Planning My Goals For 2020
This year, I have decided that in order to make a change in my life, I am going to go about planning my goals for 2020 in an entirely different way because I actually want to give my life a complete overhaul. Normally, when I make my list of new year’s resolutions, I make a checklist of several things I want to accomplish that year – lose a few pounds, workout more often, read some more books, etc. It seems like a good idea at the moment, but once I write out those goals on a note in my phone, I usually forget what I had been inspired to do because I stop thinking about the list.
Motivation
I have a few why I have the perfect opportunity to become a better person this year:
- 2020 is the start of a new decade. How crazy is that?!
- I turn 25 this year. Again, how crazy is that?! A quarter of a century!
- This upcoming year is a leap year, meaning I have one extra day to accomplish my goals.
Show Up
I took an interest in the term “glow up” recently when I was browsing YouTube videos about body transformations. The term “glow up” as defined by Urban Dictionary is “to go from the bottom to the top to the point of disbelief; an incredible transformation.” There are a few more definitions that I decided to not include, but basically the gist of “glow up” is to from unattractive to stunning.
Now, at this stage in my life, I have learned not to care too much about if others think I am attractive or not. But I was really intrigued by the whole process of what these different girls on YouTube did to make themselves look like completely different people.
And I realized that that motivation and discipline is what I needed in my life.
So I came up with a project that is going to be my journey for 2020.
The Show Up Project.
The Show Up Project is going to be my journey to fully and completely “show up” for everything that God has called me to do and be everything He has made me to be. My goal is to be my best spiritually, physically, and mentally. Obviously, I am never going “arrive,” but I can always be progressing forward and growing.
How to Plan Your Goals
I’m still finishing up writing out my goals for 2020, so I’m not going to share them in this post. Stay tuned for when I do share them, though! Here are my main tips for how to structure your goals for the new year to set yourself up for success.
What’s Working And What’s Not
The first step to take when making a big life change is to determine what is working and what is not working.
Maybe you want to go to the gym more often, but you wake up too late and are too tired when you get home. That could be an example of something that’s not working.
And maybe you are able to cook more healthy food at home because you have decided to go grocery shopping more often. That could be an example of something that is working.
Analyze your life and decide on the things that are holding you back so you can change those. And the things that are working for you are areas in your life that you can build on.
Categorize Your Goals
Make a list of the areas in your life that you would like to grow. This makes it easier to think of specific goals that you would like to accomplish in the year. Here are the categories I am personally using, but yours can be whatever you like.
- Spiritual – My walk with God and my Christian life
- Physical – My physical body and my physical spaces
- Mental – My mindsets and my mental health
- Relationships – My marriage, extended family, close friends, and professional relationships
General Direction
Under each category, make a list of some phrases, sentences, or ideas that describe where you want to be by the end of the year. These shouldn’t be specific goals. They should, however, be things that you can quantify and turn into goals. This helps you get all your ideas out on paper or into a list so you can sort them out later.
For example, if you want to be in better shape physically by the end of 2020, you would want to write “lose weight” or “workout more.”
The general direction is almost like an inspiration board, but with words. If visuals help you more, you can even create a vision board for each category, too.
Specific Goals
This is where you would make the complete list of your specific goals. If you wrote in your general direction section that you wanted to lose weight, a specific goal would be “lose 10 pounds.”
Make sure that your goals are attainable and that they are something that you have control over.
I used to make goals for my blog every year that I didn’t have control over. I would say that I wanted to have 500 email subscribers by the end of the year, but I really couldn’t make that happen because I don’t have control over what other people do.
However, I can make a goal to write a blog post once a week. That is attainable and, if I work at it, I can achieve it.
Game Plan
The “game plan” is how you plan to specifically attack your goals. If you have a goal to wake up every weekday at 7 AM to go to the gym, your game plan could look something like this:
- Set my alarm for 7 AM and place my phone on the other side of the room so I have to get out of bed to turn it off.
- Lay out my gym clothes and prep my gym bag the night before.
- Fill up a water bottle and put it in the fridge the night before.
- Get my pre-workout shake ready.
This is the sequence you need to have in place so you can make sure that you successfully reach your goals. If you can’t make a game plan for one of your specific goals, then you probably don’t have an achievable goal. Try to reword it or work on how you think it can be achieved.
Read More:
Ten Things I Learned During My First Year of Marriage
The Best Packing and Moving Tips
Self Care Pamper Routine
Plan Out The Quarter – Not The Whole Year
This one might sound a little strange considering all the information I just gave you, but hear me out.
When you plan an entire year’s goals and you never really look back on the list, it’s easy to forget or fall back in to your old habits.
Planning your year in quarters is honestly an incredible way to refocus your mind and motivate you to keep moving forward. When physical seasons and life seasons change throughout the year, it’s the perfect time to reevaluate your goals and the game plan you originally set in place.
Start planning for the next quarter the month before it begins. This way, you will be able to analyze your current progress and evaluate if your current game plan is going to keep working for you in the next quarter.
Accountability
Nothing makes you stay true to your word more than having someone make sure you do what you say you’re going to do.
Whether you have a close friend keep you accountable or if you join a Facebook group, have some sort of accountability to keep you on track.
If you’re looking for a Facebook group that empowers women to do everything they were made to do, check out my group Girls Who Do Everything.
I am planning to stay accountable two ways (and I am just a little nervous about both of them!):
- I am going to write a blog post EVERY WEEK. Even if it’s short or even a little sloppy, I’m going to write one every week. This is going to be my digital journal to document my journey.
- I am going to post a YouTube video once a week. This will also be to document the process of the who Show Up Project.
Tools
Once you make these lists of goals and plans, you need to keep track of your progress. Here are a few tools that you can use to help:
- Bullet Journal: This dot grid journal would be a great way to start a bullet journal for 2020.
- Planner: This is my favorite planner from Michael’s. It comes with stickers, too!
- Smart Watch: This smart watch from Target will help track of your health goals. I got this exact one and I’ll be sharing how it works for me on my Instagram.
Also, I made a FREE downloadable workbook for you to plan out all of your goals for 2020.
I hope you’ll follow along with this journey. I’m definitely not perfect in any sense of the word, but I hope that you are inspired by what I share with you.
Let me know one of your goals for the new year. I love to chat and we can encourage each other to keep up with our goals!
