Goals For 2019 And Plans For 2020

2019 is fast approaching the end with only 8 weekends left of the year (at the time of writing this).

It seemed like only yesterday that it was the beginning of 2019 and I was writing out my goals for the year.

Safe to say that I didn’t achieve all of my goals and that like most people I fell away from them at some point throughout the year.

This year was the year that I felt really motivated to smash some goals and to really take myself up a notch in terms of all areas of my life, especially fitness.

Main takeaways from 2019

Setting goals for 2019 was the first year that I properly gave it a go, which resulted in me buying a planner and writing out my goals on specific dates.

I found that physically writing out my goals and having a date associated with that goal was quite motivating and made it seem real, and not just some thought.

This motivation obviously doesn’t last (like all motivation) but it was nice to see it written down and being able to have a focus point for it.

My goals were mainly fitness and business goals, with some self development goals thrown in there also.

These include:

Going to the gym 4-6 times per week
Getting up at 5am on weekdays
Earning £5,000 a month with my online business and personal brand
Meditating 10-15 minutes per day
Read at least 12 books for the year (1 book per month)

Looking at some of these goals I set myself some would call them ‘ambitious’ to say the least. Or probably more on the lines of unrealistic.

I have read countless books and articles on goal setting and they always contradict each other. Some state you should set unrealistic goals that scare you. While others say you should set realistic goals that are manageable.

I chose to do a mixture of both.

Goal setting

Although having made some goals and failing to meet most of them I have learned so much from the experience.

I personally think that my goals should be more realistic but also making sure that they challenge me.

An example of this would be from my goal to be earning £5,000 a month online by 31/12/2019. I would definitely class this goal as being unrealistic, especially seeing as I have never made a single penny online.

The fact that the goal is unrealistic doesn’t mean I cannot achieve it. It just means that already in my mind I am giving myself a mountain to climb and putting crazy amounts of pressure on myself. I could have made this goal a possibility if I did stay consistent and push myself but I didn’t.

Therefore, for my 2020 goals I will be taking a different approach to goals like this. Making them more realistic but challenging, this will take time but I am confident I can do it.

A more realistic version for this goal could be something along the lines of;
‘I will be making at least £350 extra per month from my online businesses by 31/12/2020’

I have put the figure considerably lower which doesn’t seem as daunting and also it gives me more confidence in not only achieving the goal but also surpassing it.

Consistency

With anything you want to achieve in life it is important to stay consistent.

As the age old saying goes ‘Consistency is key’

I learned a lot about this especially in the early months of 2019.

I was focused on starting a social media marketing agency and I was putting nearly all my focus into this. I was cold calling and reaching out to potential clients 5 days a week, prospecting nearly everyday and even setting up meetings with local business owners.

I kept this up for around 3 months which actually resulted in me doing a bit of free work for a local pizza shop.

But then I started to get deflated, and eventually gave up.

I could probably put this down to a few things:

Not handling rejection properly- letting it deflate me and not moving on
Not seeing the bigger picture
Feeling like I hadn’t made sufficient progress to meet my goal

If I had of found a way to stay consistent then who knows where I could of ended up. I might not have hit my goal but I would be a lot further on than I am now after giving up.

On the other hand I was quite consistent with the gym and managed to go 4-5 times per week consistently (for the most part) for a full year. I was able to see a massive difference in not only my physique but also my mindset.

I was more productive, could focus better, and had increased energy levels.

What I have learnt

“Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success”- C.S. Lewis

Apologies for the cheesy quote but it is one of the most accurate things I have heard and is one of the biggest lessons I have learnt so far.

1. Failure is inevitable

So I must accept it and learn from it and not dwell on it. Otherwise I won’t get anywhere.

2. Make your goal as clear as possible

This point goes back to the consistency I talked about earlier. When working towards a goal, the clearer it is then the more likely you will not deviate from it

Saying ‘I want to make £1000 pounds online’ isn’t specific enough.

A better example would be ‘I want to make £1000 by 31/12/2020 by promoting beauty products on my blog’

Making my goals clear will give me a greater chance of achieving them.

3. Stick with it

Once you have your goals written down and locked in its time to go after them relentlessly. No jumping from one thing to another.

This is something I actually struggled with myself.

Shiny object syndrome.

This can be avoided by keeping it simple and trusting the process.

Current Activities/Interests

My current activities and interests are quite varied and sometimes they change from month to month depending on how I’m feeling, these include:

Vegan Recipes
Copywriting
Minimalist weight training
Taking skill share courses

As you can see there is a variety but I also have core interests that I have had for years such as travel and digital marketing.

Plans for 2020

Blogging

I’m hopeful that 2020 will be the year that I can finally be consistent with my blog and really build a solid foundation for an online presence.

This is something I have flirted with in the past but never really had the courage to do. But I figured that if I don’t do it now then I will never do it.

My ambition is to build a personal brand via the blog and build up my skills portfolio so that I can reach out to potential clients and help them. This will help me get better while also helping others and doing really good work in the process.

I have quite a few interests and have built up a decent foundation of skills including, Facebook advertising, videography and content creation. If I can incorporate my blog into learning these skills by documenting the journey then I think it will really help others who want to maybe pursue a similar path.

Travel

Travelling is by far my favourite thing to do and I plan on doing some in 2020. Last year I travelled to 2 new countries as well as short trips around the UK.

I have made some travel videos (click here) and written some travel content (also click here) which I really enjoyed doing so I definitely want to do the same this year only make it even higher quality!

Thanks for reading.