Goals for 2021 and how to stick to them

Happy New Year to you. I hope that you and your loved ones are safe and healthy. I am optimistic that 2021 will be better than 2020, as we might have some reasons to believe so. Let’s all try and look for the opportunities in the midst of challenges and set some goals for 2021 to keep our heads up.

New Year’s Resolutions

Even though it’s been a challenging time, setting goals for the coming year helps me stay focused on the things that matter to me and gives me something to keep working towards. The feeling of making progress and having direction can keep us going even when things around us may feel out of our control.

That’s why it’s even more important to be deliberate about employing tools and strategies in our daily lives in order to get more of what we want. There are always small steps that we can incorporate into our lives.

I always try and remind myself that even if you only get one step closer to your goal – it’s still a step in the right direction. All those little steps add up. My tip for sticking to resolutions and goals is quite simple: write it down. Ever since I was a young girl I have made lists of goals, books I wanted to read and things I needed to get done. It’s how I make sense of the ideas in my head – otherwise I would probably forget them.

Five simple steps

Here are five simple steps for making a list of goals for 2021, that you will be able to stick to.

1. Write down everything that pops up

First and foremost, write down every single idea that pops up in your mind. No idea is too small and no idea is too big either and it doesn’t matter if you write them on a notebook, on your phone or on a napkin. The only thing that matters is that you write down every single thing that you like to accomplish. Clear your head. At the end of the day there is no real separation between work and life, as it’s all just living.

Make sure your goals are alligned with you personally. If the goals make you excited or your health is going to benefit from it, you’re more likely to be able to stick with them every day. so make sure you write down everything you would like to accomplish.

2. Make sure you limit the amount of lists and just stick with a few

I use my iPad to make notes and reminders, and I use a handy app in which you can make voice recordings. When I’m on the go I use it to remind myself of important things. Those tools not only help me to be proactive about my goals and take the steps to get there each day, but they also make things organized and easy. I keep everything that I need to know or remember in 2 or 3 places.

3. Work backwards

Once you picked the goal or goals you want to work on this year, now try to make that goal more concrete. If you know where you are going, it’s easier to see what’s needed to get there. There’s no point setting targets if you don’t know if you are hitting them. By making your goals measurable you know if your plans are working.

Last year I wanted to set the goal of reading more. If you want to read more like I did, perhaps it’s helpful to check how many books you read now and then set the goal on a certain amount of books per month. And if you want to get stronger, maybe this is the amount of press ups. Make sure your daily goals ladder up to a bigger goal and that you use time frames to make your goals measurable. 

4. Celebrate every time you hit the goal

The first time I hit one hundred visitors on this site, I was so excited. To celebrate it I bought icecream and tried to visualize how it would look like to have one hundred people in my living room. After 1.000 visitors I bought a coat that I loved to have but postponed to buy since it was a little too expensive to buy for no reason. Note here that I was actually looking for a good excuse. After 10.000 visitors I went to celebrate it in a restaurant to eat my favorite food.

Celebrate your successes, even if they are just little steps into the right direction. That one hundred visitors and icecream sound a bit silly since by now there are thousands of people coming to my site each month, but it’s a good memory that perfectly fit that particular moment of excitement. Besides that, it makes you excited to complete the next goal as well. That’s why celebrating your successes is important – it makes you hungry for more.

5. Share your goals with others

Your personal or business goals are yours, but sharing them with others can make it easier for you to stick to them. Letting others know about your goals for 2021 can help to spice up the motivation a bit and if you want, you can hold each other to account. Plus, most activities are more fun with other people – even if you’re sharing progress updates or doing things together virtually.

On top of my list

My New Year’s Resolution for this year will be to put my health first. One of the things Corona taught me is how important it is to take care of ourselves by looking after our bodies which will help to look after our minds too. As I read the book Why We Sleep, it reminded me how important it is to make a priority of my sleep. And getting enough sleep also put me into a better place mentally. I’m so much more motivated and energized when I have enough sleep and have taken care of myself.

For sure, my health will be on top of my list of goals for 2021. I know there are likely to be many challenges ahead, and I could fill up a whole notebook of things I want to do in 2021, but I know I will be able to deal with everything that comes my way in a better frame of mind if I am fit and healthy. What’s on your list for 2021?