We all saw them , all over social media from personal accounts, creators and business accounts. The entire world proclaiming their Goals for 2022. I personally came across many Vision Board posts where a group of women attend Vision Board parties , as a matter of fact I was invited to one. This is a really good practice because it allows you to voice it, visualize it and now its on your social media and ta-da .. you have now activated the automatic accountability button , right ?
We are so pumped , buying calendars for 2022 , gym clothes, shopping for vacations , starting the piggy bank and so what happened was ....yep exactly right around this time , half way way through the month, we gas out . Happens to all of us .
So how do we keep ourselves accountable to our goals?
Well there is no magic answer but here are a few tips and practices that have helped me hold myself accountable and I'm sure it will help you too.
First and foremost , setting goals for the new year always begins with reflecting on last year, weird right ? Maybe so, but this is where I examine last year and how things went for me. If I did the things I said I was going to do , how I felt about accomplishing those things and really looking into the things I didn't accomplish and why.
Now I'm a firm believer of allowing yourself grace for the things you didn't get done but honesty with oneself is key and it does set you up for success.
I think about why I didn't meet my goal, was it something that was completely out of my control ? Did I really work towards that goal ? Could I have handled things differently ? Did I even want that goal for me or was that a goal that someone else was expecting from me ? Or maybe that goal was so ambitious that my goodness Stell , it's going to take more than a year to reach that goal so just label it as a " work in progress goal ".
Once I have understood last year , I am able to look forward to this year. Some goals just wrap right around into 2022 and I can tell you right now based on my goals for myself, it may take me in 2023. I am okay with this but it doesn't mean I can sail smoothly through 2022, I have a lot of work to do , a lot of intention needs to be behind my goals.
Now, I'm not a writer , but I write, everyday. I write in my calendars , I use the time block method. I know that I do my best work in the morning hours and this is where I make sure I put in my energy . At night fall , I revist my calendar and see what's in store for tomorrow and mentally prep my day . If somethings don't get accomplished, they roll into the next day and I don't feel bad about it .
I have also made it a practice that on Sunday night I look at what I have in store for the week, If you look at my calendar , it is usually 2 -3 weeks ahead booked and I should preface it with this, It is scheduled with time for my values.
You see my goals have to align with my values. My values are my personal time with family and my health. So by saying I have a booked calendar , you best believe I have a 6:00 am -8:00 am block for my health & wellness. This is what I call my value time and it includes writing, reading, meditation, yoga and exercising, listening to a podcast and enjoying my coffee in my garden. If I don't do this , I'm setting myself up for failure because I get so much value with my productivity when I take care of me first .
Don't get me wrong, there are days that life happens , such as right now. As I'm writing this , I am recovering from Covid ( Day 8) but it's okay . I realize that I need to get better before going forth so I'm allowing myself that space . But when things are in routine, and the comfort begins to set in, I have to check my habits and get off of social media and Netflix or any other distraction.
Now , this arena is a new one for me , as you know I'm newly retired from a long career and this year will be the first year in which I have no one managing my time and accountability , except for one person, me!
I am literally building the plane while I'm flying it but I do have systems in place to hold myself accountable besides the ones I previously mentioned above.
Now, I'm not recommending the following but if you are a data driven nerd like me then have at it. Besides my daily and weekly accountability checks, I have also set up metrics for myself , yes metrics. My accountability involves checking in on my contributions and their results on a quarterly basis, now this is necessary for me because now I'm running a business .
I'm tracking and strategically planning my content , topics of discussion, engagement and networking because I need to know what's working and what isn't. I need to know when I need to pivot into another direction in order to meet my goals.
I know , it maybe a bit much and that extra work could even be discouraging for some. As for me , I want to succeed so bad that I can not just stop and not do the work. I want to be well prepared and have the tools and the resources I need to reach my goals.
If you want it bad enough, you have to be disciplined to work at it everyday and that is called consistency .
While there is no magic answer these are a few tips and practices that have helped me to hold myself accountable and I'm sure it will help you too.
Thanks for reading and go after your goals !