people do during the first week of a New Year? They set goals. You have probably already started thinking about the goals you have for 2023 - am I right? Drink 4 cups of water a day, become a 6 figure business, lose 10kgs.
But unfortunately the sad part about New Years goal setting is that those goals are usually met with an undeniable truth - what I’ve found is that 9/10 goals set at New Years are never achieved and do you know why? Because we let society dictate to us what we should be doing at the beginning of the year, the goals we should be setting, and with so much pressure to plan, achieve all the things and DO something with your life that we rush to choose something, anything, a word, a goal to fill a space in that new journal, and we all miss the point.
Rather than creating goals that are thought of today, based on the expectations of others or what is happening in society at that moment, why not consider what you are already working towards, and make that even grander! Expand on your values as they are, or better yourself by identifying the areas of your life that can do with some work.
I don’t want to see you creating pointless goals that set you up for overwhelm, anxiety or the feeling of failure when it comes to the end of the year. I want to help you create mindful goals that amplify what you are already working on, to help you create a life you love that brings you happiness and joy!
Today we are talking about just that! Setting mindful goals that will help you to create the life you love.
It is actually really important to set goals.
When you set a goal, the physical action of writing down a task you would like to achieve by a certain date sets the wheels in motion. You are already a step ahead in actually achieving the thing you want to achieve because you have identified what that is.
But, when you fall into the dangerous world of aimlessly setting goals just to complete the action because it's New Years or that’s what everyone else is doing, that is when you create unrealistic, un-achievable, harmful goals that will cause a ripple effect in your expectations + the happiness + success you experience in your life.
Instead of aimlessly writing down tasks based off the expectations of others. Use this beautiful time of the year to reflect, find clarity, focus and plan your direction to create the life you want for 2023. Goal setting can be such a freeing + motivating experience when done so mindfully.
This time every single year I set about writing mindful goals that I will work on achieving throughout the year and I have been keeping tabs on the steps that I have found really help me to set those mindful goals.
So I thought I would share them with you today so that you can set your own goals based off what you value most, the goals that mean something to you and that are right for you and the direction you are heading. Are you ready for Mindful Goal setting 101, because here it is.
Step #1: Reflect
The first and most important step that I start with is to reflect. Reflection always helps me to quieten the noise so that I can identify the areas of my life that need a little tlc, that I loved, that I didn’t love and that taught me something to take into the new year.
Reflection can be as easy as you like and you can start with simple questions like these to help reflect on the year that has past
What did I love doing the most from last year.
What did I not enjoy doing last year?
What made me happy?
What made me stressed or anxious?
What can I do more of?
What should I stop doing?
What didn’t I achieve last year that I said I wanted to?
There is so much to learn from your past actions + reactions, the way you react or respond to different circumstances absolutely can help you to navigate the year ahead.
For me, throughout 2022 I can notice a pattern with how I responded to plans being changed in my world. I did not respond well at all and being a mumma my plans were changed a lot this year. We had about 12 weeks throughout winter where we were all sick at some point and everyone’s plans were interrupted. And the #1 thing that led to the anxiety I felt the most was the amount of pressure I put on myself to achieve so much in a short period of time and throughout winter of all seasons. This experience actually resulted in me nichting my photography business and ending wedding + family bookings so that I could not only take the pressure off needing to be away from my family, but so that I could also concentrate my efforts on one aspect of my photography that I love and do it extremely well. Moving into 2023, I have not planned as much throughout winter this year, and if I have it is all things I can schedule and automate so that if my plans do change, it won’t interrupt how I show up in my business.
Step #2: Find Your Clarity + Focus
Once I have reflected on the previous year and identified all the different areas of my life that worked, that didn’t work, that I loved and that I didn’t love, I then have a new found sense of clarity and focus. With this in mind, I then use what’s called the wheel of life to help me set actionable tasks that I will actually want to take action on. These tasks are what I like to call mindful goals.
I first discovered the wheel of life through my business coach when she showed us Tony’s Robbins version. Put simply, it is a pie graph of the different aspects in your life. They include (but aren’t limited to and I’ll tell you why in just a moment) Family, Health, Spirituality, Wealth, Career, Personal Development, Fun and Friends. And when you go through the wheel of life you look at each element and set a measure of where you feel that element is at currently in your life. Is your health cup full, half empty, empty.
While the wheel of life prompts you to think about aspects that it has listed, for me, I like to add in a creativity section to my graph because I need creativity in my life in some way or another. And for me, it is separate to everything else listed. So when I go through each section, I also make space for creativity and make sure that I address that element of my life as well.
This year, my health cup was empty. Very empty. I did not put any energy into caring for myself, and it showed with having pneumonia for 12 weeks throughout winter. And as you know an empty cup can not provide for others. So this year, one aspect of my life that I am inspired to address is my health.
To help set my focus for the year ahead, I like to use the wheel of life and ask myself these three questions from each aspect.
How do I want to feel about xyz this year
What can I be/do/have to make me feel more of this this year
What are 3 xyz goals that inspire me?
This year I wrote down, that I want to feel energetic, healthy, well and full of life. And to feel this way, I need to concentrate on creating healthy meal plans for our weeks again, being more mindful of how much water I drink, and making the time to attend exercise classes. And three goals that inspire me and make me feel motivated to take action include Planning meals with my family for our weeks, buying a fun water bottle to take to work to encourage drinking more water and to actually write the times down into our family calendar for classes. The thing that inspires me most about this is that I know when my health cup is full, I am a better mum, a better wife and a better business owner. I can be the best version of myself and I want to be that.
So what inspired goals can you write down from each aspect of your life? Where is your focus at when you think about all the different aspects inside the wheel of life?
Step #3: Plan Your Direction
The final step in the mindful goal setting journey for me is to find my direction in the way of visualising. I don’t just stop at writing my actionable tasks inside a journal because that won’t tell you what you need to be doing every single day to bring them to life. Instead, I head to pinterest, create a new board - yep I have hundreds, almost literally, and I pin all the photos that portray my goals visually. I find photos of cute water bottles, cups full of water, exercises classes that excite me, meals that look healthy and yummy and I do this for every action. Then I print out those photos and stick them in one big collage inside an oak frame that I update each year. And that frame hangs proudly in front of my computer where I see it every single day. That frame inspires me to take action that 100% reflects the photos I have infront of me because those images are what I see. It paths the way, it shows me the direction I am headed and I surprise myself with how many photos I tick off at the end of the year.
The worst thing you can do when it comes to goal setting is to write them in a journal and never look at them again for the year. That won’t prompt you to achieve them at all. But, if you create a vision board and stick it up on the wall where you will see it every day, it helps you to bring your goals to life because it gives you a direction. Visualisation is a wonderful way of setting the wheels in motion to achieving the things you say you want to achieve.
Talk about your goals with family and friends, write them on sticky notes, do whatever it takes to bring them to life. Don’t just write them down once and think that will make them happen. You will get busy, distracted, you might even forget the goals you set, and you will forget the direction you are heading. But if you see them every single day, your chances are automatically increased and you will achieve the things you set out to. Think of it like setting a destination in your GPS. It shows you the way to get there. And so will your vision board.
So there you have it. The three simple steps that I use for mindful goal setting so that I know I am setting the right goals for me that are aligned with where I am heading for my year.
Reflecting on the year that was
Finding clarity + focus by using the wheel of life
And planning my direction by creating a vision board that gives me my destination
Not just setting goals for the sake of it, but listing inspiring, actionable items that will help me to achieve a life that I love.
I hope that you find this episode helpful xx
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