Goal Setting For 2013

2013 Goal Review and Tackling My FOMO

Even if I know I have missed the mark on some of my goals, I always look forward to reviewing my goals for the year. At the beginning of my post where I set out my goals for 2013 I noted that I suffered from FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out. I think managing my FOMO has been one of my biggest achievements this year and it wasn’t even listed as a goal!

I still have some FOMO but if a high FOMO is a 10 I would have been on an 8 at the start of the year, now I am around a 3.  I said no to many things in 2013 that previously I would have said yes to just in case I missed something fantastic or if I thought that opportunity might not present itself again or if I felt I couldn’t say no as it would disappoint someone.

I have become much better at knowing my limits and I worry less about disappointing people when I say no. It is not that I set out to disappoint people, but when I would say no to invitations or requests I would often feel like I would be letting that person down. Now I realise that I am not responsible for the reactions of others and I need to make the best decision I can at the time. A book I read in the middle of this year helped tremendously with this – Rushing Woman’s Syndrome by Dr Libby Weaver:

“What leads you to feel guilty? Most often it is your perception that you have let someone else down. Yet when you pause to think about that, it is simply a story you are telling yourself. The reality is that it is not physically possible to let another human being down. If you do or say something, it is the other person’s choice entirely whether they feel disappointment or any other emotion.”

2013 Goal Review

It is a mixed bag in terms of goal achievement this year, but I did achieve other things not on my list which I will go through at the end and with these added to the mix, I am happy with how 2013 turned out for me.

Me – I am less rushed and healthier.

  1. Continue to improve my diet – one meat free meal a week, reduce consumption of sugar and carbs. Achieved. Completely changed my diet this year. I have a whole food approach and am really happy with how this makes me feel.
  2. Read six books by the end of the year. Failed. After abandoning this goal half way through this year, I ended up reading 4.5 books!
  3. Add variety to my exercise regime. Achieved. I now run and CrossFit regularly giving me a nice balance of cardio and strength training.
  4. Sleep at least 6 hours a night on a regular basis. Failed. Patchy times through out the year. Sleep is so important to over all health and sanity, this is something that I will need to work more on.

Family – We spend more time doing things together.

  1. Monthly family meetings. Achieved. Monthly is a good time frame for us.
  2. Eat out together on a quarterly basis. Achieved. I really enjoyed doing this as a family and will continue with it.
  3. Have an active family holiday. Achieved. You can read about our holiday to Japan here.
  4. Two big bush walks throughout the year. Achieved. For the ages of our kids now, activities like this are perfect for us.

Relationship – We have more time together on our own and support each others interests.

  1. A weekend away in 2013. Achieved. Not a whole weekend away but a night away on our own which was brilliant.
  2. Attend an event in the Comedy Festival, see 1 play, see 1 live music gig and a attend one event at the Melbourne Festival. Achieved. This format works well for us as it makes me organise it!
  3. Mr I will play football, cricket and cycle. Achieved. Mr I is training for an endurance event in March and has some smaller events lined up in the first couple of months of 2014 which I will support him and also work on his training nutrition.
  4. I will continue exercising 5 – 6 times a week. Achieved. I have worked out that I need to make sure I have one rest day a week.

Work – Improved usability and resources on the blog and improved blogging skills

  1. Analyse PWK survey and implement changes to the blog by quarter one. Achieved. I really appreciate the feedback given in the survey and look forward to making more changes in 2014 based on this year’s survey.
  2. Develop the calendar to the next stage by quarter two. Failed. I know how I want to improve the calendar to be more useful, but couldn’t dedicate the resources to it this year.
  3. Take course at Sydney Writers Centre by quarter three. Failed. Didn’t schedule it so it didn’t happen.
  4. Release new product by quarter four. Failed. Took on other opportunities which meant I did not have the time for this I thought I would.

Bonus Achievements In 2013

These achievements were ones I didn’t expect to happen at the start of 2013:

What I will Do Differently In 2014

Looking back on 2013 I can see how with a different approach I may have achieved some of the goals that I failed to do so. Setting goals for a year can be tricky as you do not know what other opportunities the year may present. However I do truly believe you need to set goals to keep you focused on what you want to achieve for the year.

Based on my learning from 2013, I will set goals slightly differently for 2014 and tweak some of my strategies for achieving my goals:

  • Try the Wheel Of Life approach to goal setting in 2014 to incorporate more aspects of my life to this goal setting process
  • Reduce the number of goals I have. I felt 16 was too many and splintered my focus in too many directions.
  • Make sure there are some fun/personal goals included.
  • Encourage my husband to write down his goals for 2014 and have us set some mutual goals together for the family.

Thank you

Thank you for reading Planning With Kids. Thanks to those who email, comment, pin, share, tweet, tell friends about Planning With Kids. I am very lucky to have created a small business with PWK as the platform. It is with the support and advocacy of readers of PWK that this has happened and for that I am truly appreciative.

I wish you good health, happiness and success for 2014. Thanks again, Nic

How was 2013 for you? What did you learn about goal setting?