We are once again at the beginning of a bright & shiny new year. It’s time to reflect on the past year, to look at the goals we set to see if we achieved them. If not, let’s see what we can do to make sure that we don’t have an unreached goal by the end of this year.
This isn’t a post about creating goals for the new year. However, if you need help creating goals, click on this link for an article that may help. This post is about understanding why we didn’t meet a goal, and what we can do to make our goals come to fruition.
I would like to share with you my own story that relates to an unreached goal I had last year. The goal was to remodel an ensuite bathroom in my home. Actually, I have 2 bathrooms that need to be remodeled, but the priority is the ensuite bathroom. This is something I’ve been thinking about doing for quite some time but just hadn’t gotten around to doing.
At the beginning of last year, I made an appointment for a consultation with a local kitchen and bathroom remodeling company based on a friend’s recommendation. When I went to the appointment, I learned very quickly that the pandemic wreaked havoc on getting home remodeling projects done, at least in the near future.
Not only scheduling was an issue, but the high cost of supplies and getting them in a timely manner. They gave me an estimate that was probably twice the cost of what I expected. I left the appointment disappointed and discouraged. It seemed at that point as though I would end up with an unreached goal for that year.
This goal was in my mind, but I had not documented anything about it. This piece is probably the most important part, creating a plan to reach the goal. Then life happened, as it always does. A series of events that took my attention away from my goal. Throughout the year, other things needed my attention that took priority. As a result, I ended up with an unreached goal.
There are a lot of pieces that need to be addressed with a home remodeling project. I know this because several years ago I remodeled my kitchen. That was a goal that stemmed from an idea, and I put together a plan that did come to fruition.
A plan is the most important part to reach a goal as mentioned above. Part of the plan is to document the tasks, another part is to schedule them, and another part is to take action on those tasks to make sure they happen.
I’m not going to scrap the goal for this year. Instead, I’m going to change my actions which includes creating a plan to ensure that I don’t have another unreached goal this year.
