New Year, New Goals - How Will You Hold Yourself Accountable?

Jan 2

I love the magic of new beginnings!

And the energy that comes with selecting goals for the new year.

Setting New Year’s goals is kind of an Olympic sport around here:

Start with a thorough reflection on the previous year
Select a theme to guide the new year
Determine goals that align with the yearly theme

Over the last several years, I’ve learned that I need to choose an action word as my theme. (GROW was so meaningful in 2021, VIBRANT in 2022 didn’t do it for me.)

And that I have the best success when I set habit-based goals that are in my sphere of influence instead of outcome-based goals.

Think of the difference between “I’m going to lose 10 pounds” - an outcome-based goal - and “I’m going to increase my vegetable intake to 5 servings a day, move my body 3 times a week, and get 7 hours of sleep a night” - all habits that are within our control.

Whenever I focus on what I can do, and detach myself from the outcomes, things always seem to work out better than I could have planned.

So I’m leaning full into my goals for 2023.

My theme is NOURISH - and my goals all tie to it:

Nourishing my body physically through food, movement, and sleep
Nourishing my spirit by developing rituals that fill my soul and by investing time in relationships that matter most
Nourishing my mind by implementing routines that decrease decision fatigue - including meal planning, streamlining my wardrobe, making it easier for my family to help around the house
Nourishing my creativity and need for learning by setting aside time to read daily and regular time each week to play and make beautiful things

I’m excited to see what taking better care of myself - nourishing myself - does for my life across the board.

The best part is, I’m not leaving anything to chance.

I’ve developed an accountability system to help me stay on track, mark my progress, work through what’s sticky, and celebrate my successes.

(If you think it involves journaling, you’re absolutely right!)

If you’re interested in hearing more about how you can use your journal as your accountability partner so you can reach your goals this year, I invite you to join me on Thursday evening at 7:00 pm Eastern for an interactive session. Register HERE.

What goal are you most excited about this year?
And how will you hold yourself accountable?

Nourish is my word of 2023. What’s your word?

Use these prompts as written or as inspiration to uncover what you need in your life this week. And know that I’m always here to support you and answer questions you have along the way!

What word or theme is calling to you for 2023?
How can you use it as a guidepost this year?
What goals are you most excited about?
Why are those goals important to you?
What will they do for you?
How will you hold yourself accountable?

One Journaling Idea I Love:

Interstitial Journaling

Increase your mindfulness and productivity by journaling in between tasks throughout the day. Interstitial journaling serves an alternative to traditional to-do lists, combining your tasks with notetaking and time management.

Each time you switch gears at work, write a quick journal entry. Note the time, jot down a couple of sentences about what you did and how it went, and identify the first action step to your next task.

This not only helps you maintain a sense of where you’re spending your time, you’re giving yourself a chance to reflect on your work and how you feel about it, and wrapping up your task completely through this reflection before moving on to the next task.

An example entry may look like this:

9:45 am - Finished putting the finishing touches on the newsletter. I gave it a second proofing and feel confident it’s good to go. I’m hoping my readers respond positively to the content I included. I’m really proud of this issue.
My next task is to write the press release for the initiative at work. My next step is to open the document with my notes and polish the quote we plan to use. From there, the rest of the release should be easy to craft.

Every time I incorporate this type of journaling into my work day, I’m more productive, more mindful, and everything seems to go smoother.

Learn more about interstitial journaling HERE.