Goal setting

Here's my simple and effective goal setting activity that I take on quarterly. Go ahead and try this activity, you'll love yourself for it. It will get your gears going and have you motivated to start the new year off with a bang!

1. The first thing you will need to do is  get yourself in the right head space. Find a big chunk out of one of the coming days before NYE to sit down and inspire yourself. Depending on what floats your boat, you may like to sit on the beach with a pen and notebook, or sit down on the couch with a yummy candle burning, or maybe in bed wrapped in donnas and pillows with your 2014 playlist playing in your headphones (I write this as sit on my bed, sitting in a pillow castle, fave candle burning, Chet Faker singing to me through my Bose and hair sandy, wet & salty from my morning ocean swim). 
    
2. The fun part. Writing down your wildest ideas. Section each page into the following:
    

   - Things you want to do,
   - Who you want to be,
   - What you want to see,
   - What you want to have,
   - What you want to learn & experience
   - Your one ultimate, main goal. (I call it the biggie big)… The one thing you're chasing in life. The thing you go to sleep dreaming about and wake up thinking about.

   Let your imagination run wild. If you have a blank spot, go the the next section/page and come back to where you got stuck later. It will come to you. You need to have at least 3 blank moments before you have squeezed all the goal chaser juice out of you to have all of your wildest ideas on paper. 
    

3. Now for each section, ask yourself the following questions:
    

   a) Is is really my goal?
   b) Is it morally right and fair to all who are concerned?
   c) Can I emotionally commit to start and finish this goal?
   d) Can I see myself reaching this goal?
   e) Will it take me closer to my ultimate main goal (your ‘biggie big’)?

   If you answered No to any of these questions, don't erase the goal, just strike a line through it and come back to it the next time you do this activity. It may not be the right time in your life for you to pursue it.
    

4. Go through and give each goal a date you want to achieve it by. Depending on how often you do this, you will have different dates for each goal. Like I mentioned earlier I do this at the beginning of each quarter so I divide them into 3 month, 6 month, 1 year, 2 years & 5 year goals. I ensure they are given a realistic time frame and I work towards reaching that goal in time. You will probably find that all your little goals become the steps and journey you need to embark on to reach your biggie big. So order them perfectly and write your own future on paper.  
   
    
5. This step is the last but the most crucial. You have to go through everything you've just written and use the S.M.A.R.T. formula. Work through one goal at a time, and take them through this process.

Your goals have to be ‘SMART’, which means : Specific , Measurable , Achievable , Results based , & Time based

SPECIFIC

Be specific, cross all your t’s and dot all your i’s so to speak.
Example:

“I want to buy my first home. Not an apartment, not a duplex, not a townhouse or in home in an estate, but a home with a yard in a central location close to my work.”

MEASURABLE

The best way to do this is to break it down into smaller achievable goals.
Example:

“I will aim to have a deposit in 18 months time. I’ve worked out I need to save 15% of my earnings to achieve this. I will budget each pay, and begin a ‘do not touch savings account’ no exceptions and I WILL NOT touch this account until I'm ready to withdraw my deposit. I will stop online shopping to help me get here and to attempt to erase this genetic inbuilt habit of shopping, I will unsubscribe from boutique emails and delete the eBay app off my phone. Anything I have left over at the end of my pay cycle will go into my ‘do not touch savings account’.”

ACHIEVABLE

Your goals should challenge and stretch you a little, to make you work harder but make sure they are realistic.
Example of what NOT to write:

“I will play the lotto once a week and enter a prize home draw every month to increase my chances of getting my first home.” 

 This type of thinking will just putting a bad seed in your head. Abort! Earn your goals, don't bet your luck on trying to win them! 

RESULTS BASED

If you have a goal that you’re a little iffy on, one thats hard, or will be hard to achieve (you went through 3 blank spots, its only natural to give yourself more then one biggie big), write down the obstacles and the benefits of eventually overcoming them, and achieving this goal.
Example:

“I will probably miss out on a few expensive & fun outings with friends such as holidays & weekend get aways, but when I have 2/3 of my house deposit, I can start the fun part… shopping for houses, going to open homes and getting some inspo for my new home”  
 

TIME BASED

Remember what it felt like the night before an exam, five coffee’s deep and cramming as if Dumbledore was going to give you a lifetime access pass to Hogwarts the next day if you got all the questions right? Well same thing, give yourself a sense of urgency and a good timeframe. Anyone can save for a house deposit in 2 or 3 years time, but why not make it sooner. This will make you FOCUS on your biggie big and help you stay on track. Make your dreams real as soon as possible! 

......

This year has been an amazing one for me & for Healthy Peach. As I shut down my laptop, set up an auto-response email and organise myself for a little get away over the christmas & new year break, I look back on 2014 and get slightly emotional.  What a year! If I showed you what my Wild Ideas sheet from exactly a year ago, you would laugh with me as I go through it ticking everything off the list as ‘completed’. This fun little planning and goal setting activity totally works by attracting those things in life you want to become a reality, helping those wildest ideas you thought never possible, an absolute reality.

Merry Christmas & Happy new year to all, and a big THANKYOU to my friends, family and followers  (old & new) for the support in what has been an amazing, fun and humble whirlwind ride.

I cant wait to see what happens in 2015 and who I get to meet to help transform their life around. Im excited! See you the first week back in January!

Wishing you all the health & happiness in the world,

Chani x