How to Set Your Goals for 2017

Dreams don't become true, goals do. 

It's the new year and the hype is all about goals and new years resolutions!

Although I'm a firm believer of setting goals and resolutions, the truth is only a few people actually achieve the goals that they've set for themselves. In fact, most people won't even revisit their new year resolutions once comes March, and the cycle continues years after years. I believe that in order for your goals to become achievable, they must be intentionally and specifically set.

Here's a few tips that might help with achieving your goals:

1- Pray About It!

Because I am a christian and I believe in the power prayer, the first thing I do when I want something manifested in my life is pray. One of my favorite bible bible verse is Matthew 7:7  which reminds me to Ask and it will be given to me; that whatever I seek, I will find, and that any door that I knock will be opened unto me. 

With such assurance, there truly is no other way to start with any goal that you wish to achieve. 

2- Know Your Why!

What are your motives for setting your goal? If your motive behind buying a luxury car is to keep with your friends' lifestyle, or you want to start a non profit organization where you can low ball your donations and keep most of the profit, then you might want to reconsider your goals. Remember that in all you do, you must always find a way to give back, and your motives must come from a good place.

3- Sort Out Your goals!

One goal that's ALWAYS been on my list, every year, for thee longest is my weight loss goal. I'm not ashamed to share it because chances are that if you meet me just once, I will probably mention being on a diet or exercising, that's just been a huge part of my life. Although I've yet succeeded to achieve that goal, I've achieved some other small health goals that I'm proud of; like holding a plank for more than 1 mn, doing push ups!!! That's a biggie for me, the day that I got out of my girlie push ups was a celebration! Your girl can do push ups! OKAY?! 

So here's my point, instead having a huge goal list that's all over the place, I divide my goals in categories: Family, Influential, experiential, physical, and travel. 

I will get into more details on my next posts about the different categories. 

4-  SMART Goals!

Here's a little "Laura taught me" moment.

When I was in school to be a teacher, I learned when I am setting goals in my classroom, for my students, the goals must be SMART! Smart you say? yes!

SMART

S- specific

M-measurable (for life goals I added meaningful, motivational)

A- attainable ( achievable, action-oriented)

R- realistic

T- trackable (timely, tangible) 

How perfect is this as a guideline to set goals? Genius! I think this applies to goals beyond the classroom, definitely some things to set in mind when you're setting your own personal goals.

5- Include Others

Some goals are just hard to achieve by yourself! I am so thankful for friends and family who are willing to go through challenges with me and help me achieve my goals. 

When I was getting married, my matron was my main fitness motivation. She fasted with me, worked out with me, kept me in check with my cheat meals, I couldn't have done it without her. 

There are also financial goals that may require involving others. There have been times when making investments that I had to team up with family members when I couldn't carry the load on my own, and that's ok! You will need other people. This is another biggie that you need to pray about. Pray that you are able to discern the people in your life that you can build and grow with, these are the people that you need on your team!

6- Write it down / Visualize it!

One thing that has always worked for me is  writing down my thoughts.  When you write down your goal, it holds you accountable to yourself.  It's a constant reminder that you made a deal with yourself that you would get these things done. When you write things down, you verbalize it, which will bring it to fruition. I always encourage people to journal. Write down your thoughts, your ideas, your goals, even your prayers. If you want to stay on track, written goals are a great way to remind yourself of what to focus on. 

Once you've written down your goals, your next step is to create a vision board. I love vision boards! Vision boards are simply  goals in pictures. It's a way to help you visualize the final product while it has yet to come pass. Vision boards work! Last year weeks after I made my vision board, I drove home the car that I had glued on my vision board.  

It is not a magic wand, It wasn't luck. I had to go to the process of getting a new car, and getting approved, but the end result was there. Had I had not written down, or visualize that goal, I probably would've not gotten the same end result.

Write down your goals, and visualize them becoming your reality! You'll then see how really good it feels to cross things off your list. 

7- Celebrate!

Once you've achieve your goal, you must learn to celebrate! Celebrate even if the big picture isn't complete yet. Celebrating is a way of being grateful and thankful. Celebrate with the right mindset. You don't have to blow money to celebrate an achievement. You can reward yourself by buying something that will make you feel good, like a pair of shoes or a new purse. You can go out to dinner with friends, you can have a glass at home by yourself! Just do something meaningful that will reinforce your gratitude towards God, the universe, and your self.

Hope these tips will guide you to revisit your goals for this year, or even set new specific, intentional ones for this new year.

Love and Light,

Laura