Does Anyone Keep Their Annual Goals Anymore?

It’s moving on in July now, and we’ve had half of a year to show at least something toward our goals. So many personally have decided to toss their annual goal setting out the window. Why? Is it because they just couldn’t meet them year after year and didn’t want to be disappointed when they realized they didn’t make an effort or didn’t meet them? Or perhaps they set the wrong goals for themselves? Or perhaps time or life’s situation simply were not on their side. Or it might be their goal just to live and let live freely without being pressured for improvement. For any one struggling with this out there. I thought I would post how I deal with goal setting. And how I’ve found success in the past with such a busy schedule.

How to Approach and Set Goals for the Future

I know that I spend a lot of time thinking about what my goals will be but they are in line with the direction that I’m wanting to go. I often will keep a list in the back of my planner for things I want to try to accomplish or do. I don’t often just sit with a pen and write them all down at once. They come to me over time. And speaking of time, there is not always a lot of it, so it’s important to be reasonable and not too aggressive with the goal setting. That said though, the more aggressive they are, the more you might accomplish.

Regardless of how you approach it, definitely “make that list”. Here are my goals for 2022 and my mid year look at how I’m doing.

• Appearance – I’m not sure any amount of work could help the cause (jokingly) but after the pandemic I have at least worn make up and have developed a new hair style. I still need some work especially with making the hair look nice, but I’m improved over last year!
• Nutrition Changes – I wanted to include more greens and fruits in my diet, less beef, and eat a more balanced diet. I will say that I have accomplished this. It’s not perfect. I still love sweets sometimes. Adding a food program where we order kits from the outside (Hello Fresh and this is not sponsored, lol) aided in that and I could do a whole blog post on this! But it’s helping us get in the good nutrition and helping with the volume of how much we eat in a setting.
• Cutting the cable. Done. I did the research to make sure we were doing the right thing. Figured out which streaming with Live TV that we wanted (Hulu) and made the calls to cancel cable and signed up for streaming and all is set and we have cost savings to offset all these rising prices in our economy. Yeah I know, we should have done it a long time ago. I didn’t want to zap anything George liked to watch or mess with his TV set up so I approached this slowly over a long period of time and made sure he was on board. We did it.
• House Cameras. Done. Yeah we may buy more but adding a few every year is good. How many does one need? lol. Cameras are up for the house perimeters and that is a good thing. Yay! This is really George’s project so he gets the credit for hanging them. I just put it on the list because in this day and age I think it is necessary.
• Jewelry project. Yeah some of my goals are not that major and that is ok. I have a big armoire full of costume jewelry, and a few silver pieces. I don’t invest in expensive jewelry unless it’s pieces that are worn all the time. But it’s time to go in and purge and polish and fix and I do this about every 4 years or so. Then I wish I hadn’t b/c the styles come back, lol lol! I’ve put this off b/c it’s not really fun unless I’m in the mood. I’d usually rather be editing a video! But I thought if I put it on the list maybe I’d get to it. Not yet.
• Camera Learning. Canon EOS M50. I want to learn about my camera and how to use it in all situations not just in automatic mode. I also want to learn how to vlog with it. I’ve watched numerous videos but there are some official pieces of training by Canon and others that I feel will be helpful but I usually don’t take the time to do it. I did order some cheat cards to study which I did on our vacation. Yes I’m geeky. I’ve not learned what I feel I should know and I have not carved the time to do it. So some progress made but over time I lose what I’ve learned b/c I end up using my iPhone for cameras and videos.The iPhone is much improved and getting the job done. But I’m still committed to using my camera! I’ve got to work on using my camera every day! So I’m saying NOT DONE!
• Vlog Growth. My vlog is growing and particularly in the last month as I’ve got more editing done and more videos up in a shorter period. More people are subscribing at a higher rate at least. Time is not on my side. I fight with time all the time! We work FT and now I’m caretaking a lot of hours in the week for my Mom who does not drive and trying to sustain her in her villa house as opposed to assisted living, which may not be far down the road. I am trying to “learn all the things” as I can and to keep growing. Some success here but never as much as I’d wanted. It’s ok. I know it’s hard. I am not even looking for $ for a short term goal for that, as much as just a community of followers, but in the retirement years to make a little side money from it from ads would be nice. So some success and I feel it will do better when I can get to a weekly schedule when I retire.
• Blog Growth. The blog has grown over time little by little and keeps growing but not the success that I see some do. So I wanted to do some research on SEO and other ideas. My one thing though is that I want to be true to myself. I am a “reality” blogger or a “lifestyle” blogger so it’s about my life and sharing things I’m learning and what I’m doing and to help and/or entertain (lol) others. I’m not here to fake anything or be something I’m not. So I’ve said all along I’m doing this blog for me to walk through things I’m doing and learning, but helping others while I do it. That said if there are things I can focus on – switches, buttons, widgets, titles, bullets, pictures, or other easy things I could be doing differently, I don’t want to miss out on those things so it is worth the research. So yes, I’ve grown a bit, but ehhh it could be better. Still not “done”.
• Decorating my new office at work. Done. It was fun.
• Basement. It’s time to go through stuff, get rid of stuff, donate stuff. You know the drill. I’ve only had a couple of hours of that. It’s time. But I’d rather work on editing videos so that is what I’ve done. I’ve not met the chore goals very well. But I need a good old work day! And while summer is here I should do it. So I guess I’ll schedule it!
• Travel. Yes and Yes. We went to Texas to see family and will be going again. So two big trips for us.
• Dog. Yes! We got a dog. Dexter! Now we have even less time – ha! But we are loving having a dog again after a lonely year without one. The dog thing was not an easy one either. We went through lots of adoption turn downs to find our ONE! Mainly because we work FT and do not have a fence. It was heart wrenching. We cried when an agency “let us” adopt Dexter!
• Learn Final Cut Pro. Yes! I know I don’t know everything there is to know about it but I can get a video done with a few bells and whistles. I’m learning new things with each video. So I will say this is done as it meets my criteria but it was a challenge I had to push through by watching videos and googling things. I still work on it. And will continue to learn how to use it as I will constantly learn to do what I see others doing and master that skill.
• Exercise. Yes! For once in my life I’ve found a way to do this that works for me. YouTube in the early mornings. I do a lower impact workout but it always has steps and arm movements and so it gets the heart rate up and does what I need it to. I do it early so I don’t have a chance to talk myself out of it. I even do it before coffee! lol. I even look forward to it and I throw tennis balls for Dexter while doing it. lol lol. I’m proud of myself for doing this. It will also help me live longer, I hope, so I can crush those other goals. lol

