Day 1

I have been off work all week, which was a break I really needed. I spent the first bit visiting with my parents and then I came home to my apartment maybe earlier than anyone expected but I needed a few days just to be on my own, alone. I know it’s bizarre to have loathed the isolation of the pandemic so much and then to not want to spend every possible moment I can with other people when the opportunity presents itself. Perhaps I was overwhelmed by being out and about and travelling for five days.

Anyway, I needed a break so I came home and I spent a couple of days just working on the things that I was drawn to work on. I completed the Jim Rohn Goal Setting Exercise for 2021. I used to do it every year but I haven’t since 2017 when I wrote goals for 2018. And those 2018 goals went into a folder and were never looked at again. I didn’t make any of them happen and I never wrote any new goals until this week. They fell into the three year abyss where things went from bad to worse to worse again. But that dark part of my life is over or ending now. This week I was inspired to complete the Goal Setting exercise, which is quite a big task actually! It took me a whole day and I emerged at the end of it with a 16 page document celebrating my past successes, listing dozens of hopes and dreams for the rest of my life, and developing five realistic SMART goals for 2021 with a list of 20 actions to perform in achieving them.

You can choose any time to set goals, it doesn’t have to coincide with the New Year, but for me I generally have more free time during the Christmas holidays than any other time of year. I guess because I don’t really have any family of my own or any preparations for events and activities. I could easily do the exercise on any random weekend throughout the year, but weekends don’t seem to be long enough to get my head into the right space for the exercise and also do the things that I need to do on the weekend. Maybe for you it would be better to do this exercise during your summer vacation, so whatever works! Years ago I created a template for Goal Setting that I use, which I will share with you here in case it may help you to set your own goals when the time is right.

Goals TemplateDownload

Today is Day 1 and it is not without its challenges even so early in the morning, but I am up for it. I will hold the room.

Gratitude: watching the sunrise, strong hot coffee, waking up early with no alarm and no hangover on New Year’s Day
Focus: exchanging gifts with my BFF, making pizzas with my mom, wishing a friend a happy new year
Inspiration: “Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.” Mary Oliver, poet
Sounds: Dancing Queen, ABBA
Connection: wishing a very Happy New Year to Chuck Bowie, whose support of my writing and blog has been amazing and very much appreciated!

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay