Level Up: My Goals for 2022
Hi friends, and Happy New Year! I don't know about you, but I've been in a time warp with little sense of what month it is since the pandemic started. But apparently, it's 2022 now. And in my world, that means it's time for 2022 goals.
I posted about this on my Instagram last week, but I don't really do new year resolutions. I used to, but they always included things like "lose 15 pounds" (when I was 30 pounds lighter!) and "be a better person" (lol). In recent years, I've shifted my mindset. For a while I tried out a word of the year (one year it was "yes," the next year it was "no"). But my brain feels best when I'm operating with goals and strategies. So, at the risk of sounding like one of those CEOs who wants to optimize every second of their day (extremely not me), I've settled on an evaluate-and-reassess strategy process to help me transition from one year to the next.
My Process
I like to carve out a solid two-hour chunk of time to start my year-end / new year planning. I used to write everything out by hand, but I found that I was trying to make spreadsheets on paper. My brain likes to think in tables. This year I used Google Sheets and I swear my brain was firing on all pistons. I was electric. Spreadsheet people get it!
I start by listing things I'm proud of over the last year. It can help to break this down into buckets, like work, family, personal development – whatever works for you. Beginning with the year's highs always gets me charged up for planning. And looking back on everything I did this year – leaving my full-time job to become a full-time grad student, landing my first 4-figure brand deals, creating systems and a formal business structure, bringing home a new pup, and a lot more stuff that I'm proud of.
Here's a non-exhaustive list of some of the goals I set.
Personal Goals
- build a morning routine that starts my day off strong
- walk 10k steps a day (I bought an Apple watch to track – during the pandemic it's been closer to 3,500 a day. yikes!)
- plan mini vacations to give myself something to look forward to (Geoff and I sat down and made some big-picture out-of-town plans last weekend, including day trips)
- Be mindful of waste and consumption
- Read 25 books for fun
Business Goals
- Earn more press placements – be interviewed on local news
- Grow to 50k followers on Instagram (manifesting...)
- Partner with IKEA (a girl can dream!)
- Stick to my strategy and hone my platforms to support my content buckets
Professional and Academic Goals
- Build and maintain a study routine that serves me
- Practice my quantitative skills via a solid internship (I have a few dream scenarios here, but keeping those to myself for now)
- Distill what I'm learning to share with others
Pretty doable, I think! Are you a new year goal setter, too? What works for you?
