Setting clear intentional goals is the key to living your best life. By defining what you want and creating a roadmap, you’ve got this!
It’s a new year and a traditional time to talk about goal setting and getting clear with your intentions. However, if you a reading this after January in any given year, think of each new month as an excellent starting point for creating intentional goals. This is NOT a once a year activity.
As I mentioned in previous posts, my “word of the year” for 2024 is gumption. To make a decision and act with courage and determination. (paraphrased from a few online dictionaries).
So, in order to set forth and conquer with gumption, I feel like I also need to set courageous and bold goals, to compliment such a badass and powerful “word of the year”. More about my goals in a bit.
What is a goal anyway?
First…I was listening to the Mel Robbins Podcast this morning on the treadmill. If you haven’t yet tuned into Mel, you are missing a solid cheerleader and motivator in your life. I personally feel like she is cheering for me to succeed. Not only because she says she is (so what if it’s to millions pf people), I feel like she is talking to me. Anyway…back to my point. She was talking about goals and the simple definition she shares in her FREE workbook is.
“A goal is any desired outcome that wouldn’t otherwise happen without you doing something”. Mel Robbins
Think about that for a minute. We do a lot, and I mean a LOT on auto-pilot. So doing our daily tasks isn’t a goal, although some days I feel like dragging my ass out of bed is a goal, it’s not really. I know I can do it and I will. A goal is something bigger. Something that requires thought, strategy, energy, commitment and desire.
Your goals need to be authentic to you to be successful
Why do I say desire? What if I don’t want to do something, but someone else thinks it’s a great goal for me to have? If I make it a goal even though I don’t feel it, what will the outcome be? I will eventually let it go and likely disappoint myself for not following through. Why didn’t I finish “the thing”? Because it wasn’t a desire of mine and didn’t support my personal purpose or impact I want to have in my own life.
Goals are important. What I have learned about myself over the last few years is to limit my amount of “big goals” to keep them achievable. Smaller tactics can support my big goals and can be considered “milestones” and still deserve to be recognized and celebrated. You don’t make a big goal without bite sized tactics to get you to success.
Taylor Swift didn’t make a goal of being an awesome entertainer and wake up a billionaire at 34. She worked hard and had many “mini-successes” a long the way. (not a life-long Swiftie, but I am starting to understand why millions are)
My health goal
It’s no secret I turned 49 this year, and also no secret because I am a woman, that I am in perimenopause, knocking on the door of full blown menopause. Naturally with this new awesome phase of life, one of my big bold goals is my health and wellness. Menopause fucks with everything. So to be proactive in staying healthy (mentally and physically), I know I need to make changes to keep up with my changing hormones and body.
So I get up a little earlier (not hard to, since menopause fucks with your sleep), and I hit the treadmill before my work day starts. Even if my workday goes to shit, I’ll still be able to see my steps accomplished and feel good when I put my feet up at the end of the day.
So long sugar…I’ll miss you.
Many, many years ago I gave up Coca-Cola, which to this day would be my second favourite drink of choice. Although I no longer drink it, ever…I can still taste the sparkle and sunshine on my tongue after cracking open a fresh can of Coca-Cola. It was just not working for gut anymore. I knew it was Coke (the Coca-Cola variety), and the decision was hard but necessary. Same rings true now for my beloved sugar. The scales are tipping, and not in my favour. As my hormones change, so does the way my body is processing all the delicious sugar in my drinks and food choices.
Have I cut out sugar completely? No. Is it even possible these days to have zero sugar??? I’m sure some of you are reading this and saying yes, but for me, slow and steady will win this race. No more sugar in my tea is the biggest change I have made so far. I drink a LOT of tea. You guessed it. My #1 favourite beverage of choice is tea. Orange Pekoe and most herbals. Hard pass on green tea.
If I have a cookie now, it’s one or two, not 4 or five, and it’s certainly not every evening anymore. It seems as I get a little older, my sugar cravings are off the charts, so I need to find and keep healthier snack options in my fridge and cupboard. Damn Oreos. I love you. Fortunately I also love fresh and fruits and vegetables so the snack transition has been fairly easy.
My wellness goal
I just grabbed a YOGA Block from Amazon last week and it has arrived, so that regular practice will fire up again this week. I have to admit, a great thing with 2020-2022 was my Yoga practice being on point. Everyday I would shut my laptop, roll in my office chair and roll out my Yoga Mat and my work day officially ended in Shavasana (Corpse pose). Since then, my practice has taken a back burner to work and life in general and that needs to stop being an excuse. I used to be able to easily bend, twist, balance and stretch with full range of motion. Now I need the “floor to come to me” with the block. My goal for the end of this year, is to retire the block and recover some range of motion, flexibility and stability.
So these are just some of my Health and Wellness goals for 2024. There are more that include medical practitioners and natural supplements to give my body back some the depleting minerals, vitamins and nutrients it needs to stay healthy through menopause. Menopause will not kick my ass anymore. I will fight back with gumption!
If you are interested in knowing a few of the natural supplements I am currently taking, let me know. Happy to share if you are interested. I’m clearly not a Licensed Naturopath, Doctor or professional of any kind. Just a 49 year old woman learning as I go.
Do you have tips for thriving in perimenopause/menopause?
So, as the year progresses, I’ll likely share more of my goals, but in order to jump into 2024 with focus and gumption, I have decided that my health and wellness need to be my top priority. If you are in perimenopause or menopause, let me know in the comments your best path to successfully thriving while your body freaks out and throws a million curve balls at 200km/hr.
If you aren’t in menopause but have some lofty goals for your life and love and career, and want to share them and use me as an Accountability partner, please do!
Do you need an accountability partner?
Sometimes just saying your goals out loud in the mirror to yourself or writing them in a Journal is enough. Sometimes you need to say them to someone. I’ll be that someone if you need it.
We’ve got this, with gumption 🙂
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