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Crossing End-of-Year Goals off Your List

While I have accomplished a great deal this year, there are still some goals that I want to be able to cross off of my list.

Much has been written on the pros and cons of setting goals. I know for some it can be daunting and we can feel like a failure if the goal isn’t reached or it doesn’t meet our expectation. Some people prefer to just set intentions and omit goals all together. I believe goals and intentions are powerful tools for manifesting the lives that we want for ourselves.

For the sake of this post I am going to focus on goals. If this is problematic for you I think it is worth investigating why that is. Why do you feel like a failure if your goals are not reached in a specific way? What is keeping you tied to your expectations? Ask yourself questions like this to really get to the bottom of it.

If you have been following my journal, you know that I am all about getting my goals down on paper and then creating action steps for each goal. These action steps are what get me to my goal—they are the path. I like to organize my action steps in a spreadsheet to keep them organized and to keep myself accountable. Remember, these are your goals, it isn’t anyone’s job but your own to make them a reality.

There has been this awesome anonymous quote floating around the internet recently that applies beautifully to the goal process:

“Yoga is not about touching your toes, it’s about what you learn on the way down.”

This idea is front and center when it comes to our goals, it really is about the journey and the process. Take action now and list out your goals of the remainder of the year. Next create several action steps for each goal. Get your actions steps in your calendar and keep those appointments to yourself.

xoa

2 Comments

  • Meg

    LOVE this entry. Really struck a chord. And perfect timing.

    One HUGE thing I have done this year to create more accountability is to design “goal boards”, the equivalent of a “mood board” and similar to a vision board in that it contains images, quotes, sayings, and other bits of inspiration, along with calendar pages for daily goals, weekly check ins, and monthly projects. As much as I love my iPhone, and sync with my Outlook calendar, I love having the visual above my desk in office as I move through my day as support and to reference what am working on and moving toward. I also keep an “old school” day planner, which I fill with affirmations and images to sustain me, to help track priorities, goals, and such, and to document the day in, day out, stuff. I call it my “Journeying Journal”.

    This year I am moving away from technology and inward, in creating a supportive environment of living, healing, and learning. I feel far more expansive when am not tied down, and don’t have to plug in to recharge.

    New Year and Every Day Blessings!

    • ashley

      Meg!
      Sorry it’s taken a while to respond to this, holiday work and travel have been very time consuming as I’m sure you understand.
      I LOVE your idea for goal boards – that is great. Having a tactile visual in the home is important for me as well. Plus, taking the time to cut and paste I find to be very therapeutic. I keep an old school planner too, I kist can’t bring myself to be 100% digital. There is something different that happens when I put pen to paper.
      Your Journeying Journal sounds a lot like these sketchbooks I kept all through art school. I saved them all and occasionally I look back through them and they are so telling about my life then. This is a great practice and I am glad you are doing it. You’re inspiring me to get back to something like that – thank you!
      I love where you’re headed this year, it really resonates with me.
      Wishing you a Happy New Year!
      xoa

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