This is Part 2 of my 2023 goal setting series. Read Part 1, my 2022 year in review, here!
This year already feels different. Do you feel it too?
January is usually the longest, gloomiest month of the year for me, even more since we moved to west MI where the sun doesn’t rise until after 8am and lake effect clouds drown out any glimpse of sun.
However, I’m finally getting that magical boost of second trimester energy and it’s completely overpowering my winter blahs. Especially in contrast to how low I felt through the past few months, with a tough first tri combined with endless daycare courtesy of the 3 year old. I probably don’t need to tell you how insane this virus season has been, but woah being sick and pregnant really sucks ha.
Anyways, I entered the new year feeling a surge of energy and motivation I haven’t really experienced in a long time. Maybe ever!
Like I said in my previous post, last year felt like a year of staging. Lots of not so fun growing pains (house hunting, trying to conceive, moving, etc) necessary to get to the other side.
And now I feel suspended in a magic bubble of time where we’re settled into our home and routine, I have the time, energy, and support to do all the things I want to do while also taking care of myself, yet the chaos of a new baby is still a comfortable four months away.
So I’ve been fully enjoying this quiet, gloomy, hibernation mode month to get back to work and map out all the plans and ideas that have been simmering in my head.
I’ve been using the Power Sheets goal planner for the past 5 years now as a tool to help me plan out my annual goals and then break them down into monthly, weekly, and daily actions.
This process works for me because I’m a visual, big picture person. I love brain-dumping and getting everything out on paper, and then seeing how my monthly and weekly plans connect back to my greater vision. It helps me stay focused and in action mode on a daily basis instead of spinning out in FOMO overwhelm with all my ideas!
How I set my annual goals
I’ve found it most helpful to think about a few broad, long term goals that reflect the areas of life I want to focus on this year and then break them down into quarterly, monthly, and weekly plans.
As a certified Beautiful You Life Coach, I’ve been trained and had years of fun practice in creating goals that aren’t just specific/measurable/etc etc but feel inspiring, heart centered, and really encapsulate who I want to be as I grow into this next phase of myself.
My annual, bigger picture goals tend to be more broad, and then I break them down into smaller mini-goals and actions to visualize how I’m going to get from point A to point B.
The very first action step I recommend after setting a goal is to break out your journal and dig deep into why this goal is important, how you want to feel as you work towards it and then ultimately achieve or embody the end result, and where you are now at the starting line.
This helps you mentally and emotionally connect to your goal and makes taking the necessary actions much easier and natural. Sometimes I don’t even create an action plan - after leaning into my vision for my goal I “set it and forget it” and let myself intuitively and subconsciously flow into where I want to go. This takes a lot of self trust though!
When I’m working with a life coaching client, our very first session is a goal setting intensive where we establish the goals they’ll be working towards in our time together. Then I help them create personalized journal prompts and foundation-setting actions to ground into their vision. If this sounds like something that would be supportive to you, you can book a free mini consult here to get a taste of what it’s like to work with me!
We can’t predict the future or see what plot twists the year will bring (RIP my 2020 vision board), but I do know our family has an enormous life change coming in May aka the ticking time bomb inside my uterus who is kicking me as I type. So my 2023 goals are a mix of “this needs to get done before Bebe Dos,” and “this could flow into a 2024 goal and that is totally fine.”
Goals don’t have to be timeline dependent :) you just need a way to measure progress, whether that’s tangible check lists or events with a deadline, or simply recording how you feel over time and grow as a person.
Here are a few of my core 2023 goals for life and business!
LIFE GOALS
Welcome Baby 2 into our family
This is pretty self explanatory. He’s due in late May, which still seems far away but I know in a month or two it will start getting real!
What does “success” look like for this by the end of 2023?
Finding our groove as a new family unit of four.
Feeling recovered physically and rebuilding my strength.
Getting the support we need, and taking care of my mental health.
Mini Goals/Action Steps
Continue with my walking and strength training routine
Find a therapist, pelvic floor PT, and lactation consultant
Sign up for postpartum home fitness program
Order a bed for T
Set up nursery
Go through baby stuff/make registry of things we need
Sew all the newborn clothes I want to :)
Spend intentional 1:1 time with T
(Obviously these mini-goals and actions will shift and new priorities will emerge once the baby is actually here)
Build our community here in Grand Rapids
The biggest thing I miss about leaving Chicago is our community of friends and family there. I’ve made some great new friends so far here but now we’ve been in MI for over a year (and pandemic restrictions continue to lift… for now…) it’s time to get more intentional with getting out there and being social! We are on the hunt for a church community, and I’m hoping to find some kind of new moms group like I had with Thomas too for early postpartum sanity.
