Goals Are Like Wishes

Goals for a new year don’t have to be unreachable. We can write down our wishes and see what becomes of them a year later. By downsizing our goals to a more manageable list we will help restore confidence in ourselves enough to inspire success. Every year I write down things that I want to do going into the New Year. Generally a list of ten is enough. I can cross them off as I go and add a new one in their place or I can wait until the end of the year and make a whole new list of goals. One day at a time, one new adventure, as I pursue a longing not yet accomplished.

My 2015 ten list looked something like this: 1) clear clutter from house-in progress, 2) lose weight, 3) learn new skills-check, I learned to do spreadsheets and product photography, 4) travel to new places, 5) home improvements-in progress, 6) see a concert, 7) write a book-I wrote a children’s book for the grandkids, not actually a bestselling novel, but still it was a book, 8) make money at writing- check, I've made a fair amount of extra income helping a small engine shop with parts listings which requires copy writing and product photography, 9) get Bill’s truck back on road- check, thanks to my son, 10) save money-in progress.

Last year’s ten list was just not doable for me. I barely scratched the surface. I had so many things that I wanted to do, but the time slipped right by me. I never got much clutter from my house out of my sight. I never got home improvements taken care of. I never got to travel anywhere out of the ordinary. I never tried hard enough to lose more than a couple pounds. And I failed to get organized at all. These are only a few goals I did not check off my list. It was likely because work came first. I never took time to do things unless I could earn money from it. I even took on a second job with hopes that eventually I could give up my other one because this was much easier on my aging body and it was a seasonal project. I was overwhelmed with what I thought needed to be done first.

2015 was my first year on my own after losing my spouse in December last year. It gave me an uneasy notion that I couldn’t manage my own finances. I was wrong, totally wrong, I can do it on my own and I can ease my mind of thinking otherwise. This year I know that other things are okay to make my top priority. I know if I try, I can do whatever I want to do. If I want to change jobs, change my address or change my mind I can do that if I want to. If I need to take days off because of the weather or just to catch up on household duties that I’ve neglected; I should be comfortable with the thought of doing it.

All in all, my ten-list was not a total flop. I managed to sort through some of the riff raff and I know now that I’m very capable of learning new skills. I actually used old lessons to learn my new found career in copy writing. One thing on my list that I want really badly is to be able to make a profit as a writer. Writing copy seems to be where the money is. I had to teach myself how to do spreadsheets. This part of copy writing was not among my previous studies. Writing content was. Not all copy writing jobs work with spreadsheets and most don’t require product photography as the job I took on does either. That was another self taught skill I actually have gotten fairly good at. Most anything you ever need or want to know is available on the internet. It is one of the best ways to learn how to do new things.

Goals are like wishing only most wishes are beyond our reach. A goal should never be beyond our reach. If it is we should change it. We can’t expect success which it not realistic. But with that being said, we can’t keep everything easy either. Set a goal that makes you think of something other than your misfortunes. But make it something you can accomplish. Look around you. People are setting new goals every day. Some set goals they know are impossible to reach. As much as it is an Adrenaline rush to succeed at goals, it is also a depressing low when we can’t come close to reaching them. It’s the biggest reason we give up.

My 2016 ten list: 1) see concert, 2) travel to new places, 3) clear clutter, 4) build a nest egg, 5) think more serious about moving closer to the kids, 6) home improvements, 7) walk more, 8) eat less, 9) lose weight, 10) get happy.

It seems like a realistic set of goals doesn’t it? These goals are not beyond my reach, but look how many are carried over from last year? And the last four goals could easily be one. If I walk more and eat less I probably would lose weight and this likely would make me happy, but I learned a long time ago happy isn’t about what you look like. It’s about how you feel about yourself. It’s about how other people make you feel about yourself. Really the main reason for wanting to shed pounds is for health reasons. I know many of the aches and pains I’ve battled these past few years are due to being too heavy. I felt much better when I was lighter. I’ve lost weight in the past and I know I can do it again if I try. This goal has been carried over every year. I’m hopeful to be able to check this one this year.

Look out 2016 here I come ready or not.