Making Realistic Goals

“If you prioritize yourself, you are going to save yourself” — Gabrielle Union

Why do we give ourselves goals? And how many of them are realistic?

I have been thinking about this question lately. We put pressure on ourselves to achieve certain accolades and accomplishments. But how many of those accomplishments are we hitting? 

I view goals as things I want to accomplish within a certain time frame. Not only that, but I craft goals around what I need and want during that time. And once I achieve that goal, I make new ones to challenge myself and push my boundaries.

I give myself daily, weekly, and monthly goals. It might seem like a lot, but trust me, it helps.

We get so focused on our day-to-day lives that we forget to slow down and see what we need to do to be more content and successful. Even the smallest goal can make the biggest difference.

Daily expectations/goals are good things to have. You hold yourself accountable for what you do and feel accomplished at the end of the day. Daily goals are low-stakes.

One daily goal of mine is to hit all three of the rings on my Apple watch. I expect to hit all three rings because I feel good completing a ring. And because I sit a lot during work, my rings are set to where I should challenge myself to get up and walk around more. I also wear my Apple watch most days.

Monthly goals are mid-stake. Monthly goals help you to stay on track with what needs to be done to be accomplished. Some people like to have deadlines, while others work under pressure. Do what works best for you, but give yourself enough time to set the goal, and see what needs to be done to achieve the goal. 

A monthly goal for me is writing a blog post. Full transparency, it’s almost a year since I wrote a post. I love writing, but the passion was lost. Life was running me weary to the point where I would start a draft and then leave it alone. I wanted to do 1-3 monthly posts, which I know I can’t do currently. So by giving myself a month, I can put in the effort I need to make good quality content.

Now long-term goals are tricky, and this is where I tend to slide off the path. When I think of vision boards, my mind immediately goes to vision boards. Making a vision board is very helpful, but what also helps is setting those small checkpoints every so often to make sure that you’re staying on track. 

And if you don’t hit your goals, trust me, it’s not the end of the world. You do not, and should not, feel bad. You have the chance to try again tomorrow. But what you shouldn’t do is give up on yourself. Some goals might be easy, and that’s fine. But you should have challenging goals.

So dust off those projects that have been on the shelves for months or years. And work your way to achieving them. Believe in yourself.