Do you believe in all of this โnew month, new meโ kind of thing? Personally, I donโt. However, I have developed two habits at the beginning of each month. The first one is to check my monthly horoscope. As silly as it sounds, doing so in the morning, with a cup of coffee in my hand, just makes me happy. The second habit is to prepare a new spread to track my goals for the month.
Tracking my goals is always fun for me. I like getting things done and in a way, my โto-doโ lists are more like โta-daโ lists. Can you relate? Anyway, doing this also allows me to see where I have spent my time during the month and the progress that I have made, or not, in certain areas of life. This year I have shared a few of my trackers on Instagram and since I always receive positive feedback, I decided to inspire you with a few ideas so you can set wellbeing goals, too.
What can be wellbeing goals?
You can turn everything that positively contributes to your wellbeing into a goal. Your goals can be related to food, hydration, rest, sleep, social life, learning, exercising, spending time in nature. Checking in with the five pillars of wellbeing is a good way to see which area needs a little boost in your life. If you identify that something is out of balance, you can make a goal that aims to concentrate on that aspect. Furthermore, you can set a goal in an attempt to add habits (I call these โpositive goalsโ, such as โdrink more waterโ) or to remove a habit (for example, โeat less sugarโ). Below I share ten goals that I like to set for myself and why I do so. I hope this helps you with some ideas about what you can track.
Drinking water
This is my number one goal each month and the reason for that is that drinking enough water is very easy to achieve and has a huge positive impact on my health. In order to achieve this goal, I do not have to make a huge change in my habits or put a lot of effort – I just need to remember to do it. Itโs that simple. My aim is to drink 2l of water every single day and as the months go by, I get better at it. In return, I feel more energised and prevent some of the inevitable headaches that I get if I am dehydrated. If you would like to stay hydrated, too, check out this article with 9 practical tips for drinking more water.
Meditation / Mindfulness
Next on the list is sparing five to ten minutes a day for meditation or some sort of a mindfulness exercise. I usually use the Headspace app. Some days I just sit in silence and observe the world around me. You would be pleasantly surprised what ten minutes of peace and quiet can do for your day! I usually aim to check this activity in the morning before the day swoops in as I have found out that after that it is easier to make an excuse or to simply forget about meditating.
Affirmations
This is one of my favourite goals. I am currently trying to make it a habit to write affirmations every morning during the workweek. I have two ways to do this – I either write affirmative sentences (such as โI am healthy and full of energy.โ) or write down a little story of how I want my day to go. When I go for the first method, I opt for four or five sentences and write each of them two or three times. I end up with a nice paragraph. If I decide to write about my day, the secret is to write in the present tense as if it is happening already. I never use more than one page. This exercise rarely takes me more than ten minutes and it adds a lot of positive charge to my mornings.
Check more journaling ideas here.
Moving your body
I have found out that not putting pressure in terms of what type of exercising I would be doing is helping me a lot in achieving my monthly goal. Instead of โrunningโ or โyogaโ, I simply set a goal to โmove my bodyโ. I feel that these words have a more caring and loving vibe than โexerciseโ. They also remind me that the point is not only to get sweaty and tired, but to connect and feel my body. I count long walks, yoga, HIIT and cardio all as equal exercise and as long as I find time for any of them, I count it as a success. I recently hit a milestone in regards to this goal and share tips how to move more in this article.
Acts of kindness / Giving
Another favourite goal of mine. Usually, goals are a way for us to enter a higher level of our lives – become healthier, weather, more knowledgeable. However, the Earth does not spin around us. Setting a goal of giving helps me remember this and it also fosters a connection to others through kindness and compassion. Even though I do not track this in my journal (I should start!) I aim to positively contribute to a cause or a person in need 3 times a month. I have subscribed to support the shelter where I got Kaito from on monthly basis. Other examples are donating to NGOs or causes that speak to me and buying food for the homeless-looking people that hang around our local supermarket. A little bit of kindness goes a long way!
