As a huge goal setter, this year has thrown me. A lot. In some ways things are looking great and I’m actually ahead of where I’d ever thought I’d be and in other areas I’m scrapping what I was dreaming and working towards. We are about halfway through 2020 and now is a great time to look at goals you’ve set and do three things with them: Reevaluate, Refocus, and Reach.
Last year I talked about these three words in my 2019 Goal Review on Season One: Episode 36. They were something I heard talked about in a podcast by Rachel Hollis and I loved the positivity around this process. No shame if you haven’t done what you’d hoped. And only joy for what can happen in the future. Here’s a short run down of what this looks like when you apply these three terms to your goals:
We’ll start with Reevaluate: If there’s a goal that you don’t feel that’s worth working towards this year, let it go.
My biggest goal this year was to write a book for music educators. In fact I was well on my way towards putting it all together - spending time consistently writing a little at a time, 100 pages into it (unedited so I know it would be picked apart and red-lined, but at least there were words and thoughts and organized chapters) - and COVID hit. I stopped writing a few weeks into our virtual teaching because - hello, it was non-stop and other things took precedence. And now that we’re in this world of virtual teaching and education isn’t looking like it has, I feel that the book might not be what is needed in this time. Or that it is irrelevant for this period. So I have set it aside and I’m needing to refocus on if this is the right time for me to write a book or if I need to wait on this dream. I’m okay with either. Just evaluating still.
The second idea is to Refocus. If there’s a change that occurred in your life in the first half of the year, you may find that the goals you had been working towards no longer are relevant or need to be tweaked. Refocus your goals to align with where you are. Or you may find that you set a goal that’s worth continuing to work toward, but needs honing or redefining.
There are two goals I plan to do this with:
The first is that I was planning to go ‘live’ on Instagram every Monday. This goal was set because I wanted to get more comfortable talking about what I’m doing with students, sharing ideas, and being more bold about doing simple videos. The goal is lacking a purpose and because of this, I think I did it twice. I want to tweak this goal and figure out the reason behind it and what it is I want to share/say. I still think it’s a goal worth doing, but it needs more direction and purpose.
The second goal I want to refocus is the goal of setting up a website. My blog is very, very basic. You can find full transcripts of each show with links, but I want it to function better with more material and ways to interact built in as well as allowing me to put in downloads and other content. I thought I knew what platform I wanted to use and was ready in February to start using it, but through more research I found it wasn’t the right one and now have two that I’m between. Again, I need to look at the purpose behind what the website would allow me to do and then go for it and refocus it.
The third idea is to Reach: for goals you’ve met, see if there’s something you want to work more towards in that area and extend your goal. Rachel Hollis talks about this in terms of setting a goal for something and then setting a reach goal towards that same thing. So if your goal is to save $1000 by the end of the year, your reach goal might be saving $1500 at the end of the year. If you find you’re already nearing or have already surpassed what you had anticipated working towards, consider extending that goal and reaching beyond what has already been achieved.
My healthiest and most favorite thing to do to de-stress is to get outside and go for a run. One of the biggest benefits of having all of this time at home has been the ability to get outside every single day. Rain or shine, I’ve done this since we’ve been quarantined at home. There were only a few days in the last three months that I didn’t get outside and I felt it. I have two physical fitness goals this year: to work out 4 days a week and to run 400 miles this year. I enjoy working out and I know the difference it makes for me so it’s not a chore because I know how I feel when I do it so it’s easy for me to choose to get out. As of the day that I’m recording this, I’m definitely getting in 4 days a week - most weeks are 7 days - and I’ve run 290 miles so far this year. My reach goal is to run 500 miles this year and I think I can do it.
My other reach goal is to continue reading more books. There are so many great books on my want-to-read list and summer is my favorite time to read more. This goal is one of the most relaxing and wonderful ways for me to de-stress. It’s interesting that both of the reach goals for me involve the two things that I need for myself and that benefit my relaxation and my health - mentally, physical, and emotional. So important and so necessary. And why not reach for more of what makes you better and feeds your soul?
Wherever you are on your goals this year, I encourage you to look at the things you’ve hoped to do, hoped to achieve, or just wanted to spend time doing and find ways to reevaluate, refocus, and reach.
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