2018 Goals Mini E-Course
Don’t want to wait for the emails? No problem! See all of the lessons here.
Intro
Thank you so much for grabbing this e-course! I am so excited you are here and I can’t wait to dig into goal setting with you. I hope that you find this little mini course to be helpful. My hope is that it helps you narrow down and define your goals, and get a solid action plan for achieving your goals in 2018.
If you haven’t downloaded your printables yet or you are having trouble locating them, just go to gumroad.com and login, then go to “Library”. If you can’t remember your password you chose at checkout, just reset it using your email.
Tomorrow is Day 1, so get ready! Your task for today is to get your printables printed and ready. Get a fun 1/2 inch binder or folder to store them in, and don’t forget our favorite pen. Keep a look out for tomorrow’s email so we can dive in!
See you tomorrow!
-Sarah
Day 1
Welcome to Day 1! Today is all about brainstorming your goals. We’re going to ease into it, and all you need for today is this My Goals printable and your favorite pen.
If you haven’t downloaded your printables, just go to gumroad.com and use the email and password you used to check out. If you don’t remember, just reset your password using this email!
Okay, for brainstorming you just want to sit down, get a yummy drink, and think about all of the things that you want for your life in 2018. No pressure, just think of anything you’d like to accomplish and write it down.
This My Goals printable is helpful because you can write down different categories for your life. I like to try and have a little balance, and set goals in all different areas of my life. So, start by breaking the different areas of your life into categories, here are a few suggestions-
Health/Fitness, Family, Personal, Children/Parenting, Home, Work/Business, Marriage, Relationships, Money/Finances, Homekeeping, etc…
By dividing your life into these categories and thinking of your goals that way, it may trigger some ideas you hadn’t previously considered. So, get your categories and start brainstorming the things you’d like to accomplish in each of those.
As you are writing ideas, you can cross things off as you go, if you decide that’s not something you want to focus on, and you can add anything you want. Be as vague or as specific as you feel like. This is the fun part where you can sit and think about all of the possibilities for the new year and what you’d like to do.
I have a lot of potential goals on my list. I am always full of great ideas, new things I want to try, things I want to do, etc… So, I write down anything and everything. Then, after I get all my ideas down on paper, I start to narrow it down. Are there things that just aren’t super important for me to focus on in my life right now? How much time do I have to devote to all of these goals? I recommend narrowing down to 5-10 things that you really want to accomplish that you think you can manage this year.
Put a star by the most important ones on your printable, or circle them.
Think about your commitments and things that are already happening in your life. Think about your season of life- do you have babies at home? Do you have commitments that take up a lot of your time already, like kids that are in sports?
Don’t let your circumstances hold you back, but be sure to make sure your goals are aligning with where you are now and what is important to you. Later in this series we will get into SMART goals that will dive deeper into this topic.
So, to sum up today’s tasks-
1. Use the My Goals sheet to break your life into categories and brainstorm goals for each category.
2. Narrow those down to 5-10 goals that align with your season of life and what is most important to you. Circle them or put a star next to them so you know which ones you’ve chosen.
That’s it! Easy, peasy.
Tomorrow we will be talking about setting SMART goals, which can help you narrow your goals down and make sure they are achievable. See you then!
-Sarah
Day 2
I hope you are enjoying digging deep for your 2018 goals and thinking about all of the possibilities. Dreaming and imagining what we can accomplish is probably the most fun part about goal setting. However, you want to be sure that you are setting SMART goals. Today we’re going to talk about how to do that.
Here’s what the SMART in SMART goals stands for-
Specific
Measurable
Actionable
Realistic
Timely
In my example above, I took my goal of saving $3,000 in 2018 and broke it down to make sure it is SMART.
For starters, the goal is $3,000. That’s already pretty specific, but I broke it down a little more in the SPECIFIC section, by saying that I want to save the money for our emergency fund, an extra cushion in our bank account, and to get ahead on sinking funds.
I showed that it was Measurable, because we know exactly what we are going to save. Had we simply put “save money” that would not be measurable.
Next, it is actionable- there are things I can do to help make it happen. I can cut extra spending, work on our budget and follow our budget, and trim our extra bills.
