How to Create Positive Goals

Every January “New Year, New Me”, weight loss ads, and work out regimes are everywhere. For people in Eating Disorder Recovery, or people with body image issues, this is a really hard thing to see and deal with.

Should I make goals at the beginning of the year? This is a question that I struggled with last year, fresh out of ED treatment.

Instead of creating goals that shame us, or try to make us into a different person, in 2021 I think that we all need to make goals that are going to be mentally healthy in the long run. After the year that we’ve had, we know that mental health is so much more important than we’ve ever thought about as a society.

When we create positive goals for the new year, we are saying what we WANT our lives to look like in 12 months. Instead of focusing on the negatives and what we want to change, let’s focus on the positives. Instead of goals about the body, let’s make goals about the mind and our purpose.

Below, I’ve got some tips on how to create Positive Goals for your New Year!

I’ve also got a FREE resource for helping you plan positive goals this year! Click download below to get yours today!

Ask yourself where you want to be, mentally and otherwise 12 months from now.

Draw it, sketch it, make a pinterest board. Having a visual of what you want your life to look like is crucial to making it happen. We can’t just say that we want to be happy- we have to define what happiness means to us!

For 2021, one of my goals is to travel more. Traveling is something that makes me incredibly happy. For 2 years, my ED kept me from traveling, and in 2020, COVID kept me from traveling. In these restraints, going into 2021, I am going to focus on what I can control. I can explore my own state and the outdoors. I can watch my dogs run on the beach. I can take amazing pictures from amazing places that are right here in my state.

Another big thing that I want to do is grow my business. I want to live out my life with God’s purpose guiding me.

What about you? Mentally we all might envision happiness- but we all have a different definition of that. Do you have a place in your work or your finances that you want to be?

So… how do I make those things actually happen and not just end up on another list that gets thrown away?

Think, REALISTICALLY, about what you need to do to get to that goal.

If my goal is to travel more, I need to have a talk with my husband about when we can travel. We need to make a list of where to go and what we want to see.

Setting timelines for when to work on those goals is essential. My business isn’t going to grow itself. I have to work on it. How can I set my days up to work on my business so that it thrives? What smaller goals can I set throughout the next 12 months to make a big difference?

What do your goals look like in your day to day life? Where can you create time to work on your goals that you haven’t thought of before?

Set goals that DO, not goals that DON’T

Let me explain. As someone who has lived their life with restriction in ED, I don’t want hard rules anymore. I don’t want any don’ts. Instead, I want to fill my goals with Do’s.

Instead of ‘Don’t eat that this year,” I’m going to transform it into, “I do want to feel happier in my body this year.” To DO that, I’m going to DO positive affirmations each day. I’m going to read my Bible Study. I’m going to spend time in prayer about acceptance of my body.

I DO want to have a successful business.

I DO want to read my Bible daily.

What are your Do’s for this year? That mental shift of DON’T to DO will make your goals feel so much more positive in the long run!

Break your goals into smaller chunks.

When there is a BIG goal, like having a successful business, it needs to be broken down with more questions. What does a successful business look like to you? How do you get there and what steps do you need to implement throughout the year?

Then, schedule these smaller chunks or smaller goals! This is so important! We get so caught up in the idea of completing the big goals that we forget that it takes stepping stones to build towards those. Those stepping stones will only take us towards the goal if we lay them down.

Schedule these smaller steps throughout the year with the goal of reaching that smaller stepping stone every month or every other month. Realistically think about what is possible when setting these smaller step goals!

Give yourself grace.

Yes, you are going to make mistakes. That’s part of it. Mistakes are always part of the journey. But if you choose to beat yourself up over the mistake instead of giving yourself grace and accepting it, you will have a harder time finding the motivation to go towards your goal again.

When you make a mistake, you have to forgive yourself and then keep pushing forward with it. We are often our own worst critic. This year, choose to be your biggest cheerleader.

Do it.

For most people, this is the hardest part. They can make all the plans and have all the dreams, but they never follow through. Anxiety, fear, worry, and thoughts that they aren’t good enough stop them from living their dreams.

Don’t worry about what other people think this year. Do what you are called to do. Do what you want to do. Do that thing that is scarring you to death! Do that thing that you’ve wanted to do your whole life but haven’t had the courage to.

Just do it. And if people laugh? Oh well. If people don’t like it? Oh well.

Don’t let other people’s opinions keep you from your dreams. Do the things you want to do this year! Let 2021 be the year ‘You do you boo!”

Make this the year that excuses don’t ruin your goals. There are going to be times when you have to push through the voice in your head telling you that you aren’t good enough, or strong enough. You’ll have to push through the thoughts of other people judging you. But make YOUR happiness and your goals the priority, not other people’s opinions or your doubts.

I hope that these tips helped you! I hope that they help you set more positive goals this year instead of limiting goals. You were created with a wonderful purpose in this life. Creating goals and steps to get towards that purpose is powerful and necessary.

What is one of your positive goals for 2021?

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