Have you ever felt like you just need to be brought back to life? Like, you know the person you once were is in there somewhere, buried beneath it all, but you haven’t seen them in a while? I swear, the older we get the quicker the time passes. And what’s worse is I feel like the volume of things thrown our way doesn’t just increase, those things are major things like new jobs and relocations. Before we know it, we’re merely surviving the days; living reactively instead of proactively.
Y’all. I hate to admit this, but that’s been me for months and months. In fact, it’s been so long, I can hardly remember what it was like to have my life together. Routines and good habits are things of the past, and I keep crawling in bed every night feeling like I just simply ran out of time.
It’s easy to get stuck in that place if I’m honest. Switching gears, pulling yourself from a slump, takes a lot of effort and frankly, I’m already tired. If you’ve been following along on Insta, you know life has been in warp speed lately with change upon change upon change. But the faint whisper of dreams keeps taunting me, and I think it’s about time I do something about it. So I’m doing my best to unjam the gear shift and get this sucker in motion. I know it isn’t going to be pretty, and perfection will be nowhere in sight, but hey…we gotta start somewhere.
ACTION STEP #1: GET A LITTLE DREAMY
Being stuck in such a rut, I decided to do something a little out of character for me: I bought the Cultivate What Matters Powersheets; 6-month edition. Now, the reason I say this is a bit out of character for me is because I’m usually a goal setting ninja. I don’t typically need any help in that department. But with my normal systems drifting so far out of reach, having someone guide me through the process felt like just the ticket for my tired little soul. And it most certainly did the trick.
Lara Casey, the brains behind Cultivate What Matters, encourages you to envision your life when you’re 80. What will matter the most to you then? she asks. It seems so obvious, but it’s not something I really ever considered when it came to goal setting. I’m more of an immediate future type of goal-getter. But this approach helped me depart from my normal to-do list type goals which were usually strictly business or fitness related and instead get a little dreamier about the big picture of my life.
Once I had the areas of my life I wanted to focus on, it was time to move on to the next step.
ACTION STEP #2: GET CLEAR
With the big picture of my life coming into focus, getting clear on the various areas I felt needed the most attention was actually much easier than I anticipated. The Powersheets actually walk you through the process of selecting these things, and some of them were quite surprising to me. Like I said, I’m usually pretty good at goal setting–but it’s rare that I ever think outside the scope of the obvious things like business or health/fitness. Getting a more well-rounded view was eye-opening and refreshing. There is room for 10 big picture goals. I set 8. They are listed in no particular order.
Improve financial health. As a millennial who graduated just as the bottom fell out on the economy, well, you can imagine the state of our finances. It probably doesn’t help that we got married as babies (23) and have moved 7 times in 9 years. (Oh, and we’ve only ever rented. 🤦🏻♀️) Stability isn’t exactly our closest friend. Since our sudden move to the RDU landed us temporarily at my mom’s so we wouldn’t feel rushed in the home search (what a nice change of pace, if I’m honest), we’ve also decided to use this time to aggressively pay off debt. This is a nice goal to have, sure, but it’s uncomfortable and requires vigilance. If I’m being honest, it sounds much more appealing to me to just keep my head in the sand and keep on keepin’ on. But the point here is to cultivate life-altering change. And that requires a little bit of discomfort. So I’m going at it gung ho, even if I don’t love the process.
Mindful health & fitness. I have fallen off my fitness regimen like whoa since moving. I’m no longer close to my gym franchise, and it’s a gazillion degrees outside which doesn’t exactly entice me to go running. But I find I just feel better in general if I’m moving my body. So it’s time to get intentional about it and become a bit more disciplined. As for the health part, well, I always joke that I exercise just so I can eat all the foods. Which, I mean, I do. I’m never going to deny myself a McDonalds quarter pounder meal if that’s what I want. But I rarely want those things, so I let myself indulge. Where I need to improve is to get better about incorporating the right nutrients into the meals I prepare at home on a weekly basis.
