I mark this day on my calendar every year, out of pure necessity. I make New Year’s Resolutions and personal and business goals, like everyone else, in January. They are loosely based off of the goals of the previous years, and more than one goal rolls over from year to year, I’m sorry to say.
I tend to look at financial goals on a quarterly basis, but I don’t check in as often on other goals, so this point in the year is crucial for me. Typically, I realize that I have lost site of some of the goals, some are now less important or even moot. I should probably limit myself to less than 10 goals, but I write down everything at New Year’s which makes checking in all the more important.
For 2024, I made goals based on 3 categories: Home, Personal and Professional. This morning, for mid-year check in, I pulled out those lists and crossed off any goals that have been completed (there were three - yay!), highlighted any items that I definitely want to focus on, (this is about half of the items listed), and added a couple of the items to my July To-Do List, and a couple to my August To-Do Lists. I keep these in the front of my calendar a daytimer, yes I am old school! I check the monthly lists every week and adjust accordingly. Now I will focus on the highlighted items for the rest of the year, and revisit if by some miracle I complete them - I know myself, and it isn’t likely that I will complete them, so they will roll over to next year, and that is ok.
After a short assessment, I know why I haven’t made much progress on my goals. When I wrote them, I did not expect to have a death in the family, nor did I expect to have a Flower Farm this year. I thought that we would start our farm in 2-3 years. I also did not fully realize how much time and effort the Flower Farm would take. I consider these valid excuses for not completing goals, and to be fair, my goals shifted based on the death in our family. I am not beating myself up about being behind on some goals, because I was presented with an opportunity to pursue a dream and I jumped on it. Priorities shifted. I also did not know in January that I would have a full calendar of weddings for the year. As of January 1, I only had two contracts, and I ended up with six for the year. I have also written estimates for several more in 2024 and 2025. The unexpected blessings are welcome, so I re-prioritize and adjust.
I do feel an urgency about some personal goals. For one, I haven’t been exercising much at all, and this was a goal that I placed high importance on. I have been working a lot in the garden, and my step count has increased, but I wanted to add strength training to the mix and that hasn’t happened. I also haven’t been reading, and I increased my book goal from 12 last year to 15 this year. I think I have read maybe 4 books so far? Also, we still do not have our Fall travel planned out, and available dates on our calendars are quickly filling up! This is where I feel the pressure most, so these items are now at the top of the list.
The area where I have made some progress is in our home and garden. I crossed off 3 goals upon review this morning. We planted a buffer flower bed beside our parking pad, we planted some plants that I had been wanting to try in our home garden, and we re-painted our kitchen cabinets.
Ideally, the rest of the year, I will review the highlighted goals more frequently, and make steady progress on the most important goals.
Here’s a quick outline of how to complete your mid-year goal check-in:
1). Pull out your goals from January. Cross off any goals you have achieved or that are no longer applicable.
2). Identify challenges - what are the excuses you have, are they reasonable?
3). Re-prioritize your goals based on what is happening now. You have six months left to complete goals rather than the full year that was ahead when you first wrote these. What will you reasonably complete by the end of the year OR which items are most important to complete by the end of the year. Ideally, this activity should cut your list in half, since you have half the time to complete the goals.
4). Get ruthless about how you spend your time. If you are not working, then you aren’t achieving your goals. What is your time nemesis? Is it scrolling social media? Binging shows on netflix? Sleeping in longer than you once did? Identify and adjust accordingly.
5). Celebrate the small wins. Did you meet your reading goal? Reward yourself with another book or an extra hour to do something fun. If you jump right into the next goal, it will be mundane and routine without marking the accomplishment with a reward!
6). Set a calendar reminder for every month for the rest of the year to review your goals. Nothing motivates me more than the end of year countdown, or in some cases, end of month countdown, end of week, you get the idea. Set some hard goals for finish dates and focus on one thing at a time until you can check it off the list. The thrill of accomplishment will motivate you - on to the next thing!
What are your tips for goal setting and achieving goals? I’d love to hear them!
