2020 goals recap & goal setting for 2021
The end of 2020 is here! This year was HARD, but also, a major learning experience. I didn’t write down my goals last year, I just had kind of a vague idea of what I wanted to get done, and that kind of went out the window when COVID lockdowns started. So instead, let me list the things I learned this year, and then what I hope to accomplish next.
Things I learned in 2020:
- I REALLY REALLY like working from home. I know it’s not for everyone. Maybe it’s not even for most people. But I am really liking it for a number of reasons. I’m super introverted, so I feel like a lot of my energy at work is spent trying to drown out everyone else with headphones, music, etc and it never quite works. It’s also so much less stressful for me to be able to take five minutes here or there during the day to throw the wash in the machine, or stick some stuff in the crockpot for dinner instead of trying to rush and get it all done after we all get home around 6pm.
- I REALLY like spending so much time with my family. My kids are cool! I’m enjoying getting to know them better than ever would have been possible without homeschooling this year.
- Watching my toddler become his little self is a miracle. I watched my older kids become who they are too, obviously, but I didn’t get to spend nearly as much time with them as #3. Watching the 3 brothers interact with each other and be so sweet and sometimes so sour is a gift in itself.
- I miss my podcasts. A lot. This is one drawback of working from home. Someone always needs me during working hours, so I can’t just put on some weird murder podcast and just sit and work uninterrupted for its duration.
- I miss my friends and family. We take the COVID guidelines super seriously and so do our friends, so we’ve really only spent time together virtually this year. People we know have started to get vaccinated and it’s so exciting and emotional knowing we are getting closer to normal.
- I am in awe of healthcare workers, first responders, scientists, and essential workers.
- I truly do not enjoy cooking. I like eating. For years I assumed the reason I didn’t cook is because I didn’t have enough time. NOPE.
- I need to make more stuff with my hands.
- I LOVED working on my shop this year and learning how to grow the business. I more than doubled last years sales, even with a much shorter holiday season due to shipping delays. I set the order cut off date about a week earlier than past years just to be safe.
Sometimes when people get what they want, they realize how limited their goals were. – Joan Holloway, Man Men
Goals for 2021:
- Set certain hours of the day for work and some amount of time TBD for making/ crafting/ blogging.
- Blog at least 1 time per week
- Get better at batch working
- Keep a daily planner (I always have in the past but halfway thru the year, the 2020 planner met an untimely end after a big juice spill that no one told me about until it was too late).
- Get dressed every day and put on an actual outfit that is not pajamas.
- Print out more family photos
- Grow my shop another 100%, which sounds ridiculous, but I’ve done it the past two years in a row.
I’m sure there are more that I’m not thinking of, but this is what I have for now. I made a goal setting printable for you to cut out and paste into your daily planner at the beginning of each month (there are 2 – 5×7″ goal planners on each page). I find it’s better to go back and revise your goals if you need to throughout the year. This way if things take a turn (I’m looking at you COVID), you can pivot to a revised goal or new goal so you don’t lose momentum. PS, if you’re looking for planner recommendations, here are my top picks for 2021.
Oh, and MAKE SOME OF YOUR GOALS BIG! Like it-feels-impossible big. You’ll surprise yourself sometimes.
And always always always celebrate the victories- it’s so important to help you stay motivated. Checking things of your to-do list every day is so satisfying. If your day is just not going well, come up with the ONE thing you accomplished that day and focus on that as your win. It really helps mentally. Trust me. Happy New Year to you and happy planning – let’s get it done in ’21.
Download your free printable goal setting sheet here. For personal, non commercial use only.