Intentional media consumption. My brain constantly feels so full that I struggle to think actual thoughts. And when I try to take a mental inventory, I’m disgusted to find that there’s really nothing of value hanging out up there. It’s half influencer bullshit and half random tidbits of information about people’s lives I hardly care about. (I’m sorry, but it’s true.) On top of that, I haven’t made the time to read like I used to. And I miss it, tremendously. It feels silly to me that I miss something I’m perfectly capable of reintroducing into my life quite easily if I just eliminated the crap. So this goal is all about being a bit more mindful of the crap and making more space for the kind of media I want and mindfully choose to consume.
Intentional leisure & relaxation. Okay, this one might sound strange–but it’s actually a high priority for me the rest of this year. I’ve been living in a reactionary state for months and months. Because of that, I find that I’m procrastinating more than I ever used to and filling valuable time with mindlessness because I feel tired and unfocused all the time. I work well on a carrot-on-a-stick system: meaning, if I know relaxation and/or leisure is in my future, I can focus and go hard. On top of that, by planning and scheduling my intentional relaxation and leisure time, I’m creating the space for me to be productive in. Again, I know this might sound a bit strange to some of you, but I promise it works for me.
Solidify & grow the business. In case you’re new around here, my business is going through a bit of a transition. What I initially launched as a content marketing business is now evolving primarily into a coaching practice & author platform. This transition requires some intense focus, gear-shifting and behind-the-scenes refreshing.
Deepen relationships. I’ve been pretty caught up in myself and my business for the last several years. And through the powersheets process, I discovered that my relationships are possibly the most important feature of my life. With that screaming into focus, I want to take the time to purposefully deepen the existing relationships in my life and cultivate new ones that add to it.
Intentionally chase goals: complete powersheets. A silly goal, but a goal none-the-less. The powersheets were an investment, and I hate wasting a good resource, so this goal stands.
Show myself kindness. This one is quite broad, and it might not make a lot of sense to you, but I know exactly what it means. For me, doing this simply entails listening to myself. I have a strong gut instinct, and I’m pretty good at diagnosing exactly what I need at any given moment. I am also deeply aware of the things that bring and keep joy in my life. These things can vary, but basically, the point here is to get out of the habit of disappointing myself.
ACTION STEP #3: BREAK IT DOWN
Now that I had my 8 big picture goals laid out, the powersheets process graduates you into what they call the monthly tending lists. How this works is, with your big picture goals in mind, you break down various action-steps into monthly, weekly and daily goals. Cultivate What Matters sells a separate goal-setting sticker book that caught my attention (they have these really cute dot stickers that color coordinate with your big-picture goals, I mean c’mon!!! 😍) but since improving our financial health is a big-picture goal, I decided to stick with markers I already have. (See? Progress already. 🙃😂)
JULY MONTHLY GOALS
- Create August tending list
- Compile a list & total of debt
- 30 Days to Boundaries updates
- Create a budget
- Read 4 books
- Boundary boss updates
- Move (my body) 32 miles!
- Create a master B-Day list
- Establish a writing schedule
- Make a cleaning schedule
JULY WEEKLY GOALS:
- 1 social media-free day
- Write 3500 words
- Check bank acct & make adjustments
- Self-care session
- Weekday meals at home
- Read 1 book
- Move (my body) 8 miles!
JULY DAILY GOALS (the powersheets encourage you to use this section as a place to try to introduce new daily habits)
- Meditate 5 minutes
- Read 20 minutes
- Up before 6:30
- Wipe down baths
- Tidy & make the bed
Phew! Okay, so that’s probably a much deeper dive into my personal goals than any of you actually needed, but it’s all about accountability, right? If nothing else, I hope this at least inspired some of you who may be stuck in a rut just like me. If so, comment down below and let me know one of your goals for the month of July! 👇🏻
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