Over the last week, I mostly spent my time trying to get back in the swing of things, particularly focusing on my annual goals. After weeks of bad habits, I needed a wakeup call. While I’m far from where I’d like to be, taking small steps to get back to a “good place” is all I can do now.
Re-Evaluating Goals
At the end of last year, I was feeling highly motivated and happy with the accomplishments I made in 2019. Kicking off this year, I was ready to tackle a number of tough goals that would really push me out of my comfort zone. As we all know, this has been a challenging year and emotionally draining.
While it’s certainly possible to accomplish goals in trying times, it certainly becomes an additional challenge. My biggest hangup was questioning the legitimacy of my goals when there are so many bigger problems in the world. At times, I would feel pessimistic about something as little as reading some more books when the world was literally on fire. This pessimism shifted from concerns about problems to avoiding them.
Falling off hard into a spiral of escapism for a few weeks somehow reminded me that even the little things can be important. With the little time left in the year, I wanted to review my goals and determine what I could still accomplish with the little time remaining and what I could change to still progress toward the underlying objective.
Easy Solution – Lists
One of the biggest practices I’ve used for getting back on track has been making a daily list of what I need to accomplish; starting small helps make progress possible. Lists have helped significantly in getting me focused on what I need to get done. Setting a standard for myself to complete a few tasks to progress my goals builds momentum, something I terribly need.
In addition to the daily list, weekly goals help direct what those daily tasks should consist of. What I determine to get done in a week is often a step needed in my annual goals, though not always.
For example, this week, I’d like to have ordered a first aid kit as part of my goal for enacting an emergency plan. The weekly goal is to order the supplies for one, but one of my daily goals was simply to reach out to a friend and ask a question I had for him. The daily goal helps complete the weekly goal, and the weekly assists the annual.
Making progress each day, even if it’s the smallest step, may help me rebuild the severely lost momentum.
Trying Out Before Buying In 