By the time September rolls around, we are coming up quickly on the end of the year, which begs the question: How are your goals? The ones you set in January? Do you need to check-in with yourself and reconfigure things?
So many people think of goals as these unbreakable structures that once voiced cannot be modified, but that simply isn’t true. Changing a goal isn’t the same as breaking a goal (and even then, sometimes breaking goals is necessary depending on if life throws lemons your way).
If you haven’t met your goals, or haven’t met them as well as you’d like, consider whether your original goals were SMART?
Were they specific?
Were they measurable?
Were they achievable?
Were they relevant?
Were they time-bound?
Maybe your goals were specific and measurable but the time-frame was too short or too long? It makes sense to rework your goal so that it becomes something you can do. Or maybe your life situation has changed and the goal is no longer relevant to you. This requires a change to the goal. Why keep doing something you no longer want to do just because you said to yourself that you wanted to achieve it?
As the year begins to wind down to its end, check in with yourself and determine how you’ve done on your goals. Consider doing some reflective journaling to help you process where things have gone right and wrong. Where have your successes been? What have you considered a failure? Was it really a failure? What did you learn from this?
While reflecting on your goals, pay attention to the little voice in your head and what it tells you. That voice is often extremely negative and critical. If necessary, write down what that voice is saying to you and ask a friend, advisor, or therapist to help you process your inner voice and goal reflection. It can help to have an objective person there to point out successes that your negative self-talk will ignore or undercut. We wish you the best on your journey because that is exactly what you deserve.