Time to Hit the Restart Button

Posted on by whateveryousay12013

fall leaves

Photo credit: humbledavenport.com

The display of fall colors is beginning to show.  For me, the beginning of the year is September!  I know that technically, January 1st is the beginning of the year because that is when every new calendar year starts.  But other than a date change, it’s just not the beginning to me.  September means ‘hit the restart button’. I’ve felt this way since I was a young girl.

RestartButton USE THIS ONE                                                                    Photo credit: imgarcade.com

Maybe it’s because school always starts at this time of year?  Maybe it’s because the new TV line up starts in the fall?  Maybe it’s because the United Methodist Church, with which I am pretty involved, runs on a fall-to-summer schedule?  Maybe it’s a combination of all of these things?  Regardless, every September I find myself thinking ‘time to restart.’  And this fall season is no exception. I literally have butterflies in my stomach thinking of the possibilities!

I am busy setting goals for this final third of 2017.  Some are continued but reviewed (and maybe tweaked a bit), some are new.  They include writing goals, health & fitness goals, and financial goals, to name a few.  I know that may sound like a lot, but if goals are broken down into reasonable bites, they are manageable.  And trackable.  They need to be manageable and trackable or you’ll get overwhelmed and possibly lose sight of what you set out to achieve in the first place.

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” – Tony Robbins

I wholeheartedly believe this.  Many goals start with a thought like this: “I wish I could lose 25 pounds.” The key is to take a thought like that and work backwards, putting the steps in place to get to that point. That’s really goal setting in a nutshell.

I believe that setting goals, real, achievable goals, takes dreams out of the ‘someday’ realm and makes them a reality.  And when you measure and track them, the results are motivating and should be celebrated!

What are some of your goal setting tips?  What do you find are the best ways to motivate yourself to set goals?

 

Judy

Getting ready

Posted on by whateveryousay12013

2016 is almost passed.  It’s time to start thinking about goals for 2017.  Before I go any further, I want to say that I don’t use the word ‘resolutions’ because, after all these years, it sounds fake.  I remember setting New Year’s resolutions starting back when I was a teen.  But they were rarely ever reached.

Looking back, I think that is because I never really put anything behind them.  They were vague.  I guess I never really took them too seriously.  That’s still how I think about the word ‘resolution’ today.  It’s kind of silly.  But that’s just me….

Instead, I use the word GOALS. Goals seem more real, more serious.  When I say serious, I don’t mean boring or unattainable.  I just mean they are substantial and worthy.

I set goals for 2016 and some didn’t make it.  That both frustrates and fuels me.  I’m frustrated that I missed the mark on some of them that were, and are still, important to me.  But this also fuels me.  I’m determined to figure out where I went wrong.

  • Were they too vague?
  • Were they unmeasurable so I lost sight of them?
  • Were they too big and I ended up feeling overwhelmed?

The goal categories, as I call them, still remain the same: HEALTH, CAREER, FINANCES, CHURCH, HOME

But the goals themselves need to be tweaked, maybe.  And it wouldn’t hurt to review the paths to these goals, too. This week is a week of review and renew!  I will review the old plan and create a new one for 2017.

Have you started working on your goals for 2017?