By now, you all know I write blogs about living your best life, with an additional travel blog thrown in now and again. Over the past four years, I’ve shared my experiences, exploring and testing various strategies to improve every aspect of our lives—health, relationships, career, and personal growth. Living with a debilitating autoimmune disease has been a significant part of my journey.
I’ve tried to avoid overly fluffy inspiration. I mean, “living your best life” conjures up images of flawless yoga poses on a beach at sunrise, but let’s be real: for most of us, it’s more like juggling flaming torches on a unicycle while praying the smoke alarm doesn’t go off. Between the avalanche of self-help books, overpriced wellness gadgets, and those annoyingly perfect Instagram influencers, it’s easy to feel like you’re one kale smoothie away from cracking the code. But hopefully, my blogs take real life into account, and I include insights from my professional experience, training, and actionable tips. I hope you’ve found them to be an honest account of what has worked for me and what hasn’t.
With that in mind, this month, I’ll discuss simple steps to improve every day by setting goals and sticking to them. But first, let me explain why we need them!
Goals give us a sense of purpose. Without goals, we feel lost, indecisive, and often unhappy. We may also feel directionless, unmotivated, and stuck in a cycle of routine without purpose.
Many of us lead incredibly busy lives and become too preoccupied to focus on what truly matters. Concentrating on the goals that shape our dreams can be challenging, but it is essential to prioritise them. Doing so isn’t selfish; everyone around you benefits when you achieve your aspirations.
Additionally, some people lack motivation and spend excessive time on platforms like Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, or Facebook instead. Although they may have good intentions, they often put off their goals for another day and another!
Now, you’re beginning to see why so few people truly live their best lives. And it gets even more difficult because if we ever get around to setting our goals, we rarely stick to them. So here’s the best bit: I’ll share some very simple tips on how to make goals work for you.
Before I do, I want to recognise those going through an incredibly difficult time. Setting goals might be beneficial for you as well. Goals can help keep your thoughts focused instead of drifting into worst-case scenarios. They also allow you to channel your energy and inspire hope, essential for overcoming the despair you may be feeling; remember, it won’t last forever.
So, let’s start by thinking about our aspirations. Jamie and I had some big goals. Earlier in our life they revolved around family, career progression and saving as much as we could for our future. When we set up our own business, we had a financial and business plan, but we didn’t lose sight of our longer-term goal to be as fit as possible and mortgage-free by the time we reached 60 and then see as much of the world as we can 😊
Your goals can vary widely dependent on where you are in your life. For instance, you might aim for financial stability and create a longer-term plan to reduce debt. Alternatively, your focus could be on personal growth and development, practising mindfulness, or even exploring a new hobby.
Now that you’ve thought it over and made your choices, you’re ready for the important part. I try to keep things as simple as possible for those like me who have a short attention span. It couldn’t be easier than this, but YOU STILL HAVE TO DO IT!
- Write them down. Carefully. … If you don’t, you won’t achieve them!
- Tell someone. Telling someone you know about your goals increases the likelihood that you’ll stick to them.
- Break your goals down. This is especially important for big goals. …
- Plan your first step. …
- Keep going. Every day will get better as you take pride in your progress.
- Don’t give up; treat life’s obstacles like a game of dodgeball: duck, weave, and continue moving forward.
- Celebrate even the small steps
“Setting goals is like telling your future self, ‘Hey, let’s make sure we don’t disappoint each other this time.’ Whether your goal is to get fit and run a 5K or to stop losing socks in the washing machine, it’s important to start small, dream big, and maybe keep a snack handy for those moments when you need a little motivation to keep going.”
Finally, a big thank you for sticking around. Share this with your friends if you liked it or your enemies if you didn’t; they deserve the confusion 😊
Until next time xx
Living-your-best-life 