Are You Overwhelmed with Your 2020 Goals?
Let’s face it, we all have good intentions when we make up our goals for the new year. Whatever area of your life you are hoping to improve, each of us can find things that we might want to make better. I am no different. I am a goal-setter by nature, but this new year’s list of goals left me feeling a little overwhelmed by the goals on my list.
Like many small business owners in 2019 I realized that in order to stay current in my industry and in today’s world of e-commerce I needed to up the ante with my online presence. At first, I thought that would just mean starting a blog in order to develop a following that could benefit from the knowledge I have gained in my 20 years as a professional interior designer. But, as with many goals – especially relating to the internet – once I had cataloged nearly 100 blog posts – I realized I needed to take my interior design business a step further.
Since I love to actually cross things off a written list (antiquated, but very therapeutic) I sat down this past New Year’s Day to make up my list of goals for 2020. I figured I would take it slowly (especially since it had been a late night ringing in the new year with friends.)
Here was my first attempt:
1. Drink more water (perhaps to offset too much wine at our friend’s New Year’s Eve party)
2. Get more sleep (ditto)
3. Learn how to really use my new DSLR camera
4. Work out more
5. Add e-commerce to my existing website
6. Organize my office
7. Improve my Instagram posting and scheduling skills
8. Start a podcast
So now you can see why I am a little overwhelmed with these 2020 goals? This list offers a broad range of opportunities to enhance my life and my business - my goals are certainly admirable. Yet would I really be able to achieve my goals if I left them in this format? How could I even measure any progress if they were so vague? So I took the time to re-evaluate not only my goals, but my whole approach in writing my list.
1. Basics
- Don't just repeat the same goals year after year. If you didn’t do it last year chances are you should readjust the goal to make it more feasible this year.
- Breakdown a big goal into measurable milestone goals. If you have goals that are too big to handle in their current format you are only setting yourself up for failure. Reevaluate - qualify and quantify your goals!
2. Focus on Specificity (a real tongue-twister, but a great idea)
• For each goal ask yourself; What, How, and When?
• Give yourself a realistic timeframe. Of course you want to achieve everything on your list, but trying to do everything immediately can only lead to feeling overwhelmed and get stuck in the “deer-in-the-headlight” syndrome.
“For each goal ask yourself; What, How, and When?”
3. Focus on Accountability
• Share and discuss your goals with others that will support you. Look for this outside your normal comfort zone. My husband is a great listener and is incredibly supportive. But, he doesn’t really know the ins and outs of a design business and he certainly is not a social media guru. So I have a weekly call scheduled with a friend who is also an interior designer and we bounce ideas and strategies off one another.
• Reward yourself and celebrate your achievements. (Yes, this may involve more wine.)
4. Most importantly find a happy place, somewhere between optimism and realism!
• Goals are great but be realistic, while reaching for your goals you may need to leave time for other things, like earning a living.
So here’s my second attempt at writing my goals:
1. Drink at least six 8-ounce glasses of water per day.
a. Invest in a reusable water bottle that holds more.
b. Drink 8-ounces before each meal
2. Get at least 7 hours of sleep 3 nights a week.
a. Don’t start watching TV after 10 PM!
b. Ask my husband to make me stop working after 10PM
c. Read a book before going to sleep
3. Register for photography courses at my local community college to learn DSLR skills.
a. I found one that starts in March – so I have time to focus on getting some other goals up and running before I dive into this one.
4. Work out at least 4 days a week.
a. Block out gym days into my planner
b. Make a workout date night with my husband each week – we can do dinner or drinks afterwards.
5. Learn Squarespace in order to upgrade my website with e-commerce.
a. Take the time to really look at my business plan model so I am really evaluating how this will work from an online format
b. Register for an online course for the business side of website design decisions and creating the functional process I can manage.
c. Give myself at launch date of 1-31-20.
6. Organize the stacks of business cards in my office.
a. Get a business card reader app and use it.
7. Improve Instagram posting and scheduling skills
a. Release one post and one story each day – until the website update is complete
b. Research online courses to get insights on posting in February
c. Research scheduling apps in February
8. Start a Podcast
Since the beginning of the year seems to be totally booked with goals – I decided to make this a summer project. I want to be realistic about what I can feasibly accomplish in a year.
My list now seems manageable, so I decided to add a final goal to help me stay inspired by design while I am working so hard on my business.
9. Listen to podcasts from Clever and other resources with episodes about creativity and designs to feed my muse and stay inspired.
Now my New Year’s goals don’t seem so daunting! With a plan and timeline in place I feel much less overwhelmed and excited to get to work on these smaller tasks so I can work towards the big ones. On the accountability note, perhaps I’ll write a follow-up blog to let you know how these tips are working. Do have tricks to goal-setting that help you navigate the process? If so, please share!
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