New Year Goal Setting

The Enneagram 3 in me LOVES the New Year. There’s something so empowering about starting fresh. I always take the time to crack open a new bullet journal and dream about the months ahead. It’s a really valuable opportunity to reflect on how you’ve grown over the past year, and where you fell short. I thought it would be “fun” to share what I learned from 2021, and some of the goals and habits I’m bringing with me into 2022.

What I’m Leaving Behind: Guilt + Unnecessary Apologies

There’s nothing more humbling than sitting down and thinking about your flaws. I jumped headfirst into my career in 2021 and quickly discovered when I focused all of my energy in one place, the other parts of my life slowly started slipping away. While I take pride in my work ethic, it doesn’t exactly foster a healthy relationship with the word “no.” I tend to take on too much and then feel crappy when I can’t give 100% of myself 100% of the time. I’m not great at math, but even I know that doesn’t add up. This year, I’m going to work on putting my foot down (figuratively, not literally). I’m choosing to leave guilt and unnecessary apologies behind as I move into a new chapter of being decisive and confident in my decisions. Sorry, not sorry.

Word of The Year: Intentionality

It might seem corny to choose a word of the year, but I find it’s a really great way to put into practice a healthy habit or mindset I need to work on. Last year, I chose the word “invest.” Throughout the year, when we made decisions about our home, our future, our careers, etc. I found myself thinking about how I wanted to invest in my future with the choices I was making. Keeping that word in the back of my mind encouraged me to be more intentional about how I approached big decisions. This brings me to the word I chose for 2022–intentionality.

This year, I want to invest in my life in a different way. I want to approach everything with intention. A few weeks back I resisted a meaningless trip to Target that inspired me to be more intentional about my purchases. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I was really falling short in areas of my life that I wasn’t intentionally pouring into. So in 2022, I will be more intentional about my health, relationships, purchases, and my faith.

Goals + Habits

Don’t hate me, but I think most goals are fairly personal, so I’m choosing to keep my long-term and lifelong goals to myself. However, I will be sharing my short-term goals and the healthy habits I’m implementing in order to achieve them.

If you’re looking to goal-set, I recommend starting with three different categories: Short-Term Goals, Long-Term Goals, and Life Goals. Once you have your goals listed out, you can move on to actionable steps you can take to get you there. Ideally, your short term goals should fuel your long-term goals and they should all act as stepping stones towards your life goals. Does that make sense? Here’s an example:

Save for downpayment on rental property (short-term) –> Own multiple rental properties (long-term) –> open a bed and breakfast (life goal)

While owning a bed and breakfast sounds like a huge step from where you are now, saving for a downpayment on a single property is something you can put into practice right away! After years of investing in real estate and managing rental properties, you would be more than equipped to open a bed and breakfast and checking off that life goal.

Okay, now that you understand how this game works, let’s play.

SHORT-TERM GOALS

• Sell our house
• Maintain a healthy lifestyle
• Advance in my career
• Double our savings account
• Pay off my car loan
• Clearly define my career goals
• Buy a new house
• Expand my cooking knowledge
• Invest in business education
• Take a family vacation
• Expand the Campbell House brand
• Monetize the blog
• Take on 5 large freelance clients

Now that we’ve established the goals I laid out for the year, let’s get into the habits I plan to implement in order to achieve them. I’ve broken them into two categories: Career Habits and Personal Habits. This just allows me to keep everything mentally separated. If I find myself making slower progress than I’d like in these areas, I can reevaluate and adjust these habits.

CAREER HABITS

• Wake up at 6:30 on weekdays
• Plan each day + schedule time for emails
• Get to the office from 9-9:30
• Check-in with all clients on Fridays
• Schedule weekly creative time
• Pre-plan social content every Sunday

PERSONAL HABITS

• Date night every Thursday
• Cook 2 nights a week
• Sunday night family dinners with siblings
• Call parents once a week
• Contribute to savings twice a month

That’s officially a wrap on my 2022 New Year goal setting. I think it’s worth mentioning that every goal that I set for myself is just that– a goal. It’s not a must-have or a way of setting unrealistic expectations for myself. I find it to be a valuable tool for improving my personal and professional life over the course of the year. However, if I don’t achieve these goals, that’s totally okay too. I’ve learned that growth looks different in every phase of life.

Everyone goal-sets and habit tracks differently, so I’d love to hear your approach to the New Year. Cheers to 2022!