Create routines and habits to support my mental and physical health
What does success look like?
Seeing a therapist regularly and feeling mentally and emotionally stable through postpartum
Rehab my body postpartum
Continue exercise routine to have a strong and healthy pregnancy
Settle into our house and create a beautiful, cozy home
What does success look like?
Feel settled and organized vs. messy and chaotic
Have all our rooms set up
Complete a few projects
Hire cleaners 1-2/month
BIZ GOALS
Grow my life coaching business with purpose and joy.
This is my number one goal for 2023/2024. As I shared in my last blog post, I’ve massively streamlined my coaching business so I can solely focus on my 1:1 life coaching this year. Building deep connections with women on an individual level and supporting them through life transitions so they can feel confident and at home in themselves is something I consider a spiritual calling, but also something I’ve resisted focusing on because the things that are closest to our hearts also feel the most scary !!
What does success look like?
Support 6-8 other women and moms in creating an inspired life through 1:1 coaching
Launch Back to Biz with Baby group program this fall with 5+ members
Feel like I have the childcare support I need
Feel supported and intentional through maternity leave and return
See bank accounts growing
Mini Goals
(most of these have their own set of mini-mini goals and obviously lots of actions, lol)
Book 4+ clients by maternity leave
Grow email list to 750 subscribers
Build my audience with regular social media strategy and collabs
Buy a new laptop!
Plan for 8 weeks off for mat leave
Create LLC
Launch Back to Biz with Baby group program in fall
Blog and send a newsletter 3-4/week
Run free masterclasses and update opt-in
Take December off for the holidays
Continue to cultivate joy, inspiration, and creativity with my Etsy shop
I’ve run my Etsy since 2013 as a fun creative outlet (and way to fund my fabric and yarn obsessions) but last year I started viewing it as a more official side hustle. I went through all the CPSC compliance hoops to officially register as a small batch manufacturer and launched my first collections of children’s clothing! I love making adorable baby clothes, accessories, and home goods to add a pop of color and beauty to every day life. And I love love LOVE curating fabric collections and buying allll the Rifle Paper Co, hehe. Since sewing is extremely time consuming I’m leaving this goal a little open-ended since I don’t know how life will look after baby arrives, but I’d love to continue releasing seasonal children’s collections, doing more custom orders, and maybe even selling at my first makers market or pop up show locally!
What would success look like?
Have fun!
Turn profit in my seasonal drops
Learn and expand my skills
Buy a serger with profits
Do my first market! (holiday?)
Increase listings to ~80
Mini goals/timeline
Seasonal collection drops:
Jan - spring kitchen
Feb - Easter baby
Mar - spring/summer collection
Apr - finish orders and prep for mat leave
May to Sept - mat leave
Oct - holiday launch
Grow IG reach and email list (post reels, update hashtags, engage with other accounts)
Do my first market ?
Goal setting tips from a life coach
“It always seems impossible until it’s done”
This quote has been in my mind constantly, especially when the little niggle of self doubt creeps in.
It’s fun and inspiring to create a vision or exciting goals for your life, but when we get back down to reality it’s so hard to discipline ourselves to take the action steps required to bring them to life. Usually actions either feel boring and a grind, or else require us to go out of our comfort zones and trigger lots of insecurities and fear. Either way it’s easy to let our many responsibilities of daily life to distract us from the deeper things we actually want to do. Which is why so many of our goals and new years resolutions “fail” or sit on the backburner year after year.
What would it take for you to choose one goal to fully devote yourself to achieving this year?
What would that goal be?
What would you need to do?
What support would you need?
What would it feel like to be the person you need to be to live out that goal?
And then instead of feeling discouraged or beating yourself up for “failing” to achieve your goals or falling behind in life, what if you could send yourself some epic compassion and love, celebrate what you HAVE been through over the past couple of years, and decide that you get to start fresh this year?
Unsurprisingly, one of the easiest and fastest ways to actually get from where you are to where you want to be is to invest in the personal support of a life coach. Supporting you in pursuing and achieving meaningful goals and creating a life you love is literally our job description 🙂
If you’d like to work with me, I invite you to schedule a free 30 minute Mini Glow Up session here! This is a chance for us to get to know each other, for you to share your ideas, and receive a sample of what it’s like to be coached by me. You’ll walk away with one powerful takeaway or mindset shift and get a feel if working together would be a good fit for you this year.
Cheers to a new year and new adventures ahead!
xo Anna
