Delivering Hopes & Dreams

You may well still be digesting the feast you managed to devour on Christmas Day and the joy of eating chocolate for breakfast that the festive period seems to permit but the turn of the year is now looming large on the horizon, turning our thoughts to the shape of our future.

What’s in store for you in 2021?

It’s a big question. But as ever, is it the right one? How about asking What do I want from 2021?

Whatever that is, this is my invitation to you to be that change. Waiting for your desired future to come about or be delivered could leave you waiting a long time.

Hopefully you managed to find some time over Christmas to pause for a little self-reflection and think about what is & isn’t going well for you right now. If you managed to have a go at the Wheel Of Life exercise in our last post then that may have given you some indication of where there could be room for improvement. If you didn’t get a chance to look at that, I invite you to take a look at our last post to give that exercise a go.

OK. So how do we turn hopes & dreams into reality. It’s time to think about our goals for 2021. What is it you want from 2021 & beyond?

Now, many of you have just shared a little internal joke – Something like: A lottery win would be nice! Sure it’s joke, but let’s pause & reflect on that. Is money an issue for you? Would a lottery win solve all of your problems? And how often do you even buy a ticket, anyway?

The point is that most of us spend so much time looking up the social ladder with envy that we rarely turn around & see the poverty below us. Is a lottery win really what you need or is it a new perspective? Is money the only way of measuring wealth? Only you can decide that.

Anyway, let’s get us back on track.. A good way of keep it real with our goals is by using the SMART acronym.

Specific:  Be really specific about what it is you hope to achieve. For example, if you've over done it at Christmas & want to lose some weight, identify how much you want to lose or the size you would like to get down to. Write it down.
Measurable: Make sure that your performance in meeting that goal can be measured. For example, if you want to lose 5 kilos, know what weight you started out at and measure your progress at regular intervals. Again, write it down & track your progress.
Achievable: Keep your goals achievable. It's not a good idea to decide to run a marathon having not run a stride in 20 years. Break that goal down into more manageable goals like getting into a local couch to 5km group and build your distance slowly over time towards that marathon.
Realistic: As above, if you've not run a stride in 20 years, you could do yourself real harm trying to run 26.2 miles straight off. Break that goal down into reasonable targets that you can realistically achieve without half-killing yourself in the process, such as aiming for that 5km to begin with.
Time: Put a timeline on your goal. When do you hope to achieve your goal by? Again, be realistic with this. If you want to lose 10 inches off your waist so you can wear your favourite jeans to a party tomorrow night, well it ain't gonna happen. But if you consider a timeline measured in months rather than hours, suddenly your target looks a lot more achievable. 

Stick to SMART goals and give yourself the best chance of succeeding in turning your hopes & dreams into a reality. If you fail, remember that it’s only really a failure if you don’t learn from the experience.

Ask, what went wrong? What could I do differently to achieve a better outcome? If you’re not sure, ask a friend or someone who is knowledgeable on the subject. But you are looking for honesty here. There’s no benefit in seeking the opinion of a friend who says You were just unlucky, hun… if you bought a lottery ticket and lamented at the utter misfortune in failing to win. What you really need is a friend who asks: Is it a SMART goal?

And if I can take this one step further, I’ll introduce you to Maslow’s Hierarchy.. Many of you may have come across this before. It’s not without its critics and it has been revised & adapted many times over the years but I think the basic principle still applies. It is that you can’t expect to achieve your full potential as a human being without paying sufficient attention to your needs that serve further growth.

I invite you to think about this pyramid model in setting your goals for the future. Think about what needs you have that you may feel aren’t being fulfilled, which may be holding you back, and setting some SMART goals to serve those deficiencies.

If you would like some help with your goals for 2021 or would like to talk about any mental health issue then you can reach BroadMinds Therapy by any of the following means:

Web: www.broadmindstherapy.org
Email: help@broadmindstherapy.org
Phone: (+353) 0899420568
Facebook: www.facebook.com/jpbroad

We offer a free consultation to everyone, clients old & new.

Wishing you all the very best for 2021. Happy New Year to you all.

Thanks for taking the time time to read this article. If you like what you read please like & share so we can reach & help as many people as possible.

Take care of yourselves & each other.