personal development

June Goals

2021, goals

Hello!

Another month, another set of goals! I think the British public will very much enjoy June if it remains as beautifully sunny as it has been so far, but I for one am ready for a fresh start, some sun and a month focusing on my own mental wellbeing.

My partner is going on a work trip to Rome for a month so I’ll be spending most of the month on my own, whilst I’m a bit nervous about him going away for so long, I’m trying to frame it as an opportunity to work on myself and spend some time doing all my favourite things.

Last month wasn’t particularly successful in terms of my goals but I’m ready for a fresh start and a new boost of motivation! So here’s what I’m working on (and, thus, you can hold me accountable):

Hannah Witton’s #DearJune Instagram Challenge
I don’t know why, but I love doing ‘Dear June’ – it pushes me creatively, gives me some structure and routine and sometime’s I get affirmation by sometimes being shared onto Hannah Witton’s story. I made my first post yesterday and I’m really pleased with it so looking forward to this one!

Work on my cosplay costume
I’ve been really bad at this so far this year, but I think having more ‘me time’ will mean I spend more time on crafts again! I bought the first piece that I wanted for this cosplay so that’s given me a little more motivation to figure out how to do the rest. I’ll be seeing my sister at the weekend who is super talented at cosplay so hopefully I can get her advice on how to make certain parts of the outfit and it can be a bit of a summer project!

Wedding planning – cake!
As per my monthly wedding planning goals, this month I get to think about cake a lot (which is definitely not going to help the diet). I’ve got some ideas about the cake and how to make it subtly nerdy without being in your face ‘Pokemon themed wedding’ (we’re not having a Pokemon themed wedding).

I really liked this cake topper I spotted in our town centre the other week – with the subtle nod to Captain America and Harry Potter, but definitely need the wand to look a little less… limp?

Clothes sewing
I’m so determined to get back into crafting this month – I’ve been thinking about making bunting, facemasks, knitting and cross stitching but I just haven’t had the motivation to actually start them! I’m planning to pencil in some time in the evenings to get my sewing machine out and get back into it because I love making creative things that aren’t all digital.

Restart Couch to 5k
I’ve said this at least a hundred times this year, but summer seems to be when I have my ‘running’ moment – I did it last summer and though I spent about two months on week 2, I did actually consistently exercise three times a week and I’d love to get back to that! June is going to be my month and even if it’s just going for half hour walks three times a week, it’ll be more than I’m doing now!

And my rolling monthly goal to read 2 books is ongoing, I’ve already put money in my savings account which I’m feeling probably too smug about and so far the monthly date nights haven’t been very successful as we haven’t even managed one, so might scrap that one for this year!

It’s probably the good weather putting me in a good mood, but I’m excited to spend time reading in the garden (when I get some garden chairs), make something creative and hopefully feel a bit better in myself.

It’s looking like it’s going to be a good summer and I’m excited about it, so I’m rolling with it!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

March mini goals

2021, goals

Hello!

Setting mini goals has been a way for me to keep myself focused and making progress for at least three years now, but in the last few months I’ve been really making sure that my monthly goals allow for consistent development from my yearly goals and already I’m seeing progress and it’s so motivating! Seeing a whole month of goals that I know I’ve solidly worked on makes me feel so good and so motivated to carry on!

To have 100% completed 3 tasks and half completed 2 tasks of my February mini goals, I know I made solid progress! I think, in part, vaguely planning my monthly goals for the year has made this easier because I can make sure I’m allotting enough time for each goal I want to achieve, but I know for a fact that I’m working really hard to make as much progress as I can too!

This is a combination of clever goal setting (knowing that I really want to achieve these goals, rather than feeling obliged to) and having the yearly/monthly/weekly goals and to do lists in place to hold myself accountable. I’m feeling so motivated right now and I can’t wait to jump right in to my March mini goals!

1. Start writing a book adaptation screenplay

I got a taste of screenplay writing for my dissertation last year and I very quickly discovered how much I enjoyed and how much more there was to learn about the art of the writing style. One of my potential dissertation topics was about book adaptations and my final dissertation was all about storytelling, so I thought writing an adaptation would be a good place to start to learn about the style without having to consider my own story as well.

This is just for personal use – I’m not claiming to be an experienced screenwriter and I’m definitely not writing any movie scripts to sell anytime soon. But this is a project I want to finish over the course of the year, so this is just the beginning.

2. Start my first cosplay costume

I’ve been banging on about cosplay for years, but this year I’m going to do it! Another goal that I want to achieve over the year rather than in just one month, but I want to spend this month planning it all – what I want to make, what I want to buy and how I can bring it all together.

I’m creating a Team Yell costume from Pokemon Sun and Moon (to go with my sister’s Marnie cosplay). I’m hoping this will really help me develop my sewing and learn about so many different kinds of crafting outside of clothes to make all the accessories. I think I’ll document some of the process on my TikTok if you’re interested!

