(#20) 2023 Goals Check In

I can hardly believe that we are already a full month into the new year. It feels like January is usually a high energy month, full of a fresh and renewed feeling after the holidays and at the start of the new year. In my experience February tends to be the time when the previous energy and inspiration starts to ware off. I personally have noticed in previous years that February can be such a challenging month because of the winter blues.

With all of this in mind I wanted to do a 2023 goals check in. I want to share the goals that I set for myself this year as well as how they are going, what's helping me stay on track and how I'm updating my goals going into the new month.

If you haven't personally set goals for 2023 it isn't to late. Honestly, I didn't set goals in 2022 because of how burnt out, depressed and exhausted I was from trying so hard to achieve huge goals in 2021. If you haven't yet set goals for yourself this year, you can check out the SMART Goals framework that I used to set goals this year.

A Change In Perspective...

I want to start by saying that changing the way I think about goals and success has dramatically changed my energy, my motivation, my happiness and my fulfillment. Rather than putting all of my energy into some outcome that I thought would make my life better, I instead have been focusing on the small actions that I can improve each day.

For example, one year I set the goal to lose 15 pounds. When I didn't lose that weight in a timeframe that I expected, I gave up. I felt disappointed and like my efforts were pointless. This year, I set a goal to work out 3 times a week for the month of January and during each gym session I worked on being just a little bit better whether that be in my form form, the amount of weight or the number of reps. Changing my mindset from outcome focus to action focused made me feel proud and determined every time I showed up to the gym regardless of the number on the scale.

So, here are all the goals I set for January:

1. Exercise 3 times per week

2. Take daily 20 minute walks

3. Drink 70 oz of water per day

4. Morning Routine

5. Bedtime Routine

6. No Phone at Meal Time

7. Focus on Plant Based Whole Foods

8. Post 1 Blog Per Week

9. Follow a Weekly Chore Chart

As for my progress...

I did NOT exercise 3x per week. The first week in January I did nothing, the following week I worked out 3x and then 2x and lastly 4x. While I didn't do exactly what I thought I would do, I was proud of myself for my progress. It has been really helpful for me in the month of January to track my workouts with this smart watch. It also tracks sleep quality, heart rate and more which have been really interesting for me to monitor.

Walks, did I take a single walk in the month of January? No. This helped me realize that I bit off more than I could chew with my goals, so for February I plan to do strength training 4x per week and then low impact movement like walking, yoga or swimming the other three days.

Water, did I drink 70 oz a day? Yup and a little bit more. I ended up drinking about a gallon a day when I purchased this water bottle. It was such a good investment for me and made staying hydrated SO easy. I also started adding lemon to my water and I have noticed HUGE changes in my energy levels, my skin, etc.

Did I stick to morning and bed time routines? Not exactly. I mostly stuck to a morning routine except for one week that I worked a lot more than usual. But I noticed when I fell off track, I noticed the way that my mood, energy, sleep and motivation negatively changed and I corrected it the following week. During this time I was INCREDIBLY gentle with myself and did not get upset at myself or judge myself for falling off track. I simply noticed that I was out of alignment and compassionately brought myself back. This was a HUGE success in my book.

Phone at meal time, did I improve in this category? I did! Did I completely commit to this goal? Nope. I will say that this is an incredibly bad habit for me and most of the time I am unaware that I am doing it. If I caught myself doing it I did turn it off and for that I am proud of myself.

Did I commit to a plant based, whole food diet. I will say that I am pretty proud of my progress here. Did I do perfect? No. Did I eat left over Christmas cookies even though I was doing a sugar free January? Maybe. Again, I'm looking for progress not perfection and I am incredibly proud of my progress in this category. I will say that something that helped me stay on track in this category was meal prepping and meal planning. It made falling off track a lot more challenging.

NOTE: If eating a more wholesome diet is important to you I suggest following me on Instagram. I've been sharing healthy recipes at least a few times a week and they have been a pretty big hit.

Weekly blogging, this is the ONE goal that I can say with 100% certainty that I did with perfection. If you read my blogs each week you know that I did in fact share 1 post each week in January, one on sleep, one on morning routines, one on motivation and one on energy.

Lastly, chore chart, did I follow the chore chart I created for simplicity and to avoid overwhelm. No. I did not look at it once.

Something that I found really helpful was tracking my progress each day and reflecting on my goals on a weekly basis to help me plan for the following weeks. Because this was a vital part of my process, I created a "Best Self Planner and Tracker" to help you become your BEST SELF this year. You can order yours here!

So, now what?

In February I am keeping all the same goals as January. I am increasing my exercise goal and decreasing my walking goal. The rest of my goals are staying the same with my intention being to give just 1% more energy to the goals that I did not follow through on in January.

I will say regardless of how perfect I was at my goals this month setting 1 month goals that are action oriented has left me extremely motivated, happy, energized and fulfilled.

I hope this post inspires you to keep taking action on your goals.

If you need support setting goals, staying accountable or taking action I offer 1:1 coaching to help people do just that! I walk you through my step-by-step goal setting process and give you my best tools for having the energy and motivation to follow through. You can apply for a coaching spot here. (And if you mention this blog post in your application I'll give you 20% off your package 😉)

Cheers to a wildly successful, joyful and abundant February!

Xoxo,

Bianca