New Horizons — Your Goals for the New Year

The New Year is underway, and already you might be questioning the value of your New Years resolutions. But do not give up on your vision or your goals for the coming 12 months. Take time to reflect whether the goals that you have set for the New Year are really important to you, realistic and practical.

#1 Are your goals important to you?

Last week we reflected on our past year, and the lessons we would take forward into this one, as well as the habits we needed to let go of. There might be areas of your life that need attention, such as your health, or spending time with family and friends.

I participated in a planning workshop last week to set my vision and goals for this year. The nine areas of our life that we were encouraged to consider were:

Consider these areas in your life, is there anything that your would like to change this year?

#2 Are your goals realistic?

I work on the simple maths of having a number of hours available in my day for activities that I choose to do. After sleep and work commitments you may have 6 hours free. If these are already full, then you need to stop doing something before you can add a new activity.

You also need to consider the type of change that you wish to make. Do you need new knowledge or skills to introduce the change  e.g. new career direction, or cooking meals from scratch?

In the workshop I attended, we had the choice to create our vision using words, images and by setting goals. Our task was to create a vision board, with the option of describing our goals on the back. When you set a goal, you need to describe it in a way that allows you to know whether you are making progress towards achieving it, for example

1. I will eat 5 serves of freshly prepared coloured vegetables a day.
2. I will walk for 30 minutes 3 days a week.
3. I will meet with a friend for a cuppa one day a fortnight.

#3 Are your goals practical?

How easy or difficult will it be to include the activities necessary to achieve your goals?

Using the above examples

1. When will you shop for vegetables e.g. Saturday morning at the Farmers market? How will you select recipes? and How will you make time to prepare and cook the vegetables?
2. Will you allow 30 minutes in the morning or evening for your walk? What activities will need to change to allow time for your walk?
3. Organising time to meet with a friends means that you will have to give your friend prior notice, and then ensure that you put that appointment into your diary. Are there any other commitments that you will need to change to allow for a one-hour catch up with your friend? Will you select the same day each fortnight?

Our goals are achievable when we set them in a mindful way. Each part of our life is connected to another, so we have to consider how one change impacts on all areas of our life. Having a health and lifestyle plan allows you to make your vision a reality. Next week I will share extracts from Eating for You, on how to put your plan together.