Healthy eating
There isnโt a goal I have failed more but I keep on adding it to my list. Why, you might ask. Because if I do not remind myself of it every day, I will have even less success in this category. As a person who does not like cooking and who can easily opt to order in instead of preparing a healthier option for myself, it is challenging to eat healthy every day. Of course, it also depends on what the definition of โhealthyโ is and you get to choose your own. The goal is to look back at the day and feel that you made good choices.
Time outside
During winter I had made spending time outside of the flat a goal because the darkness and cold did not feel inviting and the amount of time I spent at home was too much. There was something about the -15 degrees and the many layers I had to put on that did not make it easy so I needed an extra push to make myself go outside. Funny enough, once I put it as a goal, I did complete it. I feel like Kaito, the dog, was the one who benefitted the most, though.
Learning
According to a personal assessment we did at work, my biggest strength is learning. Hence, there is no surprise that โlearningโ is a goal in my wellbeing tracker. To feel intellectually stimulated and that I am progressing in my career and personal development, I need to acquire new knowledge. Usually, this is in the form of online training via YouTube or a platform called Future Learn. Currently, I am studying for my certificate in holistic life coaching.
Reading
Another goal that I keep every month in my tracker is reading. This is one of my favourite ways both to learn and to relax. I usually have two books in progress at the same time: a personal development one (currently reading โGood Habits, Bad Habitsโ) and one for fun. I never push myself to read and some months I fall behind on this goal while others I complete my target in the first part of the month. The aim of reading is just to have fun.
Miscellaneous
Last but not least, I add anything else that I would like to track for the month. Sometimes these areas have to do with productivity or some personal development goals I have set for the month. Feel free to add whatever you would like to improve upon. Tracking everything in one place makes it easier to remember and to be reminded of your goals.
How to track wellbeing goals?
Decide on goals and targets
You might decide to track some of the goals I shared or maybe you were inspired to track something that is important to you. You can track multiple goals, however, my recommendation is to assign them different priorities. You can have one or two goals that are truly important and the rest you can consider optional. If you try to conquer too many of them at once, chances are you will lose the motivation quickly.
Once you have picked your goals, you should set a target for each. How many days or times per month would you want to read or learn? How often would you like to move your body? When you set targets, consider your workload and responsibilities for the upcoming month. Set reasonable targets. There is nothing wrong with challenging yourself as long as you do it in moderation. Do not underestimate the satisfaction of completing, and even surpassing, your goal because this is what will motivate you to go forward.
Use a journal or a notebook
My preferred method for tracking my goals is by hand and in my bullet journal. At the beginning of each month, I draw the so-called spread – a visual representation of my monthly goals. I come up with different designs and ways to mark the progress, however, even a simple table with checkboxes is more than enough. I usually set goals in terms of times/days. For example, I set a goal to meditate around 20 times a month. This means that I should find my way to my meditation cushion 20 days during the month. You can see examples of my trackers for some of the months (I am definitely not a pro).
Get an accountability buddy
If you do not have the time or desire to track on paper or digitally, you can try to find a person from your circle who has similar goals to yours and ask them to be your accountability buddy. The idea is to have someone to act as your personal “butt-kicker” (and you can be theirs). Once you have your buddy, agree on what you want to accomplish and the time frame for it, and then set periodic check-ins to follow your progress. Additionally, you can connect on different wellness apps and give each-other nudges, if you see one of you is falling behind. For example, Headspace has an option to remind your app buddies to take a few moments for mindfulness.
Use a mobile app
If you are not the type of person who enjoys putting pen to paper, use an app. A good tracking app can give you a visual representation of how you are going with your goals. You can set reminders and different targets. Just like with using a journal, you should think about the number of times per week or per month that you want to engage in different wellbeing activities. An app that I have used in the past and that worked for me is Habit Tracker. Check it out and give it a try!
