[SLOW-MO CHAT] Goals & Resolutions for 2019! 14-20 Jan
Happy New Years everyone!
It's the time of the year where a lot of us set goals and resolutions!
It is also the perfect time to reflect upon your achievements in the prior year!
Join us soon starting Monday January 14 to chat about what kind of goals we have and how we stick to them/achieve them!
It's also super important to remember it's completely okay if you don't have a resolution or don't stick to it. We're only human 
Who's gonna join us? 🙂
Okay folks, it's Monday! Which means it's time for our first question
Let's start off with a nice, easy one 🙂
Do you have any goals for 2019? Why have you chosen those goals?
Do you have any goals for 2019? Why have you chosen those goals?
My specific goal for this year is to finish writing and editing a manuscript I'm writing at the moment. Other than that, I don't have a specific goal, but my word of the year is 'stay.' I have a pattern of quitting or running away when things get too scary or difficult, and I want to break that pattern - at work, at university and in my friendships.
Do you have any goals for 2019? Why have you chosen those goals?
So my goals are a bit different to others but these are my personal goals to reach the road of recovery 🙂
1. be more honest and open to my professionals. i chose this goal because it’ll help me build more trust and relationship with them as well as getting the help i need
2. be more productive
my productive might not be the obvious BIG things, im working towards journaling everyday and just little goals that make me feel productive. also my new role on reach out 🙂
3. get the most out of my mental illnesses (if that makes sense)
taking the opportunities to help and support me
Do you have any goals for 2019? Why have you chosen those goals?
I don't know if I will stick to it but I want to:
-Work out more
-Read more! (at least 2 books a month)
-Maybe start my youtube channel hopefully?
I want to do the things that make me happy and feel good 🙂
Do you have any goals for 2019? Why have you chosen those goals?
My goal for 2019 is NO REGRETS!
Not the most realistic one but one i want to follow as much as i can! 🙂 
The plan is to do my best and seize the opportunities that i have so that come December 31st this year, i can honestly say i gave 2019 my all! 
Do you have any goals for 2019? Why have you chosen those goals?
My biggest goal for 2019 is to finish my degree (which is huge because I never thought I'd make it past first year). I am keen to see what opportunities are out there once I'm done!
My other goal would be to get back into sport and make a routine of it. I spent most of last year injured so wasn't able to do a whole bunch (and I really missed it!). Now that my injury is well on the mend, it means I can start playing sport again 🙂
Love it! Such a diversity of goals for this year, from sport to journalling to communication 😄
@litgym@ecla34@dog_lover94@missep@Sunflower18@Bee@annabethxchase
I'll also post mine when I get the chance 🙂
Next question is also a two-parter!
When setting goals what are some things to think about? How do you structure your goals so that they're achievable?
I've been a bit awall in this chat this week. I wasn't up to responding until now
When setting goals what are some things to think about? How do you structure your goals so that they're achievable?
I love the SMART analogy that @basketofmonkeys talked about!
For me, I find if I have a big goal and then listing sub goals under it helps me see the progress 🙂
Similar to what @mrmusic was talking about 🙂
Have you had any goals that have changed while you were working towards them? How did that make you feel?
I don't really have an answer to these questions ~shrug~
What are some goals you are proud of achieving?
- (Yes it was agees ago, but it's important!) Reaching out to a GP for the first time for my mental health. This was significant for me as I held it all in for a long time.
- Copping through my last foot surgery and recovery. I managed significantly better with this round of recovery than I did the initial injury and recovery (alas there were other factors which made that period of time recovering from the initial injury hard that I must acknowledge too)
- When I finally found myself able to talk openly with my psychologist last year and not having to rely on email to get things out. Now I don't always send an email and if I do it starts the session rather than being the session. This is probably something I am most proud of because it shows me that I'm still making progress even when things feel crappy.
There is probably a heap of other goals that I've achieved and proud of, but these ones stand out right now for me 🙂
Everyone has some great responses. It sounds like we all have a diverse range of goals, and some great goal-setting strategies! 🙂
Now to our question for today:
Can you share any strategies for sticking to goals when you're struggling?
Can you share any strategies for sticking to goals when you're struggling?
For me when I'm struggling it's a good opportunity to go back to my goal and have a think about if it's something I'm still wanting, and asses what might be stopping me from making any progress. Maybe I might need to make a smaller goal as a stepping stone, or maybe I might need some external help...
Breaking it down...
- What am I struggling with?
- How can I overcome these struggles?
- Can I make a stepping stone goal?
- Can I substitute the goal for something similar?
Applying it to my current struggle of not getting to the pool
- I'm struggling to get to the pool - why? Tired, sleep cycle out of whack - the best time for me to cope is early in the morning (like being in the water at 7am)
- I can work on my sleep cycle - which involves talking with my psychiatrist and getting blood work done for GP.
