2018 was a helluva year. Like most people, towards the end of the year, I begin thinking about New Year’s resolutions and how much I’m going to glo’ up, who I’m going to cut off, how bougie I’m finna’ act, and how my waist is gonna be snatched. If it’s an especially bad year, the more I rush to get over the hurdle and just start fresh. When I first began goal setting, I noticed after a few months that I wasn’t really changing my habits. I accomplished some goals, but nowhere near half of the ones I set. I’d try different methods like: rewording the goal, reducing the goal, and even adding more goals. But my issue was beyond the wording and the capacity to accomplish my goal; my issue was that I wasn’t reflecting on goals from the previous month.

In an anxious hurry, I’d look over my month and see that I didn’t accomplish my goals (usually physical and diet related goals were my worst). Instead of taking the time to evaluate why I did not accomplish a goal, I simply re-wrote in the new month hoping that the power of writing would somehow manifest into me having a bangin’ body. Or a finished blog post. Or waking up an hour early to meditate. None of those things happened until I begin to reflect on my incomplete and complete goals to asses my obstacles. Once I began to see my obstacles, it was like a domino effect. For example, I was able to identify obstacles that were in my control and those that were not. Some obstacles simply were, that I did not have time. However, coming to terms with timing allowed me to re-evaluate how much time I spend on useless tasks, which led me to reducing my social media usage, taking 20 minutes to read each day, and creating an after-work routine. I was also able to observe my most productive and least productive times of day. Thus, not only did I cut back on goals, I was able to self-evaluate so that I could accomplish my most important goals with maximum focus and energy. 

I will be publishing a series of blog posts on goal setting, vision boards, and preparing for 2019 throughout the months of December and January. I do not like to put timelines on setting yearly goals; in fact, I like to set my yearly goals in February and re-evaluate them in August. However, I do believe it is important to set some intention and direction for the new year. 

That being said, I have created a December self-reflection challenge to generate self-reflective thoughts and energy this month. When I publish my blog on goal setting, I will also have a self-reflection section with similar questions, but many of them will be more in depth. 

The point of this challenge is to brainstorm and begin thinking about your year critically. For some of you, this will be a new challenge. For others, you may want some deeper questions. Either way, I think this is an excellent exercise for anyone looking to wind down, retreat, and reflect this December. I think it will be amazing to share our growth, and your vulnerability may inspire someone to reflect & set goals for next year. 

I hope you join me!