Then, It is realistic. If I break up that $3,000 goal over the entire year (12 months) that is only $250 a month. Had I said I wanted to save $12,000, it might not be realistic because I’d have to save $1,000 extra each month. Not sure if I could do that, so that wouldn’t be realistic for me.
Finally, it is timely. I can accomplish this goal within the 12 months of 2018, so we are good there. Had I said, save $3,000 by May, that may not be enough time for me to save that much, so it wouldn’t be something I could accomplish in that amount of time.
So, there you have it. You can print one of these Setting SMART Goals sheets for each goal and break it down to make sure you are narrowed down and specific enough on what you want to accomplish.
Setting goals that are not SMART can make them really hard to acheive. They may not be possible, or easy to track your progress. These goals can be difficult to reach. So, set yourself up for success with SMART goals this year.
If you have any questions about SMART goals, you can reply to this email and I will help any way I can!
Tomorrow, we are jumping into defining your WHY, which is my favorite part of goal setting, and probably the most important step.
See you tomorrow!
-Sarah
Day 3
Okay, I am SO excited for today’s email. Defining your WHY hasn’t always been a part of my goal setting process. I don’t remember where I first read about or heard about defining your why, but it definitely changed the whole way I went about setting goals.
Now, you will probably want to have one of these sheets printed for each goal that you are laser focusing in on in 2018. I typically end up with about 5-6 goals from different areas of my life, and this sheet is the most important part when it comes to breaking them down. We will be using this sheet everyday through the end of this mini course, so hang onto it.
If you have more or less goals than me- that’s okay! But, I do recommend printing one of these sheets for each one.
So you have your goal, and you are going to write that in the first spot on this printable.
The next two spaces are “Why?” and “How will this goal change my life?” These two questions are so important when it comes to figuring out exactly why you are wanting to accomplish your goal.
We’re going to use this “WHY” to help you stay motivated.
Grab this sheet next. You might want one of these for each goal, as well.
For this example, I’m using my weight loss goal. I lost close to 30 lbs in 2017, which may not seem like much, but after years of struggling to lose any weight, this was huge for me, and I want to repeat it to lose even more weight in 2018.
When we think about our why, it’s easy to get superficial, even more when we’re talking about weight loss, which I know is a goal for a lot of us every year.
I could say “to be skinny,” but what does that really mean for me? Not much at the end of the day. I want you to think deeper than that and think about why you really, deep down, want to accomplish this goal. Think back to the 2nd question on the Big Plans sheet- “How will this change my life?” That is such a huge question to ask yourself, but it will also be a huge motivator.
For me, I want to lose weight for a whole lot of reasons, but here are a few-
1. To have an easier time finding clothes in my size, and clothes that I’m comfortable wearing.
2. To have more energy to keep up with my kids.
3. To be able to get more active. I can’t do that right now and I know it is so important to the health of my whole family.
4. To set a good example for my children. I want my children to know the true purpose of food, which is to nourish our bodies and I want them to understand that exercise and being active is such an important priority to have in our society today, since we are moving less and less.
5. I just plain want to feel better. I don’t want all of the aches and pains that come from carrying extra weight, or eating bad foods.
6. I want to get healthier for ME.
Try to think of why these goals will help YOU and why you are doing it for YOU. If you are wanting to accomplish a goal to make someone else happy, you will not stay motivated long term.
So, today’s homework is to take each of your goals, and fill out a Big Plans sheet (just to the question about how it will change your life) and then to fill out one of the Staying Motivated sheet for each goal.
Keep in mind, the goals and beliefs that I share are just mine, and if your’s don’t align, that’s totally okay. I just wanted to provide you with some real, concrete examples of how I set my goals and how I attach a real WHY to them so that I can stay motivated to achieve them.
That’s all for today, but I’ll be back tomorrow to talk about how we can start making a plan to reach these goals. See you then!
-Sarah
Day 4
For today’s email, you’ll want to refer to the Big Plans worksheet. We’re going to plan out our goals!
Okay, so when I have a big goal that I’m trying to reach, I like to reverse engineer it. I break the goal down into monthly, weekly, and daily tasks to get done. Then, I like to break it down by long term plan, short term plan, and things to do ASAP. Then, you can break your goal down into even more action steps that you need to take in order to accomplish it.
