Hi Everyone!

Happy New Year and all that jazz! Is anyone else feeling good about getting back into a routine and jumping head first into this new year? I won’t lie, I had great intentions to get up and go to the gym today, I had an alarm set for 6am and everything. But sure as luck would have it, I was still staring at the ceiling at 2am and came to the realisation that I would not be in any state to get out of bed at 6! Anyway, apart from that little wobble in my good intensions, I’m feeling pretty pumped (can I say pumped? it feels a bit American) to getting back to the gym, eating right and generally living a good fulfilled year this year!

I have The Birthday List to work on so I decided not to go too overboard on my goals this January, but I feel like its such a good time to think about things that I feel will be important to me this year. I want to make sure I have fun, chill out, spend time with people I love and generally feel like I’m living a life I want to be living. 2016 was such a good year with lots of positivity for me, I plan to continue into 2017 with the same appetite I had for 2016 and hopefully it will be another great year to remember.

I’ve put together a list of goals to get me started so have a look!

My Goals

• Spend more quality time with friends and family

I’m not great at this, I mean I see people and we go for drinks and things, but I mean proper quality time where you just meet up randomly of a wednesday evening just to see how things are. I’m always flying from one thing to another and I sometimes feel like I don’t have the time to go and spend an hour in someone elses house… I need to work on that!

• Read more often

I’m always plugged in and online, but I love to read. I feel like its so hard to tear away from my phone sometimes, so I want to prioritise reading books a bit more. Maybe one book a month, is that reasonable? Send me your suggestions, I love a good book recommendation!

• Jog the mini marathon

This is a scary one… I actually don’t feel totally committed to this just yet. I don’t run or jog ever but walking it doesn’t seem like enough of a challenge. It was a thought I had about something I’d really like to do at some point and now I can’t get it out of my head. So I’m writing it down and gonna try put a plan in place… please don’t be too hard on me if I let this one go… but I am gonna try. What is life if we are not doing things that scare us!

• Snapchat more

I started this today. I love looking at people on snapchat but have never felt totally comfortable with snapping myself. I’m going to give it a better go, It won’t be constant cos I work during the day and won’t be snapping that but I’ll try in the morning and evening. If your watching please snap me so I know!

• Take more photos

I’m the worst photo taker, which is why I probably don’t snap much. But honestly, I’ve made so many good memories over the last few years and have very little evidence. I need to fix that this year.

• Make more of an effort with my wardrobe day-to-day

Not every day now lol, I’m a creature of comfort and convenience. But I have some lovely pieces in my wardrobe that I wear rarely because I’m ‘saving them’ for when I have something on, and they go unworn for ages. I want to change that and start getting the wear out of my ‘nice’ clothes.

My top tips to help you achieve your goals!

Set attainable goals and break them down into mini milestones if necessary

This is so important, there is no point setting yourself a task which is beyond your reach. Thats not to say you shouldn’t strive for greatness or you shouldn’t push the boundaries, but know your limits. You don’t want to feel defeated before you’ve even started. You want to be realistic.

For example; If at the start of my weight loss journey I was to say to myself ‘I want to lose 3 stone and be a size 8 in clothes’ and that was my end goal, I would be very disappointed right now! I’ve lost 3 and a half stone and I’m not yet a size 8. Instead break your goal down to attainable milestones, In my case it was 1lb at a time and then every 10lb was roughly a dress size.

Every step gets you closer to your goal, you don’t have to wait until your end goal to be proud of yourself, celebrate every step!

Decide why you are setting your goals and justify your decisions to yourself

Only you can decide you want to do something and why. Its only when you put your own mind to it, can you start achieving what you want to achieve. If you can justify your reasons for setting your goals, noone can argue or stop you from achieving them. There’s no point in doing something just for the sake of it or because everyone else is doing it. You have to want to do it for your own good reasons.

Make a list of positive effects reaching your goals will have

Attaching your goals to negative feelings can have a negative affect on the outcome. Try stay away from negative connections to your goals. Try thinking along the lines of ‘If I lose a few pounds I’ll be able to buy that dress I love’ (something to be excited about) instead of ‘I’m fat and need to lose a stone so I won’t feel so miserable'(immediate obstacle in your way) . Your goals should excite you, you should be looking forward to the journey and to reaching  them.

Set a timeframe and share your goals

Setting a timeframe seems like pretty standard practice, but it is so key. You need to set that fire in your belly, and a time limit will certainly do that! This links in so well with the first point of setting mini milestones, if you plan right you can work up to your end goal gradually within the timeframe you set! Sharing your goals with other people creates an accountability, the more people you tell, the more you will feel compelled to complete your goal. Not only that but when you are feeling like you might be wavering, people will jump in and lend a hand or offer encouragement to keep you on track. When you are doing well, people will congratulate you and tell you how inspiring or brave you are. We all need this encouragement to keep going so share you goals, fails and successes!

Be patient

Rome wasn’t built in a day as they say! Some days it will feel like you’re never gonna get to where you want to be, its important to remember that it’s a process and every step forward is a step closer to where you want to be. Taking a look back at where you started too can be a great motivator, often you’ve come way further than you have realised.

Be willing to reassess

Things change, life changes, goals change. Be willing to reassess the goals you’ve set. If something isn’t making you happy, or not going how you planned, its time to sit back and ask yourself why. Maybe you need to change your approach, maybe you need to ask yourself are you doing it for the right reasons, or maybe you just need to scrap the plan altogether because it turns out its not what you wanted at all! Sometimes your motivation for doing something changes or you find you are experiencing a happiness for reasons you weren’t expecting. Embrace that happiness and go with it even if it wasn’t in your original plan, you just can’t plan some things!

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So those are my top tips! I hope you have enjoyed them and maybe found them helpful.

All opinions in this piece are my own, based on my own experience and bits and pieces I’ve learnt along the way. I’m in no way an expert and I have certainly tried and failed in most of these areas. I’ve said it before and I’ll say again, setting goals has been so key for me in the last couple of years. Especially the year just gone by. The process to the end goals has been such a learning experience and the improvement on my outlook on life is really invaluable. When you see a plan come together, the feeling is amazing. I’ve really started to believe that with enough hard work and determination, anything is possible… If you want it that is!

This quote sums up my experience so far perfectly:

So tell me…

If you liked this piece, I’d be grateful if you could like, share on social media, or leave a comment on the post.

Cheers!

PinkLadyXo