Where are my goal getters out there? Anyone make goals or set intentions for 2025?? Since becoming an entrepreneur, I have been introduced to the world of setting goals, and to be frank with you guys, it is something that I’ve struggled with. Certainly the concept of perfection has held me back in the past where I would set a goal, and if I “fell off the wagon” I truly struggled to get back on because, what’s the point? I already failed.
I’m happy to say that I’m not quite in that mindset of being trapped by perfection anymore, and I’m okay with failing and then restarting again. However, I have also come to terms with something beautiful for myself as I look into what I want 2025 to look like. But before I can talk about this discovery and my new year goals, we’ve got to talk about my 2024 review.
In recent years, I’ve gotten in the habit of reviewing the year that just ended. What did I spend my time on? What did I achieve? Did I enjoy my day-to-day? Is there something that I wish I would have done differently? I take time to review my calendar appointments and look through my photos from the year to see just exactly what my year looked like as I think through these questions. (This also creates space for gratitude.)
I have to say, 2024 was a MAJOR year for me. I got married to the love of my life. I got a new job after being with my previous employer for over 10 years. I got to take my first international trip with my husband to an all-inclusive resort for our honeymoon….
Those are some of the big ticket items, but as I look through the nitty gritty, day-to-day schedule from 2024, there’s not much I would change. I genuinely love the life I’ve built. And yes, I picked those words very carefully. The life I’m living is based on hundreds and thousands of choices (intentional and unintentional) that I’ve made. I’ve created my reality. To be able to recognize this brings me more joy than I can explain. But I’ll try.
Of course, there are things that I want to make adjustments to, or tighten up, as I move into the new year. Certainly health is a key focus. Yes, I do work out on a regular basis already, but I know that my body needs more. So one of my intentions for the new year is to work out in different capacities at least 5 days a week. I also look forward to continuing to swap out different products in my house for cleaner versions. I’ll tell you, I don’t have any weight loss goals for myself. Being a certain weight is just not my focus right now. As I get older and recognize the overall increase of disease and cancer as well as my family’s medical history, my focus is truly on creating a healthy life. Sure, that could lead to weight loss. Or not. Either way, I simply want to continue down this path of a healthier life.
Something else that I reflected on in my 2024 review was how much joy I have when I spend time with my husband. Obviously, I want to do more things that bring me joy, so we have decided to make sure that we have a date night at least once a month.
Another intention I have for the year is to continue down the path of personal discovery and development that I’m already on. Again, this is something that I was introduced to back when I started my first entrepreneurial endeavor back in 2014, and it has been a journey since then. I can look back and see how much I’ve grown, and I intend to continue that growth this year through continuing to work with a life coach as well as completing a 52 week “Transform Your Life” guided journal.
I want to point out a key factor within each of these new year intentions on mine – None of them are new to me. They are all things that I have been working on and building over the past several years. The reason I am not trying to completely overhaul a certain part of my life is because (like I said above), I love my life. I am so happy with the people in it and how I spend my time, a lot of it I wouldn’t necessarily change. But I will work to continue to make my life even richer by diving deeper into the things that bring me joy.
Why do I share all of this with you?
If you’re someone who is thinking about New Year goals, I would encourage you, first do a review of your life from 2024. If you don’t understand where you’ve been, how can you figure out where you want to go? So take some time to look at your calendar to see how you spent your time. Was it on things that helped you move the needle with your goals and projects from last year? Was it on things that make you happy? Were there things that you did that you wish you didn’t do it all? Think through these questions and even write your thoughts down by creating different buckets like “needle movers”, “joyful times”, “flops,” etc. From there, you can start to really think about how do you want your life to be different (or stay the same for that matter). You might find that you simply want to make small tweaks to adjust what you already are doing to make your life richer. Or you could find that you need to pivot completely and create brand new goals and habits for yourself. Either are fine as long as the decisions are intentional.
I’m gunna circle back to something I said earlier. We create our own reality. Of course, I can’t be oblivious or ignorant to the fact that sometimes we can’t control everything in our lives. But what will you do with the things you can control?
Take time to think about what your ideal life would look like – Contemplate things like how you spend your time with work, with family and friends, with yourself… What makes you happy? Are you doing those things now? If not, what is something you can change to bring just a little more joy into your life today? Maybe you need to set a specific, measurable goal that you can see and stick to to ensure movement in the right direction. For example, if you realized that seeing a certain friend brings you joy, but you only hung out with them twice last year, set an intention to see them at least once a season (or once a month, if possible), and let them know! Or if you realized that you need more quality time with yourself, make sure you have at least 1 self care item in your calendar each and every week, whether that be a massage or time carved out to go to your favorite coffee shop and read a book.
Whatever you do, I want you to understand that you have the power to create your life. And it’s through decisions that you make that determine what this looks like. So take some time to figure out what brings you joy, what you want to achieve, and how you want to spend your time, and then make that your reality. One day at a time. Your life won’t necessarily transform immediately. But I can tell you now, the happiness that I feel when I look at my life that I’ve intentionally worked to build throughout my adult life is like none other. And I can only hope and wish that you get to experience this happiness for yourself too.
If you’ve gotten this far, drop a comment with soemthing that made you happy in 2024 and something that you want to experience/achieve in 2025.