Here's the goals I never accomplished.
Want to know a secret about me? I'm not very good at traditional goals.
My husband, however, is amazing at goals. He sets a high goal, creates an organized plan, achieves said goal. Level accomplished, rinse and repeat. He's annoyingly good at focus and achievement and it shows in his career and hobbies.
But my goal setting goes more like this:
- think about setting a time to think about setting a goal
- create about a million goals
- pick 1000 of those goals, 900 of which are goals that I think other people want me to do (Hello I'm an Enneagram 9.)
- listen to music to get me pumped up
- take a nap from too much pumped up music- ignore 999 goals and quietly do what I want anyway
- reach one goal that was really important to me, years later
- be content and happy my one sparkly, lovely goal- rinse and repeat
My philosophy on goals is more "throw a wide net and see what survives" rather than clear and concise goals with a plan.
Exhibit A: Here is a list of goals I never accomplished over the years:
- learn how to make donuts at home
- enter into a body building contest (lolololololololololololol)
- learn to skateboard (I decided I preferred functioning wrists and knees)
- make homemade juice every day (I'm STILL cleaning the juicer from 2015)
- get to fourth level in dressage
- becoming a "fun" mom (sigh)
- open a brick and mortar women's wellness facility
- earn a private pilot's license (Maybe someday still?)
- teach my kids how to ride/ love horses (They hated it and I'm still a little bitter)
- do yoga consistently
But you know what? I'm starting to think that this is a lovely plan for me and my personality. Because what survives are the things that really matter to me. And I don't give up on them. And what doesn't survive serves me well too. How on earth would I have ever figured out that juicing was (for me) the ninth rung of hell if I hadn't tried to do it every day for the rest of my life?
Then there are a few big goals I just never gave up on, no matter what, no matter how long it took. I just. kept. going.
Exhibit B: Here is a short list of goals I eventually accomplished:
- earning a Ph.D.
- taking care of the skin on my face
- getting a book deal with a big publisher (more on that in 2020, wink, wink)
I may not be great at goals in the more traditional way like my sweet hubs, but I have learned to give myself validation for the way that I go about achievement. I'm a long and slow, never give up, process-oriented kind of achiever. And that is perfect for me.
So what kind of goal-getter are you?
Most of all, as we go into the New Year, I want you to remember that even though accomplishment can be a positive part of your life, no goal or achievement will make you more worthy than you are right in this very precious moment. You don't have to do ANYTHING to be exactly enough.
I love you!
Celeste