Last week I talked about working on your 2020 goals, however, I kept it to just talking about fitness goals. I think many of us make fitness and weight loss goals for the new year, but of course that is not the only kind of goal we can make. What about the smaller habits we are hoping to change in our lives? Or maybe you have a big project you want to accomplish by the end of this year. There is truly an endless list of possibilities. As long as we have the motivation and the desire to achieve a goal, it should be within our reach. Your desire is what will help you more in the long run though, since motivation only goes so far. 

Think about it: When we first make a goal we have a huge burst of motivation that powers us through starting the path to reaching said goal. For the sake of this point lets talk about fitness again. If you are someone like me you probably set a start date to buckle back down and get back to eating right 100% of the time and exercising and a consistent schedule. That day comes and I am all in. Meal prepping and planning, limiting my snacking, eager to get to the gym each day of my schedule and full of energy. A few weeks pass and that gradually starts to die down. I still do all the planning and exercising and such, but it is more because I am forcing myself rather than because I am motivated and excited to. On one hand there is nothing wrong with that. As long as you are getting the job done it honestly does not make much of a difference why we did it. But I think it is important to remember this because when motivation dies down we only have our self control and drive to still be able to reach our goals.

Let's talk a little but more about the other kinds of goals we may want to accomplish throughout the year. What I mean by smaller goals is that they are not a life long achievement like losing a life saving amount of weight is. A fitness journey is a lifestyle change whereas these goals are, in my opinion, more for pleasure and for the current year. Maybe you are looking to save money for a specific goal. It could be for a new car, a vacation with your family, or to move into a new home. Maybe you want to dedicate more time to doing something you love. Life gets busy so I know there are plenty of people that put their hobbies and even relationships with friends or family members on the back burner. I would say any one of these goals is still going to be good for your health, and by that I mean your mental health. Take some time and think about some of the things you may have been neglecting in your busy life.

In 2020 I have a few different smaller goals I would like to accomplish. Personally I want to read a lot more in this new year. I used to love reading and would sometimes stay up late reading in bed even though I knew I would be tired the next day. I still love to read but just over the past few years I haven't been dedicating as much time to reading as I would like. Another one as I am sure nobody will be surprised to hear is to do some more writing this year. I mentioned that in my last post of 2019, but figured it was worth mentioning here again as well. I would love to write some new poetry and maybe dive back into a little fiction as well. Saving money is always a good one especially since I am planning on moving out into my own place in the very near future. I honestly have a good amount of small goals I am hoping to meet this year, and I think they are just as important as the larger goals we set for ourselves.

What hobby or relationship have you been neglecting the last few years? Are you like me and never do much reading anymore? Maybe start small and read a new chapter every weekend when you have some spare time. Slowly increase that until you are at a pace you want to be again. In all reality your larger goals can be broken up into smaller goals too. Start by going to the gym 2 times a week and as soon as you are comfortable increase that. If you want to give up sweets maybe start by eating trail mix with chocolate pieces in it as a snack. You still get to have some sugar but you are not immediately jumping into zero sugar whatsoever. Regardless to what your goals may be I think it is incredibly important to remember keep moving forward and if you slide back just keep going. Each and every smaller goal can be a stepping stone leading us to the person we have always longed to be.