Goal Setting for the New Decade

Happy New Year!

As we're stepping into a new year, and a new decade, I've been working on my goals, and so I thought I'd share some tips from my goal setting!

There's different levels of goals; think of it like a pyramid - the big broad part at the bottom is your personal values. Everyone's values are different, and what we value in life determines our VISION. Our vision is the big picture, the unconstrained dream; our vision is what we want our life to look like. And so, the rest of the layers of the pyramid are our goals; long term, intermediate, and right at the top, short term goals.

The whole basis of our goals is our values. 90% of people who set goals for the new year will fail or give up by February! And the reason for that is that their goals don't align with their values. So setting a goal to lose weight, when health isn't one of your highest values, means that you will most likely fail. Setting a goal to earn a certain amount of money, will be very hard to achieve if one of your highest values isn't wealth. However, if one of your values is family, and you set an income goal in order to create a better life for them, you still have a chance of success because of the link to your value!

Before you even start setting goals, you should write down a list of values, and then order them in order of importance to you personally. Mine are; spirituality, relationships/connection, health, time, my animals, rural lifestyle, financial freedom and purpose in life; in that order. Your #1 value determines how you live your life. Values #2 and #3, support your #1 value, and values #4-10 all affect how you live your life. Any more than ten values, and you'll find the rest aren't that important to you. But your values can change! As you live and grow, your values will change, and that's okay!

Your goals need to be congruent with your values - the more links that you can make to your values, the better chance you have of achieving that goal! It's important to set S.M.A.R.T goals. Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Time Bound. Write down a goal, and then check these parameters: be as SPECIFIC as possible - think who, what, when, where, why? It also needs to be MEASURABLE - put an amount to it! ACTIONABLE means what actions can you do to ensure you reach this goal? REALISTIC - is it feasible to obtain the amount you've set within the time frame, because your goal also needs to be TIME BOUND! And your goals are supposed to scare you! If they didn't scare you, how would you ever grow??

One of the most important things about setting goals is WRITE THEM DOWN! Writing them down makes them real, and switches on the subconscious part of your brain so that you're working towards your goals even unconsciously! Your conscious mind is your goal setter; your unconscious mind is your goal getter! Set goals for as many aspects of your life as you can, for as many different time frames as you can; think 10 year goals, 5 year goals, 1 year goals, and small actionable goals that you can achieve every day to work towards your big goals!

My vision is to have our own property, to have the financial freedom to have my horses and dogs, and the time to work with them, to have a happy, healthy marriage and a healthy spiritual life. So my 10 year goal is to purchase a property; my 5 year goal is to have a business with my horses; my one year goal is to earn enough through my online business to reduce the working hours in my traditional job, so that I have time for the things that are important to me; other short term goals are improving my physical, emotional and spiritual health; and my daily goals are small, actionable steps that I can complete every day to ensure that I reach these goals. And heck yes, I'm terrified; writing them down for myself is one thing... but sharing it with the world? That makes it real! So I better work my butt off!

Haha, but seriously, remember that your goals are your own, and no-one can take them away from you because they don't align with their values. When I told hubby my income goal for my business, he laughed and said I couldn't do it! What do you think he'll say when I tell him I'm going to buy him a property!? Your goals are your own, and your values are your own; just because someone else can't see it, doesn't mean you can't do it.

"Get out of my way and watch me!"

If this has helped you, I'd love to hear from you! Share your goals with me, add me on Facebook!

I appreciate your love and support so far! Here's to 2020 and a whole new decade!