Two months of 2020 have already flown by and many of us will be turning our thoughts to Easter. For some of us this means making plans for Easter school holidays, which seems ludicrous because it feels like the kids have only just gone back to school after Christmas. I don’t know about you, but I had some very ambitious plans for my business for February, all of which were cooked up in an exhausted, impatient January, when I was juggling many balls with the two boys at home. What has happened to those plans? Well this is my third blog post of the year, not my sixth, which just about says it all.
So, what went wrong and what can you learn from my mistakes?
Firstly, I didn’t accept the season I was in. I’m sorry to say that instead of making the most of every minute with my kids, living in the moment and enjoying the school holidays, I often found myself in despair, looking forward to February and the anticipation of how sweet life would be then. In this state, February became this golden place that unicorns inhabit, and I concocted far too many plans. In other words, my unhappiness with my situation in January forced me to be totally unrealistic about what I could do in February. I put way too much on my to-do list and was unrealistic about what can be achieved in one month. In hindsight, I should have mapped out my priorities for the year, or quarter.
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The other thing I was guilty of was poor prioritisation. I had a big jumbled list, in my head mostly, of everything that I was going to do and, I must admit, I started with what was easiest because I was tired. Stuff like sorting through my email and doing my expenses. While these jobs are necessary, they do not make the biggest impact in my business. I realise now that I was doing lots of little things that made me feel busy and like I was getting somewhere with my to-do list. Now that I’m focusing on my big priorities, my energy has totally shifted. I feel optimistic about the future and everything else seems to flow better.
Finally, I forgot my why. I forgot why the hell I have these goals, and this business in the first place. It took some interactions with some happy clients to remember what I am about. I am in the business of helping mums have careers and lives that feel like them. So that they can be happier and healthier. Because when mums are happy and healthy there is a ripple effect in our homes, our businesses and our communities. When I sat with this Why, I was able to write two SMART goals relating to my subscriber numbers and my income that inspired me and right now, in writing this blog post, I am in action towards achieving one of those goals.
So, what can you take from this?
Well firstly we need to be realistic. Whether that’s realistic about what we can achieve next month or next year. We also need to be realistic about what we can achieve with our career change. When I was unhappy in my career it was a little bit like being in a perpetual January. In my head, once I’d changed career, I was going to be this blissfully happy, organised person with so much time for family, lots of money and a job I jumped out of bed to do every day. The reality is that five years into my career change I still don’t have this in the bag. The main thing that’s changed though is that I am much more realistic. I accept that I am not going to have everything at once and that I need to enjoy the journey instead of struggling against it.
Secondly, prioritisation is key. And I think we all know this but most of us are struggling with such overloaded to-do lists that we pick off the bits that seem easy first so we can get quick wins. Sometimes that is ok, and it gives us a confidence boost but if we always deal with the things that are easy or urgent, instead of the things that are important, then we never get to the important stuff. When you want to change career, it can feel like you’re doing something towards that when you read articles like this one, or when you send a resume off for a job that you’re not too keen on because somebody once told you it’s a numbers game. BUT what if you prioritised the work of getting to know yourself, what you want out of life and work and speaking to others so you could get true clarity about your career direction? What if you held off on applying for jobs you didn’t really want until you got that clarity? Even if it took a while. Perhaps you’d never waste your time applying for jobs you don’t want ever again. Maybe then you’d realise it’s not a numbers game, its about being strategic, targeted and prioritising.
Finally, when setting goals for your future, whether that’s for your career or anything in life, try to keep sight of why you are setting that goal in the first place. If you don’t know why then perhaps its time to lose that goal. But if you do know why. And you remind yourself of that why every time you are in despair or feel like giving up, then it will give you the strength to keep going.
It’s worth taking the time to create and review meaningful, realistic goals, on a regular basis and I’ve created a FREE download to help you do just that. Click here to get access to my FREE goal setting cheat sheet and never set goals that suck again.