How To Get Back On Track With Your Goals/Resolutions

This year, for the most part, has seemed to FLY BY. Like every year I find myself midway through the year like CRAP….I’m ridiculously behind on my goals/resolutions despite the purest of intentions. WHERE DID THE TIME GO?? Certainly I didn’t blink and half of the year went by without me making much progress on my goals??

For the past few years I’ve used the halfway point of the year to gather myself and get back on track when it comes to my goals/resolutions. I thought I’d share some of the strategies that have helped me to refocus rather than give up. I realize not all of these suggestions will suit everyone’s personality but these are what help get ME back on track when I realize I’ve fallen off the goal wagon.

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Read through your goals/resolutions and ask yourself if you even want to pursue these things anymore or if you need to tweak them:

This might seem like an obvious thing but sometimes I find myself struggling with my goal only to sit down and realize maybe it’s not what I want anymore so a tweak or an overhaul is need to make it happen.

I mean, it’s not like it’s been years since you set this goal but I’ve found that sometimes, throughout the course of the first half of the year, that there are certain goals/resolutions that just don’t fit with my life anymore or I’ve genuinely lost interest in. Reevaluate your goals and see how they can be a better fit. Be honest with yourself about your WHY of perusing this goal/resolution in the first place. It’s okay to change up your goal or resolution — no shame. I’ve done it. I’d rather switch it up than spend time plugging into a goal I don’t want anymore. Sometimes clarity into what you really want will send you on your way faster to help you achieve it.

Join a challenge (or create one yourself)

Sometimes I need something targeted in order to figure out WHERE to start. I like challenges. I like checking off tasks and feeling like I have a path to what I want. I see these types of challenges as a baby step in the right direction to your goals (unless you can find a super specific challenge that will help you with your goal completion).

Some examples for common resolutions/goals:

• Goal: read more books — join the fun Popsugar reading challenge (but cut yourself some slack since the year is halfway through…maybe pick 5 or 10 tasks). Or challenge yourself to read through a book list — I have some great book lists here on the site!
• Wanting to start working out? — you can find all sorts of challenging just by googling like this one on Buzzfeed or this pushup challenge. If you follow enough Youtube/internet fitness people you will see them crop up often and it’s pretty fun to do them live when people are doing them as a community. I always love the Blogilates ones.
• Want to start a yoga practice? I LOVE Yoga With Adriene’s 30 days of yoga!
• Maybe your goal/resolution was a mindset change? Try: 30 days of minimalism (or this minimalism challenge), 30 day happiness challenge, kindness challenge, 30 day gratitude challenge
• Want to get yourself organized? 30 Day Declutter challenge or this organize your home challenge or maybe this 5 day email cleanse challenge

I’m telling you! Search on Pinterest and Google and I’m sure you can find something related to your goal to help give you that guidance you might need in GETTING STARTED and focusing/refocusing.

I was really wanting to journal more but I had SUCH an issue with just opening a blank notebook so I dabbled into the guided journal thing which had prompts for every day and it was SUCH a game changer. So even if it’s not a HUGE BIG CHALLENGE. Even doing a guided 30 days of prompts can be helpful in that habit of writing or journalling.

Invest in yourself:

Maybe it doesn’t work for you like it works for ME but I have found great success in accomplishing goals/resolutions once I invested in myself. I don’t like to waste money so sometimes I need to invest in myself to get certain goals/resolutions done.

For example, I could NOT commit to anything fitness related for the longest time. I was using Cassey Ho’s free workouts but I decided to take the plunge to accomplish some fitness goals and purchased her PIIT28 program and it was the first time I ever completed anything with taking unnecessary days off. I was committed.  For once in my life I STUCK WITH A FITNESS ROUTINE AND ACTUALLY MET MY FITNESS GOALS.

I’ve purchased courses before for skills I wanted to learn and it really has helped me to actually start learning those types of things.

So think about how you can invest in yourself to push yourself along. It doesn’t have to be expensive but, if you are like me, and feel motivated because you don’t want to waste your money, this might be the ticket! Get that gym membership, take that photography class, buy that cookbook you keep perusing in the store!