So I’m going to say that I have done well. I’ve definitely done things that were the most important to me and found a way to get them done. The year is only half over. I’m going to give myself a B for effort being that we work, keep up two households (Mom – errands, doc appts, store runs, dog grooming, ordering supplies, hair cuts etc, house projects etc), and we have a commute, and I do this blog and a YouTube Channel.

How to Focus on Getting Your Goals Accomplished

Well, the best way I’ve found is to SCHEDULE IT. But here is what I’ve done.

• First I made a goal list which evolved over time. I start thinking about it about this time of year and start creating a goal list for next year.
• Next I do seasonal bucket lists which not only include goal items but also some seasonal fun.
• I keep my goals and bucket lists posted where I see them daily.

Note: Above, I had taken some pics at the beginning of the summer to share for the blog. We’ve made some progress but we always put too much on there. But see how I included my goals?

• Schedule it. I put them on my daily reminders on the iPhone reminder app. Yes I sat down and added them in! Oh yes I still get behind and just move them around as needed but it keeps it with my line of vision! We also block days off to do certain things.
• Break a bigger project down into smaller items if needed. I need to do that with the basement. Thirty minute intervals every weekend would at least make “some” progress!
• Enjoy it and look forward to doing and meeting your goals. I’ve marked quite a bit off of all the bucket lists already.
• Work on goals while waiting. Because we are always having to wait! I can do a lot of my goals on my phone doing research or doing things like email so when I’m home I can focus on the goals themselves. Use the time wisely.
• Drive time. I often can listen to podcasts while driving which can help toward my goals.
• Sketch it out. For example, for my exercise goal, I had to actually sit with pen and paper and try to figure out my life and when to work things in. I don’t use it of course but it helped my mind to figure it out.

We all end up doing things that we are “called” to do in one way or the other because after all, most of us have family, friends, work, responsibilities, and try to schedule in some fun, and keep up with our health goals. So working in projects and goals can be tough. I work hard to work it in. And all in all, we end up getting the things done that we most want to do. For me I enjoy the blogging and vlogging and getting content posted and out there. It’s rewarding for me to get comments from you, support from you, and so I try hard to keep those things going as quickly as I can.

The training and learning, fits in where I can fit it. I didn’t really mention housework in there? I’m geeky and the dust can build. So I should have said “don’t do housework” as one of the bullet points. And it helps to have a spouse that likes to cook. However, I’ve been doing a lot of cooking lately to help him while he does the yard work. I’ve been known to watch videos while doing laundry. I could use a TV in the laundry room! 😉 Just kidding the iPad will do just fine. That said I do try to keep my house organized but I don’t dust and vacuum every weekend! Life is too short. Don’t judge! lol.

I think it’s important to keep trying to improve ourselves and to live the life we want to live and do things that are important to us. We just have to keep our priorities straight and still be there for those around us and not forget them, not become selfish with our goals and endeavors, but still remain giving and loving people as we crush our goals or set about to accomplish them.

So what goals have you met or still working on for 2022? If your goal is to not have any but just live and let live, then that is your goal! 😉

I better quit typing and get to work. Have a great weekend ahead. I will get back with a post soon!