3. March wedding tasks!

I said in my ‘how I planned my wedding planning’ post that I’d broken everything down and assigned tasks to each month and so far, it’s working relatively well!

My task for this month is to figure out what wedding insurance is and whether we need it, which I imagine will only take an afternoon really! I also need to finalise booking a photographer and videographer because I did a lot of research about it in February but it was all very overwhelming (and much more expensive than I thought it would be!) so hopefully I’ll be able to get that decision made this month.

4. Develop my 5 year plan

I don’t really like calling it a ‘plan’ because it’s definitely not certain enough to be a plan, but I have a spread in my bullet journal listing the next five years and goals and ideas for what I’d like to achieve in each of them. I’ve not looked at my 5 year plan since I last updated in 2020 (2020-2024) and I really need to start my 2021-2025 one, but that’s what this goal is for!

Rather than sticking with my 2019-2023 plan that I started in my 2019 journal, I like moving my 5 year plan through journals with me because I think it’s a much more realistic way of looking ahead for the next 5 years. In 2019 I never would have been able to predict that I would be where I am at the beginning of 2021 and it would have got really messy with crossing out and changing things, so I prefer the rolling approach.

5. Find somewhere new to live!

Although we have a lovely landlord on our one bed house, we’re ready to find something bigger and move somewhere more relevant to my work (if I ever get to work anywhere other than home). We are on a rolling contract in our current house, so we don’t have a deadline to find a new house by, but the time is right for us!

And to be clear; we’re still renting. We don’t have the savings for buying and we’re only 24 and 25 – I know people who are buying houses, but I don’t know a single one who’s saved every penny themselves and not had a rather large savings account from parents or grandparents. No shade, not judging anyone, just kind of fed up of being asked about it as someone who’s literally only just started their first career job – I have not got the income to have tens of thousands of pounds in savings!

And then my rolling monthly goals are:

  • Read 2 books
  • Put a certain amount of money in my savings account
  • Have a date night with le fiancé

I’ve had a good old ramble this month haven’t I? So I’ll keep the ending short and sweet – I love goal setting! Should I write a post about how I planned all of my monthly goals for the year?

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

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ACHIEVING your goals for the year ✨

2020, career, goals, organisation

Hello!

I love setting goals and one thing I’ve learnt in the three or so years I’ve been consistently goal setting, is finding more ways to make those goals achievable (rather than writing them down and wondering why they’re not happening).

Sometimes I think it sounds stupid – like, if you’re setting goals then just keep tabs on them and actually do stuff then you will achieve them. But sometimes a list of ‘end goals’ on a page can feel a bit intimidating, so having the steps breakdown and working on it bit by bit works really well for me.

These are my top three tips for making any goals you’ve set for the year achievable. If you want to see how I set goals and what I want to achieve in 2020 then you can read my blog post about it here!

1 – put your goals into categories!

Clearly labelling your goals and knowing why you set them can be a huge factor in making them feel more achievable. For example, if a goal is in a ‘career’ category then you know you may be able to take steps in your work environment rather than in your personal time, if a goal is in a ‘fitness’ category then you know you need to set time aside to work on that.

2 – allow yourself the flexibility to adapt your goals

Checking in with why you want to achieve your goals and whether they’re still important to you is so much better than investing your time in things you’re not interested in anymore. In my 2019 goals I initially wanted to build a freelance career because I had some freelance work, but that fell through very quickly and I drew the conclusion that freelancing isn’t suited to what I want for my career so I didn’t spend any more time working on that goal.

Let yourself change and develop your goals as you yourself change and develop.

3 – set monthly mini goals

If you’ve been following my blog for a while you’ll know that I set monthly goals and post about them every single month. I find this makes my goals less big and more achievable! It’s so rewarding seeing progress on something you’ve been ‘working on’ for a really long time. I stick to five goals and they’re not all related to my yearly goals because that would be a lot.

An example of breaking down one of my goals over the year is that by the end of the year I want to be working full time, whether that’s in a ‘career’ job or something more temporary and I know that I’m not going to be able to apply and just start work when I finish my dissertation in September. So I’ve been having meetings with the careers team at my university, looking back over the notes from my Professional Development Planning course I did last year to learn from that and speaking with my lecturers for advice on how to get a step up in a specific industry I might want to work in. Hopefully these steps this month and in the coming months will help me step more easily into full time work in the last quarter of the year.

Setting my mini goals is the most exciting part of the beginning of the month for me – being able to reflect on what worked, what didn’t, what I didn’t achieve and what I can celebrate every month really motivates me to carry on developing myself professionally and personally.

I understand that not everyone is a goal orientated person and they way they develop themselves is more organic and less structured but I’m someone who really benefits from seeing progress and planning how I can maintain it. So I hope this helps in one way or another!

Thank you so much for reading,

Sophie xx

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