From The Pumpkin Patch

Does anyone else feel like January is just flying by?

You may have started the new year feeling motivated and determined to achieve your goals, but it’s now a few weeks in and you’re already slipping back into old habits and feeling a little defeated.

Whether you’ve already set your 2024 goals and are now struggling to keep up that momentum or have absolutely no idea where to start, I’ve got you covered.

Your life could look completely different this time next year, and it’s up to you to take those steps towards success.

Setting your goals

If you haven’t done so already, take some time to think about what you want to achieve this year. I wrote a blog post all about my goals for 2024, which you can check out if you need a little inspiration.

When setting your goals, think about specific actions you could take that will improve your life and skills. Maybe you’d like to take a course in a subject you’ve always wanted to learn about, volunteer your time to help others or travel to a new country. Achieving these goals will broaden your horizons, add new skills to your CV and give you some great life experiences.

The key lies in choosing goals that are meaningful to you and that you actually want to achieve, rather than what you think you should be striving for. If you don’t really need to lose weight, why are you writing that down?

When you truly desire to achieve something, it’s so much more satisfying and fulfilling when you finally get there. It doesn’t always have to be about your career or making more money, either – one of my goals for 2024 is simply to learn how to knit a jumper.

It’s also important to make your goals very specific, as this will give you a clear idea of what you need to do in order to achieve them. Instead of writing ‘This year I will read more‘, try changing that statement to ‘I will read 20 books in 2024.’ Do you see the difference?

I don’t recommend setting goals that aren’t within your control. I’ve definitely been guilty of this in the past, and it’s led to me feeling like I’ve failed simply because things didn’t work out during a specific timeframe.

This includes getting pregnant, being proposed to or recovering from an illness – you can take all the right steps, but ultimately the outcome isn’t something that you can control.

Of course, you can do everything possible to achieve these goals such as taking pre-conception supplements, speaking to your partner about your desire to marry or working with specialist doctors, but don’t set yourself up for feeling like a failure.

Breaking down your goals

In recent years I’ve discovered a way that I can achieve my goals without burning out or feeling overwhelmed. It involves taking a large yearly goal, breaking it down into smaller monthly goals, then further into weekly goals and eventually into simple daily tasks.

I can then pepper these small tasks into my to-do lists when I’m planning for the week ahead, and over time my progress will snowball until I’m achieving my goals before I know it.

The best way I can illustrate this is through a personal example, so here goes!

I would like to read more this year, so one of my 2024 goals is to read 20 books. It would be great to get a head-start on this goal, so in January I plan to read two books.

For this example I’ll focus on the first book I decided to read for January, which is a collection of short stories. There are 12 stories in total, so by reading four stories each week I will be able to finish the book in three weeks. This gives me an extra week to read a shorter book, which is completely doable for me.

So when I break down my goal, it looks something like this:

2024 Goal: Read 20 books.

January Goal: Read two books.

Weekly Goal: Read four short stories.

Daily Goal: Read one short story.

Now all I have to do is follow this simple plan throughout the year, and my goal will come together as if by magic.

It’s important to be realistic when breaking down your goals – I’m not going to try to read all four short stories for the week in one day! Instead, I spread them out over the week and allocate them to days where I know I will have enough time to read.

While this is a simple example, it works well with any goal you choose. Do you want to get your driver’s licence in 2024? Your monthly, weekly and daily goals could include studying the Highway Code a certain number of times, researching driving instructors, booking lessons and eventually booking your tests.

Your 2024 goals may look big on paper, but when you break them down and allocate time to work on them they actually become relatively simple and doable.

Final thoughts

Of course, you won’t magically achieve all your goals for the year simply by breaking them down – you have to actually put in the work on a regular basis! But it can be so helpful to focus on the small steps you need to take, instead of being overwhelmed by a big goal.

I’ll leave you with a quote that I’ve seen floating around the internet recently – it may be a little cliche, but it really works.

“A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action becomes reality.“