Today is the beginning of a new month. We are already 1/12thof the way through the year. I’ve always been a reflective person so this causes me to think about what I’ve accomplished in January and what I want to accomplish in February.
Years ago, I used to do more than just set New Year’s Resolutions on January 1st—I would write out smaller goals for each month on the eve of that new month. Sometimes I would break them down into categories and list out one goal (sometimes even two) within that category. For example, one month I remember listing three categories: “health,” “fitness,” and “personal.” For health, I resolved not to drink any soda for the entire month. For fitness, I resolved to hit the gym four times a week. For personal, I resolved to read one book each week.
To be honest, I haven’t always achieved my monthly goals, but I do know setting them has helped me think about changes I wanted to make in my life. Having goals is one of the best ways to get to where we want to be–they give us direction in a world full of choices. In fact, I would argue that if you don’t set goals in your life, it is very unlikely that you will end up where you want to be. Setting monthly resolutions were very beneficial in pushing me to think about improvements I wanted to create in my life and then act on them and see rewarding results.
With monthly goals, I could start seeing results right away as opposed to the goals I often set for myself at the beginning of the year. (Note that I think both are equally important but the results for each do unfold at different paces.) For example, this month I have resolved to start waking up at 5am every morning. This morning, I woke up at 5am. I already got the desired result of my resolution. Of course, I have 27 more days to go before I truly fulfill the monthly goal, but I got to feel the reward of reaching the goal already today.
My yearly goals tend to be much bigger and broader and those results don’t come in a day. For example, “write a book” has been one of my goals in previous years. This is a worthy goal but I will certainly not be rewarded with the result of a completed book on the second day of the year, even if I wrote all day on January 1st. I won’t see that result on the third day or the fourth either. It will take months of dedicated, consistent efforts to create a polished book.
I know some people don’t put much stock into New Year’s Resolutions and I do understand the hesitation to make them. Most people don’t stick to their resolutions far beyond the second month of the year. They become too cynical or too frustrated or too embarrassed to keep setting resolutions and not following through on them.
But of course, the problem is not with wanting to set goals. The problem is in our approach to goals. This includes our system to reach these goals, the reasons behind the goals we set, and especially our mindset regarding these goals. But I will delve into that more deeply in another blog post.
Right now I want to circle back to the smaller, monthly goals I used to set for myself and suggest that this is a good way to start practicing the art of goal setting. It lacks the intensity and scare factor ofNew Year’s Resolutions. Setting monthly goals feels more reasonable and doable to those who have failed to achieve their big yearly goals (trust me, I’ve been there with certain New Year’s Resolutions myself—I still can’t speak a second language even though that resolutions first made its appearance on my list when I was fifteen).
The idea of completely giving up soda for an entire year is admittedly a bit daunting for me right now (even though I don’t drink soda every day), but the idea of giving up soda for the next 28 days feels possible. Sure, it will sting a little and I know I will crave it from time to time, but if I know I can go back to the habit after a short period of time, I feel more confident that I can manage it.
Now, if we never stick with any of the mini monthly goals we make beyond that first month, we might want to examine why we are making them in the first place. It is good to challenge ourselves to do new things, but the far-reaching goal behind making smaller goals is to find the ones important enough to stick with month after month after month. These smaller goals should be ones that we believe are helping us become a better version of ourselves.
If I give up soda for one month and then go back to drinking two Mountain Dews a day for months to come, perhaps that goal didn’t align with who I want to become and thus wasn’t truly very helpful. On the other hand, if I give up soda for one month for the purpose of improving my overall health—I am now drinking more water and I have more consistent energy because I’m no longer experiencing the sugar crash that comes an hour after my second Mountain Dew—I will likely find myself drinking far less soda in the coming months. This small goal has produced the positive effect of pushing me towards a healthier lifestyle, even if I do still occasionally have a soda.
Some might argue that it is better to go all in and quit certain things cold turkey, and while there is some truth to that, I believe slow progress is sometimes better than immediate results that don’t stick long term.
Becoming the best version of ourselves is a process, a journey, and it takes time. Setting both big and small goals is important, each in their own way, but sometimes I think we forget about the small ones and how valuable they can be in carving out a path toward those big goals.
I want to encourage you to set a small goal for this month. You have 28 fresh new days. Challenge yourself to get a little closer to your best self with a small improvement somewhere in your life. At the beginning of next month, your future self will thank you!