Get accountability:

Another thing that helps me in my goals is accountability. I don’t like to let someone down so if I have someone that is holding me accountable I’m more likely to do the thing I need to do. I talked about this before but I’m an “upholder” according to Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies (a fascinating read to learn more about yourself and reveal how to make things work for YOU). I do better at things when someone else is relying on me or keeping me accountable because I don’t like letting people down.

So maybe you get a workout buddy to help you with your fitness goal — somebody who will be waiting for you at the gym. Maybe you want to make new friends or read more books? Join a book club — or any sort of club! Maybe you want to start a business? Find a mentor or get into contact with somebody who is also trying to start their own business (I’m in a great group for this actually and it’s helped so much in motivating and inspiring me also!).

Get out your calendar or planner:

This is one thing I try to do from the start (I have a whole post in the works about how I use my planner to work on my goals) but sometimes when I find myself making no progress on my goals I just whip out my calendar/planner  and realize I made NO actual plans to get it done. I actually always end up picking up July-Without scheduling it in I get into that “some day” or “when I have time” mode of thinking which TYPICALLY results in me not seeing results. So I sit down and I schedule it in like I would a doctor’s appointment or a concert I’m going to. So schedule in your workouts like you would a work thing. It’s not just hanging there in the balance. It’s “i’m going to get up and then at 6:30 I’m going to work out”. Boom, done. You already found time. How far in advance you “schedule” your task that will help you reach your goal is up to you….find whatever works, play around with a system.

WRITE EVERY THING DOWN.

Sidenote: I was thinking about it the other day how I always have these planners from July-June and I realize it’s because one year I was reevaluting my goals and ended up buying a planner in JULY rather than in January like everyone else starting their goals but I was ready to get serious and didn’t care if it was the 1st of the year or midway through the year.

Identify your obstacles

Sometimes identifying what may be standing in my way helps me to start chipping away at that. Maybe money actually is a factor and really the reason why I didn’t sign up for gym membership — brainstorm some free solution like walking to work if you are able or doing some Youtube fitness videos.  Maybe you are trying to learn to cook but you don’t have all the essentials that you actually need.

Once I identify the things that have become obstacles in making progress on my goals I can usually figure out how to “fix” them in some way or make it less of an obstacle. And sometimes, when I take a good hard look at my perceived obstacles — I realize a lot of them were either fear or excuses speaking.

Identify one small thing you can do that will be in the right direction:

I don’t know about you but there are certain goals that just feel DAUNTING….like where do I even start?? So I push it off because I don’t know where to start. So a thing I’ve been doing in the past year when I find myself overwhelmed by my BIG GOAL is to identify one teeny tiny thing I can do today.

Maybe it’s doing some research into the different fitness classes you can do if you are wanting to start working out. Maybe it’s signing up for a library card. Maybe it’s just perusing something pertaining to your goal on Pinterest. Subscribe to a podcast related to your goal/resolution.

If you take a teeny tiny thing that can be a first step or a toe in the waters of whatever goal/resolution you have in mind, it can really give you some confidence. Then from there I try to break it down into a list of things I can do towards my goal. Small, actionable things that will make up the steps to accomplishing my goal. Then I schedule them.

Don’t get overwhelmed by the big picture — identify one small thing you can do. And then after you do that, break it down further. List ALL THE THINGS…even if they seem silly.

I get overwhelmed a lot by big pictures so this is an exercise I always need to do.

I used to get so defeated when I didn’t see progress on my goals like “oh, the year is halfway over…maybe next year I’ll do better” and I realize how much I held myself back. You can start over any day of the week and get yourself back on track. But mid-year goal reviews are HUGE for me and a huge opportunity to get back on track — even if I don’t accomplish FULLY what I intend to before 2018 runs out. I mean I’m going to feel GREAT with the progress I get even if I “complete” my goal or resolution later than anticipated. I love the framework for having year long goals just for structure sake but don’t let it bring you down if you aren’t where you wanted to be before 2018 is over. You still have a whole HALF A YEAR to kick some butt on your goals.

Pin it for later:

What are some things you do to help yourself get back on track with your goals or resolutions?? I’d love to know which goals you have gotten off track with and maybe I can help you brainstorm!!