Will 2022 Be Any Different?
New year, new me? COVID Season 3? Feeling ‘22? Whatever your new 2022 tagline is, let us be honest about one thing, most people do not change anything from one year to another.
Happy New Year! I hope that you had a wonderful, safe holiday surrounded by those you love.
I don’t know about you, but the new year doesn’t do much for me. The holiday at least. Most people take the new year as a chance to make all these ‘changes’ about themselves that we ultimately know never really happen. By this time, we all know what to expect when we begin hearing our friends and family talk about New Year and what is to come. For many, the recycled resolutions of; working out, eating healthier, and saving more. Sound about right?
For myself, I tend to stay away from making resolutions. Instead, I focus on setting goals. Goals ultimately depict desirable outcomes that have yet been achieved. Now alongside those goals, I create a game plan to outline exactly how I plan on achieving those said goals. That means identifying the new habits I will be focusing on creating. After all, the consistency of actions is what ultimately leads us to real, measurable change.
While others set resolutions that they are bound to forget about have the first two weeks of the year, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to share a new side of myself with you guys. I wanted to share some of the goals I created for myself for the next year; from both a personal and professional standpoint. Additionally, I wanted to highlight the tool I utilize when setting my goals. This method is something that I have been doing since 2018, so I do have a bit of practice with it and have seen many results with this method, which is why I am confident in sharing it with you guys.
What is the proper way to set goals?
First, reflect upon your year to see what you have already done well. It is essential to realize your growth and success at the moment; all the small wins and the changes for the better need to be appreciated.
Then break down areas for improvement. I like to break down life into seven categories; family, friends, relationships, work/school, spirituality, body, and mental health. From here, I list 2-3 things that I would like to either see implemented and/or improved in my life in each of these categories.
Lastly, I identify tangible goals for each of the respective categories that will allow me to see those positive changes. The most important concept to keep in mind with step 3 is using the S.M.A.R.T. goals method. Every goal gets tested through this method to ensure practicality.
Specific: Specificity in goals is critical in narrowing your goals for effective planning. When relevant, set real numbers with real deadlines.
Measurable: Identify a way to prove you’re making progress. Your progress must be trackable to gauge your performance and growth to make necessary adjustments along the way.
Attainable: Make sure the goal can realistically be accomplished within the set timeframe.
Realistic: Be honest with yourself. Ask yourself if it is possible to challenge yourself to meet this goal without trying to take on too much, too quickly. Ask yourself, does this goal align with my values and long-term goals. If not, then adjust your goals to ensure that it serves a great purpose.
Timely: Set a realistic and ambitious end time for prioritization and extra motivation.
Catch up on what you may have missed.
This year I decided to share a few of my own goals with you:
Personal Goals:
Strengthen my relationship with God. He has me on an assignment, which means I need to continue to put my faith in Him while focusing on doing the work down here. Without Him, I am nothing and have nothing.
Continue to invest in my skin. Facial skincare this past year was a huge point of emphasis to me, so this next year I would like to begin focusing on the health of my skin all over my body. This is a form of self-care of me. Self-care is not selfish, it is important.
Maintain focus on understanding myself while working with my wonderful therapist on ways I can become a better version of myself. This includes identifying and working through life’s traumas, setting and enforcing boundaries and maintain progress with increasing my self-awareness.
Daily affirmations. The power of the tongue is so unequivocally strong. What the mind thinks, the mouth will speak. I am choosing to focusing on all things positive. This year I chose to live as my true, authentic self. I think it’s about time that I fall in love with myself.
Become a more effective communicator. We have two ears and one mouth, it’s only right to listen more than I speak. As someone who literally won “most talkative” for senior superlatives in high school, this is quite the challenge. All jokes aside, it is my goal this year to continue working on actively listening to others to best understand them and their needs while also allowing myself to work on better expressing myself and my needs.
Promote growth within my relationships by meeting people where they need to be met. This focus includes showing up for them and expressing my love to them in ways that they receive it best, rather than how I receive it. The old saying, "treat people the way you wish to be treated," usually is embodied with great intentions, can sometimes have us missing the point. After all, we all have different love languages.
Read 20 books this year. Last year my goal was to read 12 books, once a month. As I have previously shared, I surprised myself by not only hitting that goal but exceeding it. I finished the year with 40 books even. This year I am increasing my goal slightly since I am mindful of my other goals. I plan on focusing a new level of attention on other areas this year, therefore setting a goal of 20 is realistic.
Move back to Texas. My goodness I miss having my own space, I need that back. California is too expensive for my liking which is why I am leaning back to Dallas. I truly loved being in that city and it gave me a deep sense of grounding.
Focus on paying off student debt. I want to be debt free as soon as possible which is why my emphasis this year is to really have that taken care of.
Career Goals:
Use my blog as a means of connecting with you, no matter where you are in the world. I want to continue serving you with information that most interests you, which will require me to engage with you guys more heavily.
Start my YouTube channel to share vlogs of all my travels. I am overly excited to get started with this new venture.
Grow all my social platforms: Instagram, Pinterest, Tik-Tok, LikeToKnow.it and Youtube. My main focus is growing with high engagement.
Travel to at least five (5) more states in the U.S.
Get back to international traveling. I have a few things in the pipeline already. I am praying everything works out and traveling continues to be safe.
Capitalize on my opportunity as an EF Ultimate Break ambassador to continue to share this resource with you. EF makes traveling accessible at a budget-friendly rate for all those 18-30-years-old.
Take classes in video editing and design. I must stay a student to keep learning and growing. The information that we don’t know is what ultimately hurts us.
Double all profits. Expand into new partnerships and multiply streams of income.