- Stepping stone goal, I can ask a friend if we can go to the pool together
- I can do some cycling on an exercise bike instead/in the meantime to build strength and range of motion 🙂
What are some goals you are proud of achieving?
I'm proud of myself for getting through all my assignments, pracs and exams for my uni degree! It was a real struggle at times, and there were definitely times when I thought I had no hope of achieving some of those goals - but I did!
I'm also proud of myself for going to my mental health appointments with professionals, and getting the help that I needed when I was going through a tough time.
Can you share any strategies for sticking to goals when you're struggling?
One thing that has really helped me is to make sure that I reward myself when I have achieved a goal - regardless of how guilty it might make me feel. Because that way I have some motivation to keep going when I'm struggling. I also think that keeping up self care is really important. Self compassion is also one of my big go-to strategies when I'm struggling with sticking to a goal - because it means that I can give myself encouragement during that time!
I always like to keep in mind setting SMART goals, as in goals that are:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-specific
This really helps to keep my goals in perspective, and stops me from making really ambiguous or confusing goals that are hard to achieve or keep track of.
I also try not to set too many goals at one time, as I think that can make it a lot easier to do poorly at them (like trying to juggle with too many balls). I'd rather have a few goals and do them well, rather than a lot and struggle the whole way :-). I think New Year's can be a difficult time for me there because everyone feels a lot of pressure to completely turn their lives around, which isn't always realistic. Instead I think making a few goals that are seem more as stepping stones can make the journey a lot easier.
Hi everyone!
I'm here to post the next question 🙂
It's also a two-parter!
Have you had any goals that have changed while you were working towards them?
How did that make you feel?
To answer these questions:
Have you had any goals that have changed while you were working towards them?
I definitely have had goals that have changed while working towards them. I think being able to adapt to situations and adapt your goals are really important. A goal in general is a good thing to strive for in my opinion so it can be tailored to what you want and need 🙂
How did that make you feel?
It felt good! To be able to be flexible and adaptable takes time but it feels like I'm growing as a person 🙂
Have you had any goals that have changed while you were working towards them?
For sure! When I got a new job a while ago, it gave me way more hours than I was expecting and even though that was awesome, I had to downgrade my goals about running every other day to running twice a week.
How did that make you feel?
At first I didn't feel great because I felt like I was subbing in a challenging goal for an easier one, but as I started to work toward my revised goal, i realised that it wasn't easier, just different (after all, I can still run longer and less often!), and that it's totally okay to change your plans to suit the direction that you want to go!
Hey everyone, very late to the party, but here goes! 😛
Do you have any goals for 2019? Why have you chosen those goals?
I have a number of goals for 2019, but I'll share my two main goals:
- Getting a job: Having graduated from my uni degree, I'm now on the "hamster wheel" of job hunting. It's a very tiring exercise, but it's so important that I'm able to use the skills which I learnt, as well as support my family as my parents are getting older. I'm finding the initial prep work (drafting letters, making phone calls, etc) very challenging already, so I don't know how I'm going to go with an actual interview, but I'm trying to have confidence in myself.
- Finding another psychologist: As some of you may know from my posts on the forums, I've had a few issues finding a psychologist, mainly since one of my previous ones left the practice suddenly, and the replacement I got began to cancel lots of appointments in a row. Since then I've had difficulty trusting professionals, although my psychiatrist is a great help. I did try and see a counsellor from my uni, but I didn't find them much help, and I tried to reconnect with another of my previous psychologists to no avail (phone calls and emails unanswered). I've chosen this goal because I think that looking after myself is extremely important, and I do need the professional support.
When setting goals what are some things to think about? How do you structure your goals so that they're achievable?
As @basketofmonkeys mentioned, I find using SMART goals really helpful in making sure that they are something that I can actually achieve. One thing that I try and do with goals is hone in on the small details and focus on achieving those, rather than the overarching goals, if that makes sense? For example, with my goal of getting a job, I would then look at the steps required to achieving that, and make those goals in themselves (i.e. send an email to XXXX organisation).
Have you had any goals that have changed while you were working towards them?
Absolutely I have. Many of my goals have been roller-coaster rides. I have found that I've had to rethink some of the goals I have set (particularly with assignments, etc) because I have found the assignment a lot more difficult to do than I first thought! So I had to break the goals down into even more steps!
How did that make you feel?
For me, I found it really difficult, as it made me feel not good enough. I think I also have a tendency to set goals based on what seems reasonable for other people, rather than what I need to do. I'm finding it easier to cope with it, although when I do need to rethink goals, it still does bring up a whole lot of negative feelings.
I'm loving everyone's responses!
I'm here to post the next question 🙂
@Bee brought up such a good point, it's so important to reflect on the positives and be proud of yourself.
That brings us to the next question:
What are some goals you are proud of achieving?
What are some goals you are proud of achieving?
Wow it feels really nice to pat yourself on the back and be proud of yourself! 🙂
I'm really proud of:
-Finishing my thesis
-Getting into Masters
-Hitting my savings goal
