Getting Clear on Your Goals
There are people in the world who are perfectly content doing the same thing day in and day out. These individuals thrive off of their routines and are happiest in their comfort zone...I am not one of those people.
When it comes to the people I love, I am highly committed and loyal. My RODs (Ride or Dies) have been with me since high school, and even my husband and I have been together since I was 17. But when it comes to my career, I'm all over the place. By the age of 25 I'd already had 15 different jobs, and I didn't start working until I was 16. It's not that I am afraid to commit, it's more that I have got a serious case of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out...I know I just saved 30% of you from having to Google it...you're welcome!).
There are SO many things that I want to do with my life that I dabble in a little of everything. The problem with that is that it's easy to take on too much, get burned out, and quit altogether. At one point a couple of years ago, I was working full time, selling cosmetics from a catalog, running a blog, writing a novel, working on my Master's Degree AND raising my two kids. Needless to say, that was the year I had a mini meltdown and quit everything except school and my job, and that was purely for financial reasons on both sides.
If you're like me, then you know how real the struggle is. It's not that you won't sit still, it's that you can't.
What I've discovered over the past couple of years is the importance of narrowing down my goals and prioritizing my time. Instead of haphazardly working a little on one goal here, a little on another goal there, I've learned to focus all of my energy on no more than 3 goals at a time, and I keep them organized by category: personal, professional, and relationships
Personal - meaning anything that has to do with YOU and only you. Wanting to go on the Keto Diet and lose 10 pounds, learning a new language, organizing your house a-la-Marie Kondo. Those are all personal goals. The only requirement is that it pertains only to your growth as a human and it qualifies.
Professional - In this category, anything related to your career, or the career you aspire to have, is fair game. Attending a professional networking event, training to move up in the ranks of your company, or finishing the manuscript you started 3 years ago and finally trying to get published (*ahem* ME *ahem*).
Relationships - This one involves your connections with other people. It could be your relationship with your kids, your spouse, your siblings, your friends, etc.
This idea wasn't mine. I got it from an amazing book called How to Get Sh*t Done by Erin Falconer. If you've never read it and you're serious about prioritizing your time, get yourself a copy. The idea is that while you shouldn't put all of your eggs in one basket (i.e. all of your energy into one single, solitary source of happiness and purpose in life) you also shouldn't over-commit yourself. You can have more than one goal in one category, like two personal goals, but then you are left with only one other goal in one other category, and 3 is the absolute max.
When I first did this, my goals were to maintain a steady workout routine, finish my Master's, and spend quality, uninterrupted fun time with my kids once a week. It was amazing because there were days when I was more motivated to work out, and days when I was more focused on my studies or hanging out with the kids, but on a day when I worked out, finished a paper, and watched a movie with the kids, I felt like Superwoman!
Your goals will change, of course. Once you accomplish a goal in one area, you can come up with something new, but the idea is to make real progress on just a few goals at a time. By narrowing your focus and concentrating your energy on specific areas of your life, you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish.
What will be your three goals? Leave me a comment so that we can keep each other accountable!
I'll leave you with my current ones:
Personal - Eat clean 80% of the time and tighten up my midsection (thanks, holiday weight!)
Professional - 2 blog posts and 1,200 words for my novel each week.
Relationships - Have story time with my kids at least 3 nights each week.
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauralorta/
When it comes to the people I love, I am highly committed and loyal. My RODs (Ride or Dies) have been with me since high school, and even my husband and I have been together since I was 17. But when it comes to my career, I'm all over the place. By the age of 25 I'd already had 15 different jobs, and I didn't start working until I was 16. It's not that I am afraid to commit, it's more that I have got a serious case of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out...I know I just saved 30% of you from having to Google it...you're welcome!).
There are SO many things that I want to do with my life that I dabble in a little of everything. The problem with that is that it's easy to take on too much, get burned out, and quit altogether. At one point a couple of years ago, I was working full time, selling cosmetics from a catalog, running a blog, writing a novel, working on my Master's Degree AND raising my two kids. Needless to say, that was the year I had a mini meltdown and quit everything except school and my job, and that was purely for financial reasons on both sides.
If you're like me, then you know how real the struggle is. It's not that you won't sit still, it's that you can't.
What I've discovered over the past couple of years is the importance of narrowing down my goals and prioritizing my time. Instead of haphazardly working a little on one goal here, a little on another goal there, I've learned to focus all of my energy on no more than 3 goals at a time, and I keep them organized by category: personal, professional, and relationships
Personal - meaning anything that has to do with YOU and only you. Wanting to go on the Keto Diet and lose 10 pounds, learning a new language, organizing your house a-la-Marie Kondo. Those are all personal goals. The only requirement is that it pertains only to your growth as a human and it qualifies.
Professional - In this category, anything related to your career, or the career you aspire to have, is fair game. Attending a professional networking event, training to move up in the ranks of your company, or finishing the manuscript you started 3 years ago and finally trying to get published (*ahem* ME *ahem*).
Relationships - This one involves your connections with other people. It could be your relationship with your kids, your spouse, your siblings, your friends, etc.
This idea wasn't mine. I got it from an amazing book called How to Get Sh*t Done by Erin Falconer. If you've never read it and you're serious about prioritizing your time, get yourself a copy. The idea is that while you shouldn't put all of your eggs in one basket (i.e. all of your energy into one single, solitary source of happiness and purpose in life) you also shouldn't over-commit yourself. You can have more than one goal in one category, like two personal goals, but then you are left with only one other goal in one other category, and 3 is the absolute max.
When I first did this, my goals were to maintain a steady workout routine, finish my Master's, and spend quality, uninterrupted fun time with my kids once a week. It was amazing because there were days when I was more motivated to work out, and days when I was more focused on my studies or hanging out with the kids, but on a day when I worked out, finished a paper, and watched a movie with the kids, I felt like Superwoman!
Your goals will change, of course. Once you accomplish a goal in one area, you can come up with something new, but the idea is to make real progress on just a few goals at a time. By narrowing your focus and concentrating your energy on specific areas of your life, you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish.
What will be your three goals? Leave me a comment so that we can keep each other accountable!
I'll leave you with my current ones:
Personal - Eat clean 80% of the time and tighten up my midsection (thanks, holiday weight!)
Professional - 2 blog posts and 1,200 words for my novel each week.
Relationships - Have story time with my kids at least 3 nights each week.
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauralorta/
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