How To Set and Achieve End of the Year Goals | November 2020 Goals

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5 Steps for Achieving End of the Year Goals

Step One: Set a reasonable number of goals

Stick to one goal, or maybe a few tasks. You don’t want to go overboard and overwhelm yourself with too many goals in a short time. If you’re having trouble narrowing it down, start by brainstorming. Get out a piece of paper and make a list of any goals you can think of that you might want to accomplish. Anything goes!

If you need help getting started, here are 10 ideas for personal development goals.

Once you have your list, go through it and settle on one or a few to focus on for the rest of the year. I’d recommend no more than three unless they’re smaller to-do list items. You probably have way more than three things on the list, so save it and use it as a starting point for New Year’s resolutions, if you’re into that sort of thing.

You also want to have a solid reason for why you want to achieve the goals you choose. Will it make your life easier or more organized? Will you learn something or improve your relationships in some way? Having a clear purpose will help you stay motivated.

I won’t bore you with my whole list, but let’s use my example. One of my main goals is to plan out as much of next year’s blog content and posts for Plants and Pondering as I can. Obviously, more ideas will come up, and I want to be flexible enough to add extra posts as I think of them. But overall, it will really help me stay on top of things to have a larger plan for the year. And as a Type-A organizing planner person, having a plan will make things much easier for me!

Step Two: Make the goals specific

If a goal is too broad, it’ll be harder to turn into actionable steps. How will you even know where to start?

Something like being healthier or saving money is probably too vague of a goal. That may be your intention or the end result, but goals should be more specific. If you just have a general idea, how are you going to do it, and how will you know if you’ve succeeded?

Instead of wanting to be healthier, you may set a goal to cook a certain number of meals at home every week. Or meal prep with healthy recipes, or work out every other day. Deciding to save $50 every week and creating a budget will be easier to execute than simply wanting to save money.

In my case, I need to be specific about what blog content I want to plan. I should decide on a certain number of post ideas, and organize them into a rough schedule. Maybe planning out three posts for each month would be a good place to start. Since I post weekly, that’ll help me have the majority of my content pre-planned, while still giving me the ability to add in extra posts throughout the year.

October Goal Reflections

Goal #1: Read two books

I finished three books this month, which is becoming the norm thanks to my audiobook subscription. Last month, I mentioned that I wanted to continue in the Chronicles of Narnia series, as well as reading Broke Millennial Takes On Investing by Erin Lowry (which we’ll get to in a minute).

The two Narnia books that I finished were The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis. I think that Dawn Treader is actually my favorite so far, which I was not expecting. It was such a lovely story of a great journey. It also explores the far eastern sea all the way to the edge of the world, which had some really interesting world-building. The Silver Chair was another fun adventure into the depths and the countries that exist underground. Who knew that there was a whole kingdom underneath Narnia? I sure didn’t! This also means I only have one book left: The Last Battle.

The final book that I read was A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green. This was the final part of his debut duology. I read the first book, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, last year, and I was instantly drawn into the story. It felt like so long waiting for the second book, so it was really satisfying that it concluded the way that it did. If you’re looking for very well-informed commentary about internet fame, social media, and a guess as to what would happen if an otherworldly being decided to visit, you have to check out this series!

Goal #2: Gratitude lists

My intention was to write down a gratitude list at least 4 times per week or 16 total lists for the month. My grand total was 15, so just shy of my goal, but still pretty good! I’m going to count that as a win since this month was a busy one.

I’m not including this as a goal for November, but I still plan to keep up the habit because it is so helpful for my mental health. As someone who tends to see the negative in everything, making gratitude habitual helps me to focus on the good. I want to remember all the ways that things are going right, instead of just what’s going wrong, which has been a lot of things this year.

I will still write this down as a to-do in my planner every day, and I will keep writing as often as I can. Gratitude lists are also an easy way to get into journaling. It gives you some direction so you’re not just staring at a blank page wondering what to write about.

Goal #3: Make an investment

I’m so happy to say that this is done! My order went through last night, and it feels great.

I planned to read Broke Millennial Takes On Investing this month as a way to educate myself before diving in. I’m not finished yet, but I’m about 80% of the way through. And I’ve already learned enough to feel somewhat confident in my first investment (besides my 401(k)). I really appreciate the way Erin stressed the importance of making sure you’re in a secure financial position before investing. She answers a lot of relevant questions that people in their 20s or 30s may have.

There’s a whole world of financial advice and content out there that I was totally unaware of until a few weeks ago. I’ve really been getting into personal finance and learning how to build wealth through investing. There’s always more to learn, but it seems like such empowering knowledge to have since most of us aren’t taught any of this in school.

One resource that I’m loving is the Clever Girls Know podcast. Bola Sokunbi runs the website Clever Girl Finance, which is full of amazing financial information and advice. The podcast is great because the guests are all women who have really taken control of their money and become successful no matter their circumstances. Such an inspiration!

Goal #4: Enjoy the fall season

It seems like fall has already come and gone! I know it hasn’t, but it’s getting pretty cold and most of the trees have lost their leaves for the year.

My boyfriend and I made our traditional apple pie and had a lovely time with it. We also decorated the apartment a bit, mostly with decorations from last year. We tried to look for new Halloween decorations, but by mid-October, a lot of stores had already gone full Christmas-mode. I’m definitely not complaining, but I know to start looking for fall stuff earlier next year.

I’ve tried to make an effort to really notice the leaves on the trees every time I go out so that I can see how they’ve changed. Some trees have already lost all of their leaves, but some are still hanging onto beautiful shades of orange and red. I so appreciate all of the colors.

Usually, I’m so eager to jump into winter and the whiteness of the snow, but there’s something so magical about the colors of fall that I feel like I’m really noticing for the first time. Maybe not the first time, but with a renewed sense of awe, I suppose. Nothing like a crazy pandemic to make you appreciate the little things.