Change is in the air: Now is the perfect time for new goals

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There is something about September – maybe its the brisk breeze, the shorter days or Ian heading back to work/school, that brings change into my life. This change isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does bring a lot of introspection. What do I want to do? How will I fill my time? Where do I go next?

Not so long ago, these questions would bring anxiety and stress into my life, but by getting into intentional goal setting, I have been able to add direction to my days and keep my anxiety over the future at bay.

Goals = Challenges

I really struggled with setting intentional goals. My ideas didn’t seem ‘enough’ and the word Goal was something I fixated on. Was what I wanted good enough? Was I not dreaming big enough? How can a word bring such anxiety and chaos in my life?

This changed when I started to view goals as mini-challenges. Challenges are things that I’ve always welcomed in my life. This shift in thinking changed everything for me. Now, my goals/challenges are something I think about daily and set often.  I shared some of my 2019 goals before, but alas life doesn’t always go the way you want it. That’s why I find September a perfect time to rethink, redefine and accept new challenges. It’s 6 weeks until Canadian Thanksgiving, 16 weeks until Christmas. Now is the time to set an intention that can help make my life better, fuller and happier.

Intentional Goal Setting

To help come up with challenges,I think of the different areas of my life. For me personally, this broke down to Health, Work, This Blog, and Personal. Other’s may want to add Financial goals, Vacation, Romantic or even Organizational/House goals.

Within these sections, I then write out a couple of things that I would like to accomplish within that area – Lose 5lbs, Finish a certain project, Grow my community, Sleep better. By writing out my ideas I can already start to see my priorities.

This time around, 2 sections really stuck out; my health and growing this blog.  Now that I knew these areas were my priority, I could come up with an actionable plan – little steps that I can take daily/weekly so I can meet my 6 weeks/Thanksgiving goals.

My Health Goal Break Down:

I will lose 5 lbs by Thanksgiving. To check my progress, I will have weekly weigh-ins as checkpoints.

To create my actionable plan, I broke down my weightloss into sections:

• Food
• Fitness
• Sleep

By breaking down and setting mini-intentions within each of these groups, I now have a plan that is:

• Clear on its intention
• Measurable
• Realistic
• Bound by a time period

What this looks like in practice for me:

I personally, write down my goals in my planner – a Bullet Journal-esque book that I can use to track my progress and add to my plan if need be. I thought it may be helpful to see this in action! It’s not pretty, nor does it have to be – it’s practical, with a plan to get ‘Er done!

General Goals

Health Goals with plan

Weight loss tracker – my overarching goal for the rest of the year

This weight-loss tracker is measuring my overall goal. I’d like to lose 15lbs before 2020 begins – and to do so, I have my mini-goals (5lbs by Oct 13), as well as mini rewards to acknowledge my work along the way.

How do you set your intentions/challenges/goals? What tips would you share to someone that is new to setting goals?

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