I cannot believe that we are already MORE THAN halfway through the year. It’s beyond me because we were just popping bottles and writing down 2019 goals the day before yesterday. These days are flying by, which helps me make the case that we should be using our time wisely. If you’re anything like me, in January, you sat down and either wrote out or thought about major things that you want to accomplish this year. That said, for those of us who did (and even those of you who didn’t), this halfway mark is the perfect time to sit down and regroup with where we are and where we want to be before the end of the year. In this post we are discussing two things: (1) reflecting on the past 6 months and (2) setting the tone for the next 6 months.
Take Time To Reflect – The Past 6 Months
Take Time To Celebrate Your Small Wins
Reflection is so important and for so many reasons. The first, and what may be the most important, is celebrating your small wins. Reflecting allows you to see what minor things you have accomplished. We go so hard and we are hyper-focused on the big picture that we often times forget to enjoy the beauty of each stroke that’s creating the masterpiece. Take time to celebrate the little things so that you can be grateful for how far you’ve come in the end. Get into the habit of patting yourself on the back for the things that people don’t get to see, like each step that goes into the hard work and dedication of doing what you do. Doing this should naturally increase your motivation and encourage you to continue putting in the work to get where you are trying to go!
Staying Motivated
Speaking of motivation… Motivation isn’t something that comes as a blue pill, it’s not magic, and you can’t just hope that it happens. Staying motivated can be hard and even under the best circumstances, there is no one-size-fits all for how you set and meet goals, celebrate your wins, or self-motivate. Reflecting on the past six months helps you recognize and appreciate your progress. It allows you to see the growth and motivates you to keep putting in the work. It forces you to look at the good and the bad over time and use those experiences as lessons learned. Trust me – you do not want to sleep on how impactful reflecting can be. Take time to see how far you’ve come, let that be added motivation to help you shift your perspective, and keep pushing forward.
Focus on The Lessons Learned
Failure is not uncommon and as painful as it is, everyone can relate to it. Even the most successful people in the world have failed and no one is immune to it. In fact, the bigger the failure, the more you take away from it. We’re flooded with everyone’s success on social media that failure has, unfortunately, become taboo. Do not let society fool you into thinking that it is not okay to fail. There are legitimate benefits to failing and without a struggle, there can be no progress – as told by Fredrick Douglas. Failing makes you dig deeper and helps shed light on situations that you otherwise may not have understood. It makes you stronger and more knowledgeable, and makes you find new ways to approach old problems.
Failure gives you a different type of mental toughness that success cannot give you. Take time to reflect on where you took losses, where you failed, or where you could have been better during the past 6 months. It’s meant to inform how you approach the next 6 months! As you move forward, don’t let the fear of failure stop you dead in your tracks. Understand that with failure comes lessons. Use those lessons to continue pushing towards your greater self.
Set The Tone – The Next 6 Months
Dedicate the rest of the year to meeting your goals. Fall back & WORK.
Be Clear About What You Want
I cannot stress enough how important it is to know what you want for yourself each and every day, month, year. The way that you spend your days, is of course, how you spend your life. And being intentional about what you want is a crucial step in securing the life you imagine. I think it’s super important for me to emphasize the importance of small daily actions. Especially when it comes to seeing real changes in your life. These small daily changes can either work for us or against. We have to decide which will happen. When you are clear about what you want, it is easier to become clear on how to get there. Days, months, and even years of small changes add up to create a massive impact and can produce substantial results in your life.
Set Goals That Actually Mean Something: SMART goals
This seems so elementary to include, but you’d be surprised how helpful this is to setting and meeting goals. Again, when we are talking about doing small things that make a big difference, this is one of them. When it comes to achieving success, one of the most important steps you can take is setting good goals. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this concept, a SMART goal is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
Let’s imagine that you’ve set a goal to save $10,000 a year for the next three years by saving $850 for the next 36 months. The goal is specific ($10,000 a year for the next three years). The goal is measurable (you can measure the amount you actually end up saving). The attainable factor is dependent on your own financial situation (can you actually save $833+ each month for 36 months?). In regards to relevancy, it is dependent on whether or not this is an important goal for you personally. Lastly, the goal is time-bound (saving a a set amount per month to reach your goal in three years).
The idea is that you are not just setting goals, but also setting out a path to meet them. At the end of the day, I want all of us to win but I cannot win for all of us. Create change in your life intentionally and start showing up as who you want to be every single day.
