Well, December got away from me, and I didn’t get any podcasts recorded! I’m sure you can relate. But now it’s a new year, and season 2 of the podcast. I took some time last month to plan ahead, so hopefully, it won’t happen again! I’ve got a plan to keep on top of everything. But we all know what happens to the best-laid plans…
So, January is all about goals here at Runs on Espresso. I am a big believer in setting goals. I don’t even care if I ever actually complete the objective. The act of creating, planning, and attempting is a huge accomplishment! Trust me, I’ve set and reset goals a million times and don’t always complete them, but I still feel more accomplished than if I had done nothing. Like for Merry Vertmas, I set my goal for 10,000 feet elevation. Did I reach it? Nope. I was about 2200 feet short. But am I mad? Nope. I challenged myself and pushed my comfort zone. I discovered I don’t need to chase big elevations to be happy. Elevation isn’t my thing. Thanks, asthma.
January is a great time to reset your goals and priorities.
So, if you have your goals from 2020 written down, pull out that paper and take a look. Which goals are still relevant? Which ones have you decided aren’t the right fit anymore? Read through them or if you didn’t write them down, think about what your goals were. Ask yourself which goals can stay, which can be retooled, and which ones you can kick to the curb.
If you haven’t written down your goals, I encourage you to do so. Writing them down can help you remember them. Or you can post them somewhere to look at daily or weekly to make sure you’re on track. Or you can decide after a month you don’t like that goal and cross it off! Plus, it’s handy to be able to look back at the end of the year and see how much you really did get done or how much change truly happened.
Remember, it’s ok to let go of a goal or a dream. You may come back to it later when you have less on your plate.
Let’s take a quick break for a sponsor break.
Welcome back!
Once you’ve looked over your goals and decided which ones are keepers? Good, now decided if you need to rework those. Maybe you still want to run a marathon but haven’t worked out in weeks. That’s ok. Keep that goal but adjust your timeframe. Maybe make it a fall race instead of spring.
Still trying to lose those pounds? I know this struggle all too well. I know what to do, but at times I let those things go. I stop tracking food when I get busy. I forget to weigh myself. I’m still going to keep my lose weight goal, but I need to add smaller goals like weigh in weekly. Or log your food, dumbass.
I have been looking over my goals for 2020. I did some of them, forgot about some, and others I attempted and failed. One of them that I forgot about was starting a podcast. And I actually did it. On a whim.
If you look at your goals and realize they are kinda vague, get more specific. Go listen to episode 3, Let’s Get SMART, and figure out how to drill down your goals to be more specific and measurable. Also, make a timeline. When do you want to finish your goal, or if it’s more long term, set some dates to have smaller goals done by.
Because start a podcast is vague. What kind of podcast? When do you want to start? How many episodes will you have ready before you start? How often will you post a new one? Will you have guests? Figure out the details. Usually, you will find you need to make smaller steps to get to the big goal.
Ok, so you’ve now reviewed your goals, decided which ones you want to keep and which to chuck. You’ve written down your new goals and gotten the specifics. Now what?
Set up reminders.
Write down the dates you want to finish each step. Add them to your calendar. And be sure to set a time each quarter to review your goals and make adjustments as needed.
If you have a goal to reduce clutter, be sure to set aside 15 minutes each day to clear clutter. Trying to get your budget going? Spend 15 minutes in the evening doing the work. Want to learn something new? Make sure to schedule educational time each week. Maybe you watch a video every Saturday and practice whatever was in the video on Sunday.
So, you’ve scheduled out the steps and important dates to achieve your goal. How else can you remain accountable?
Tell someone.
Tell Facebook. Tell your BFF. Tell your dog. Ok, maybe not the dog because they may not be very good at checking in on you. Unless your goal was to walk more, in which case a dog is a good companion for that goal.
Your friends and family can help you reach your goals by checking in or gently reminding you. Or if you need it, yelling or berating you. I disagree with this, but I hear it helps some people. To each their own, right?
So let’s say we are months down the road. You’ve sat down and pulled your list out to do a mid-year check-in. You look over your list and realize you are right on track! Maybe you even finished a few goals! Woohoo! Go you! Doesn’t it feel great to cross something off the list?
How will you celebrate such an amazing accomplishment?
I say you sit and think about everything it took you to get to the finish line. All the hard work you put in. The setbacks and resets. The time spent thinking, do I really want to do this? Will I really be better off? And then pat yourself on the back for getting to the end.
If you journal, you can write about the journey there. Write what you learned. Write how amazing it feels. Hell, even if you didn’t quite make your goal, write what you learned and how it feels. You may be surprised that you don’t feel bad that you didn’t make it. Maybe you realized you can do hard things, and now it’s time to move on.
Maybe you want to post to your blog or Facebook. Go for it. Let the world know how hard you worked and what it’s done for you.
You never know who is watching and who you are inspiring. They may not tell you, but I bet someone out there has decided to stick with their goals and keep pushing because you did.
So, get out there and reset those goals. Conquer them. Kick them to the curb. Whatever you need to do and come back and tell me all about it. Leave me a message on anchor.fm/runsonespresso, email me at jenna@runsonespresso, or find me on Instagram at runs_on_espresso. I want to know what big, or little, goals you plan to smash this year!
Now for some coffee corner. This has been a weird last few weeks. It seems like a blur, and I cannot recall what all I did or watched.
I started reading Best Business Practices for Photographers. Not really an exciting read, but it’s important to me. I am going to try to actually do the PopSugar reading challenge this year. I started it last year but did not finish. And the year before that. Hah. This year, I will try to get through the challenge using physical books I own, then Kindle books I own, and lastly, library books. Basically, can I get through without spending money? I think so. A lot of the prompts are based on your to-be-read (TBR) pile. So my main focus will be my physical books. One prompt is the longest book on your TBR list. That book happens to be… Best Business Practices for Photographers at over 800 pages. (On Kindle, I have one that is longer, but my goal is to use as many physical books first. If you’re wondering, it is The Rise and Fall of Nazi Germany, and I believe it is the equivalent of 1200 plus pages).
So I started Best Business Practices for Photographers when I finished my last book because I knew it would take a while to get through, and to reach my goal of 52 books a year, I need to finish one book a week.
I also started Happy Runner for book club. I will do a podcast about it once I finish it.
Until next week, may your runs be as strong as your coffee.
