Schedule Your Success In 2021

Hey, it’s been a while. Life got a bit crazy last spring and I haven’t been posting regularly since then, but since it’s January of 2021, it’s time to pick it back up again.

So I guess it’s that time of year for an obligatory New Year’s Resolution post. About half of American’s set New Year’s Resolutions and I don’t know about you, but I usually set a few. Unfortunately most goals don’t live past January, so my wife and I decided to try something new and schedule out success.

How People Set Goals

When it comes to setting goals, there are many ways to get started. Some people just copy goals they hear from other people.

Some just think it to themselves without telling anyone or writing it down. Others write out a list, which improves the chances of achieving the goal.

Still fewer develop a plan or milestone’s to hit on the way to their goal. Perhaps even less common is setting up a recurring calendar event for when someone is going to devote time to reaching goals, and that is what we’re after today.

How I Set Goals

I always find it interesting when people go on diets for a set amount of time. Sometimes it’s just a month or two, or until they hit a target weight, but even if they do stay committed to the goal, which is a huge accomplishment in itself, they simply quite doing the actions that led to their success and go back to their old habits.

The weight comes back plus some, they go back into debt plus some, and they end up worse than they started.

If there is a goal you decide is worth setting, it hopefully lines up with your long term values and ideals, and if it does, then it probably should not be a goal, but a lifestyle change.

Consistent Effort With No End Date

I know most people say goals should be specific and measurable and all that SMART goal stuff. But I’m going in a little different direction this year.

I have about 10 pounds that I don’t really need, but my goal isn’t to lose 10 pounds. My goal is to work out for 90 minutes a week, mostly but going on runs. I also try to add in some yoga and HIIT body weight workouts through Aaptiv. Eventually I will get a bench press and dumbbells and start lifting more.

The point is that if I do these things, I will definitely be more fit than I am now, and likely will make progress on that spare 10 pounds. It’s on my calendar and my wife and I have agreed to encourage and enable each other to make healthy choices.

Schedule Your Success In Other Areas

Some of my other goals are to develop professionally and learn Python, a programming language that has become extremely popular and would make me much more marketable in the job market.

So I haven’t set a goal on building an app or whatever, but I have scheduled 60-90 minutes with a friend who knows Python. In the meeting we will work on some code and solve problems in a side project he’s already started.

My blog has sat dormant for 10 months, so I have scheduled time for that as well, and so far it’s working as I’m working on it now.

More importantly am planning to start a podcast to go with it. I’m hoping to launch it by the end of this month, so keep an eye out please! I’ll share it on my Facebook Page once the first episodes go out. This will be another new skill to add and should increase my bran’s reach and marketability.

Bland Routines

I have a few more things that I’m trying to integrate into my daily routine’s, like eating fruit and vegetables. For example, eating a small bag of baby carrots before lunch every weekday, or a banana with breakfast so I eat less sugary cereal.

Simple things like that can make a big difference over time to increase the good food I eat daily and decrease the bad. It’s inexpensive and an easy habit to form. Bland isn’t bad.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve set and failed goals the same way every year as long as you can remember, try mixing it up this year and schedule your success. You also don’t have to start in January of a given year, I find that starting something new on a Monday works just as well.

Print out a schedule (here’s a link to my Goal Chart Template), fill it in and hang it on your fridge and bathroom mirror, somewhere you will see it. Put calendar reminders in your phone with alerts for the time you scheduled. Bring other people into your goals if possible, whether it be a spouse, friend, or neighbor. I know I don’t want to come unprepared or late to my Thursday night meeting for the Python project, and having the pressure of another person’s success being tied to my own is helpful.

I hope this helps, feel free to comment below what your goals are!

Oh, and we also want to keep our home cleaner, so here’s our 20 minute a day cleaning schedule.