We’re well into Spring in the UK, we’ve even seen the sun!
Spring is my favourite season. The days are getting lighter, the weather is warmer and there’s new growth everywhere.
It’s an inspiring time.
I don’t know about you, but it feels like it was a very long time ago that I set my new years goals!
Now is the perfect time to revisit them.
Here are 3 ways to reassess your goals and re-engage with what matters. We’ve still got 9 months left of this year to get them done 🙂
What’s changed in your values?
As you worked towards the goals you set in January, things might have changed in your life and given you new priorities for what’s important to you now.
So grab your list of goals and for each goal ask yourself:
Does this goal still reflect what matters most to me right now?
It can be a good time to do a check in with your values using the values affirmation activity.
See if your goals still align with your top three values. If they don’t, then it’s time to replace them.
The main goal I set in January was:
Make 2 YouTube videos per week
But given how long each video takes to make, creating two a week doesn’t give me enough time to build anything else.
One of my core values of Freedom. And having all my time in a week given over to making two videos is not in alignment with that.
Do a Goal Energy Audit
Take a look at your goals and ask yourself how you feel about it.
This can be a very instinctive two second reaction.
- Do I feel excited? Or drained?
If your goal feels heavy every time you look at it, then you might need to change it or delete it. You’re more likely to follow through on goals that feel exciting.
- Do I feel pulled towards it? Or pushed?
If your goals feel like they are born from some external pressures, arbitrary sense of obligation or someone else’s expectations, then you’ll not feel motivated to do them and may even come to resent them.
Looking at my 2 YouTube videos per week goal, it feels weighty. I feel pushed towards it rather than pulled. It’s born from a sense of wanting my channel to grow faster so I can start earning money from it, rather than going at a pace that’s sustainable and allows time to learn, reflect and be creative.
Recast one goal for this season
Choose one goal that you still care about and update it to reflect what’s going on right now.
Give yourself the best chance of actually achieving it by not just writing the goal, but also planning and scheduling when you’ll take action toward it and how you’ll deal with obstacles.
Write it using the WOOP method by Gabriele Oettingen.
Wish
What do you want?
Outcome
What’s the best possible result?
Obstacle
What might get in your way?
Plan
What will you do when obstacles arise? Plan solutions to them in advance.
My revised video goal now looks like this:
“I will publish 1 YouTube video per week on a Wednesday or Thursday. I will write the outline on Monday mornings and film on Monday evenings when the house is quiet after Mark finishes work. I’ll edit on Tuesday afternoons and Wednesday mornings. We are entering the UK bank holiday season. If Monday is a bank holiday, I’ll write the outline the week before and record on Tuesday evenings instead. If I am taking more time off I will not stress about making a video. It is ok to miss an upload.”
This might seem like a long goal! But it’s making me think about the issues that are going to come up in the next couple of months.
As I’ve been writing this newsletter I’ve been updating my Google calendar with the new plan!
Set a New Quarterly Goal
If you’ve revised your goals and cleared some off your list it might have made room for something new!
Ask yourself:
What do you want to do more of this season?
Where do you want to be by the end of June?
I think it’s much better to set 3 monthly goals rather than yearly because you regularly check in with yourself and 3 months is easier to imagine than 12.
I don’t set more than 3 goals to focus on per quarter because it’s hard to make meaningful progress on more than that.
My three goals (the short, non WOOP versions) are:
- Publish 1 YouTube video a week
- Play 6 songs with lyrics from memory on the ukulele
- Decide on the first product and start making it
Any progress is still progress
I hope this has inspired you to check back in with your goals and give them a bit of a boost.
Remember that any progress, however small is still progress.
Well done you for going after the things that you want instead of waiting for your life to happen!
Emily xxx
My latest video
My latest video is about how fear of failure is holding you back! I unpack the psychology behind the fear of failure and how to reframe fear so it works for you, not against you.