For this example, we are looking again at my goal to save $3,000.
For my “To Do ASAP” list, I have trim the bills, so I would call and cancel any unnecessary bills and look at ways to save money on any bills that I could. I would sit down and make a list of our expenses and income, and set up a new budget that incorporated our savings goal, and then sit down with my husband for a budget meeting so we’re on the same page.
For short term things to do, I would want to be tracking my expenses closely and make sure we’re following our budget, and then I would want to aim to save $250 each month.
Finally, for my long term plan I would want to follow our budget, keep our expenses as low as possible, and possibly get a side job to help us reach our goal faster.
Some additional action steps would be to sell any old stuff we were no longer using or have a yard sale, research some side jobs I may be able to do, and research more ways to make money. Ultimately, I’d love to be able to eliminate all of our extra spending, too.
So, think about your goal that you have in mind and reverse engineer it. Break your goal down into smaller tasks, and then even smaller tasks. It helps to know what you need to do in the coming months, or next week, or even daily to reach your goal.
Tomorrow we’re going to talk about how daily actions equal success, and I can’t wait to share more tips with you!
Until then!
-Sarah
Day 5
Alright, so we’ve got our goals figured out, they’re SMART goals, and we’re making big plans to make them happen. I’m going to level with you today, though. This is something that has taken me a few years to wrap my head around, so let me save you the trouble. We might have big plans, but it is all of the little things we are doing each and everyday to make things happen that are going to make up success.
My word for 2017 was consistency, and I made a lot of improvement, but it takes effort every single day. Whatever I’m trying to accomplish, whether it is to save money, keep my house clean, or reach goals in my business, the little things that I do everyday are what makes the biggest difference.
Being consistent and working everyday towards what you want to accomplish is what is going to get you there, and what will make the difference in taking forever to reach your goals and making them happen on your time.
Daily checklists are some of my favorite printables to use, ever. I love being able to make a checklist of everything I need to accomplish everyday, so that I can check things off and see where I’m doing and what needs improvement. Use this printable every month to see your progress at a glance and see what you are doing well at and what you need to focus more on.
Make up your checklist with all of those daily things you need to do to reach your goals that you’ve set. Then, make sure to take just a moment each day to check off what you’ve done.
That’s it. This printable is so functional, and will be the most-used out of this whole pack, probably. It is simple but so important to helping you be consistent and work everyday towards your goals.
Tomorrow is the last day, and I have just a few more tips for you on how to stay focused throughout the year and keep sight of your goals.
See you then!
-Sarah
Day 6
You’ve made it! Today is the last day! We’ve brainstormed our goals, broken them down, set SMART goals, defined our WHY, and made a plan to reach our goals.
Now what???
I’ll go ahead and tell you one final lesson that I’ve struggled to realize for a long time. All the planning in the world doesn’t equal action. Action is what makes things happen. You’ll never reach your goals if you don’t take action on them.
So, now I want you to take your plan and work it. Make it happen.
I also recommend revisiting your goals every 3 months or so. See what has changed or if you need to revise your goals or set all new ones. Life happens, and my goals change all throughout the year, depending on what is happening in my life or with my business. We don’t always stick with our original plans, and we all have the right to change our minds and change our goals, too.
If you need to set new goals in a few months and do this process again, you absolutely can. Don’t be afraid to self-evaluate and see where you stand.
My goals checkups keep me focused and help me fine tune my goals and what I want to do.
Now, I hope that you have found this course to be really helpful. I’d love to have your feedback either way, you can just reply to this email and let me know what you thought!
Then, if you feel you are ready to take your organization to the next level, I’d love to have you join to get access to my Printable Library. I have so many organizational printables over there for you to download, including pages for budgeting, meal planning, cleaning checklists and schedules, fitness and health, Christmas, plus monthly and weekly printables for your planner! As a thank you for completing this mini course with me, you can get 50% off the library here. This deal ends February 15th, so don’t miss out!
Thank you again for doing this with me and I hope you have all of the success you are planning for in 2018!
-Sarah