My Mini Goals for 2018
Every year, I seem to have the same new year resolution – to become more organised. I start out with the best of intentions; I buy a shiny new diary for the year ahead, and I fill in all the birthdays and other important dates. But before the end of January arrives, I’ve stopped taking it out with me – so assignment deadlines don’t get noted, and I end up double-booking myself.
This year, that same goal remains. I’ve bought the diary (isn’t it pretty?) and the dates have been filled in. But the past 12 months have taught me that it takes more than just a diary to sort my life out. I think what I really want for 2018 is to be more satisfied with my life; to achieve and do more in the time that I have. I’ll hold my hands up – I’m the absolute queen of sleeping away my days off!
I’m trying a different plan of action this year in terms of achieving this. Instead of aiming for one big goal, I’ve come up with a few smaller, more reachable goals that will all help me feel as though I’m getting somewhere.
1. Meditate daily
I never ever thought that I would be one of “those people” who were into meditation. In fact, I still don’t think I am. But it has to be said, taking 5-10 minutes out of your day to just sit and breathe honestly helps so much. I got to a point towards the end of last year where I felt really stressed out – and a friend recommended the Headspace app to me. It’s free to download, and there are free mediation exercises (or if you really feel the benefits, there are paid plans as well). I started off doing 3 minutes per day, but I’m hoping to increase that to 10 minutes in 2018. Being able to observe your thoughts and let them go, instead of letting them impact you, is definitely a skill worth mastering in my opinion!
2. Recording food intake
This one definitely isn’t for everyone, and I’m not doing it for the reason most people do. I’m not on a diet; I’m reasonably happy with my weight and figure (although let’s be honest, I did overdo things a little over the festive period) and don’t really take an interest in how many calories I’m consuming. Instead, I’m doing it for my diabetes. I really want to take the reins with my diabetes in 2018 – I started the ground work last year, in terms of changing my emotions and feelings towards the condition. Recording my food intake helps me to monitor my sugar levels, and see if there are any patterns with what/when I eat that are negatively affecting things. I’m really hoping that this one is a habit I can stick to – so far, so good!
3. Post on Instagram daily
This one isn’t so much for my organisational skills! As I’ve mentioned countless times already in other posts, my uni workload often gets in the way of me blogging or posting videos (although if these resolutions work out, maybe not so much in 2018!) If I have periods of inactivity on social media, I start to beat myself up about it – something I shouldn’t be doing. Posting on Instagram is something that doesn’t take up a lot of time; taking a few photos and editing them doesn’t take anywhere near as much time as drafting blog posts or recording and editing a video! It means that I’m still being creative, and getting use of my shiny new lens. Hopefully it’ll stop me being so hard on myself when I have other projects on that stop me from blogging as frequently.
4. Save more money
I’m incredibly fortunate that I’m able to save money each month whilst working and going to uni. The problem is, I’m a bit of an impulsive spender – and often end up taking some of what I save back out of my ISA and spending it. This year, I really want to kick that habit. I spend far too much money on food when I’m out of the house – so I’m going back to basics and making packed lunches for work and uni. I also need to start driving more at night, so that I can save money on public transport (especially since the rail fares have just gone up AGAIN). The money that I save will be going into my ISA along with my usual standing order – and the more I save, the more nice things I can treat myself to further down the line!
5. See friends more
This is one I really need to work on. I could rhyme off a list of friends that I’ve been meaning to catch up with in the past 6 months. I’m terrible for it. I think that part of it stems from not wanting to bother people – I’m one of those people who doesn’t have a best friend; all my friends are someone else’s best friend. I always wait on other people inviting me out to places, which makes me such a bad friend. I really want to try and see more of my friends in 2018 – I have friends in the blogging and YouTube communities who I haven’t seen in nearly 18 months, because we live so far apart, and I didn’t attend any meetups or anything last year. This year, I’m gonna change that – I want to make a much bigger effort to speak to my friends and see them more often.
What are your mini-goals for 2018?
