Maddie's Moments in Goal Setting

As I chatted about in my first post of 2024, each new year offers a chance to reflect on your life, create new habits, and set new goals. However, it is important to acknowledge that goal setting and sticking with new habits can be a difficult task.

At the start of 2023, I set a goal to do yoga every single day, wanting to increase my mobility and discipline. I was fairly consistent with this habit until June, only missing a day or two each month. Overall, yoga was my longest-kept habit until my routine changed when school let out for summer. What made this possible for me was the act of stepping on the mat each day. I committed myself to 5-10 minutes of movement every night before bed, often ending up spending 30-40 minutes on the mat. It was easier to spend more time doing something if I had already started the task, as starting the task was the hardest part for me. I gave myself the small and achievable goal of stepping on the mat each night which ultimately resulted in my success.

However, the beginning of 2024 has been a bit different for me. Many of my goals surrounded my physical health, similar to 2023. Now that I am no longer a student athlete, I wanted to get on a consistent, more rigorous workout schedule and start eating more whole foods. The difference between these goals and my previous yoga goal was the plan of action I took to achieve my goals. I did not set intentional, achievable tasks to help motivate me to start the habits, unlike with yoga last year. These past few weeks, I've seen first hand how setting long-term goals without short-term goals is not effective in changing habits. I have struggled to maintain a workout schedule and have been very lenient with my food choices. By taking a moment this week to reflect, I have realized that I need to take smaller steps if I want to be successful in achieving these goals.

Just like with yoga, my new short-term goal is to put on my running shoes each day. I know if I put on my outfit and shoes, I am much more likely to go workout as the first step is already done. While this is a fairly simple fix, it cannot be assumed that it will be easy for me every day. Changing habits is difficult, especially in the first few days or weeks, so I will also practice giving myself room to grow and forgive my mistakes. Going forward, I hope to see success with implementing these smaller tasks into achieving my fitness goals, and will keep you guys updated!

Overall, the lessons I learned about goal setting and habits in the last few weeks have been really transformative for my mindset surrounding my health. I decided to share my experiences this week because I figured that this will help at least one person on their new year's resolution journey, or someone wanting to start new habits. It's one thing to read about techniques and the "right" or "most effective" way to start a habit, but I've seen that it can be really reaffirming to hear from someone that has already tried and experienced different techniques.

Please let me know if you would like to see more content like this in the future, or if I should just stick to the trip recaps and photography content! As always, my DMs and email are open for suggestions!