Making Progress in 2021

Yes, I know it’s cliché to make a post about goals just because the clock strikes 12:00AM on a new year. Since 2020 was such a weird year, I think even more people have their mind set on change in 2021.

However, nothing changes if we don’t change as individuals. There is only so much we can control in the outside world. None of us can truly control a pandemic, restrictions, the economic state of the country, what other people do, etc.

With that being said, we can control how we react. We can control our actions.

I am SO grateful that my loved ones and I have generally remained healthy, had income, and made it through the year all things considered. I’ll be honest though, the last few days of my 2020 were stressful, painful, and disheartening to say the least. I’m not going to waste my time focusing on that though because I need to persevere.

I deserve to be happy. I deserve success. I deserve love.

The past is absolutely irrelevant and I am manifesting new realities.

So here I am.

For the past few weeks I have been jotting down my goals in the notes app on my phone. Some of these goals are things I have worked on before, but perhaps got off track over time. I have divided my goals up into categories.

Mind

-Social media limit of 1.5 hours/day
About a month ago, I put a 2.5 hour limit for Instagram and Facebook total. I realized a lot of my idle time was wasted on social media just scrolling or comparing my life to others. However, I decided to cut it down an hour to really limit that. I do share and network quite a bit of animal related posts, so I do still want to access social media. I just do not want to feed into a really bad habit that many of us have which is wasting time doing something that doesn’t serve us. It’s better to live in the present instead of wasting time aimlessly scrolling.
If you have an iPhone, you can adjust your app limits within the Screen Time section of Settings. My phone alerts me when I have 5 minutes left. Then it dims and locks the app once time is up until the next day.

-Read at least 10 books
I truly do enjoy reading. I have SO many good books sitting on my bookshelf that I want to read. Lately though, I have been a little lazy when it comes to reading. This kind of goes back to social media. Instead of sitting outside with the dogs on my phone, I want to read even if it’s just for 15 minutes. Most of the books I am going to read are self-improvement and mindset books, but I do plan to read some fiction books too. I do plan on writing a blog post reviewing the books I read too.

-Daily gratitude
Gratitude is one of the most important concepts I focus on daily. Even if it’s the smallest things like a safe car, hot showers, my dogs, my health…I always acknowledge things I’m grateful for in life. This helps keep me humble and grounded. Even in the worst of times there is something to be grateful for and that’s what keeps me going. We often take those little things for granted, so having a grateful heart brings such a different perspective.

I have generally been good about writing my gratitude statements, but again sometimes I get lazy and just think about them. So, I am going to write out at least 3 things I am grateful for each day. I actually got a cute gratitude journal to use as well.

-Daily scripting/affirmations
If you know me, you know I absolutely believe in the power of manifesting. Ever since I learned about the law of attraction and manifesting, I’ve had an interest in it. Recently though, I have really delved into it. I started a scripting journal last year where I act “as if”. Affirmations go along with scripting. Really it’s just about giving yourself a pep talk. If you keep putting these thoughts into your mind they start to become your reality. I have realized that I need to work on self-concept. Usually, I don’t feel very confident except in some areas of life. I intend to feel a sense of confidence in regard to my whole self.
I already have a post about manifesting, but I do plan to write another post with my new discoveries related to it.

-Daily meditating/visualization
This is closely related to scripting and affirmations. Meditating has not been something I have done much of in the past. My mind travels about 100 mph, so meditating can be tricky for me as I think about too much. I have found that guided meditations do help though. So I have found some good YouTube videos that I listen to that put me in a peaceful state. It really helps to listen to as I go to bed because it starts to stick with the subconscious.

Visualization is just picturing life the way you want it. It’s coming up with desirable scenarios that almost activate your 5 senses. Again, the goal of this is to make you feel like you already have those scenarios in your life which in the end opens up more opportunities to bring it to reality.

Health + Fitness

-Best shape of my life
Ok, yes I know this is somewhat hard to measure since I’m not saying a specific number. I could say an ideal weight, but I don’t really like that idea. First of all, I don’t own a scale and I have no idea what I weigh. My guess is anywhere between 105-115 lbs. A few months back when I went to the doctor they said I was 115lbs which I was upset about. However, I can tell I lost a few pounds lately.

I don’t want to say a certain number because if I’m 115 lbs, but I am muscle and lean then that’s good with me. So really it’s just going to be something I can visually determine. I think in 2016 was when I was last at my peak body while I was doing the Katy Hearn fitness challenge, so I’d like to top that.
A big part of it for me is going to be eating. I workout pretty consistently, but I know I can eat unhealthy at times which catches up to me.

In regard to working out, I would like to push myself more to do harder workouts. I have already started workout splits to target specific muscle groups along with adding HIIT/cardio to fat burn.

-Floss teeth daily
I did so well with this in 2019. I flossed pretty much everyday. It almost became a competition with myself to not break the flossing streak. For some reason, I just stopped which obviously isn’t good. So, I am going to floss daily on top of my regular teeth cleaning routine.

-Sugar track for January & February
The end of each year is filled with opportunities to indulge in over eating and unhealthy foods. There’s my birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Thankfully, there is nothing major for me for the first two months of the years. So I figured it’d be a great time to do another sugar tracking journey. A few years ago I did this and wrote a post about it.
If you know me, you know I love sweets, so it can be challenging. Too much added sugar is so bad for us and I know that I’m not meeting my physical goals primarily because of diet. Most people do not realize how much added sugar they consume in sodas, juice, snacks, etc.

The last time I did this, I tried to stay under 25g of added sugar per day. I did not count natural sugars in fruits. This time around, I just have a weekly goal. So I’m looking at less than 175g of sugar per week. The hard part is tracking the items in a journal accurately. It does sometimes require a bit of extra work to figure it out for items that are not pre-packaged with a nutritional label. Thankfully you can calculate ingredients with online resources.

-Run 6 miles in under 1 hour
I have had this goal for maybe 2 years now. Honestly, I just haven’t pushed myself with running enough. By the time I decide to start running I’ll be consistent and then I’ll make excuses or just not feel motivated to run anymore. Ideally, I’d like to accomplish this in Spring/early Summer as running in the cold is way too painful for me. I know I can do it, it’s just a matter of committing.

-Run a 10k race
This is obviously related to the last goal, but I want to actually run a 10k race. I have done quite a few 5k races, but never more than that. Ideally, I would hit my 6 miles in under 1 hour goal and then run a 10k.

Career + Money

-Etsy shop
Just a few days ago, I listed and sold my first item on Etsy. I plan on using my Cricut to make shirts, signs, and decals to sell. I’d love to have a bit of side income for doing something that I enjoy such as being creative and crafty.

-Blog
Over the past few years, I took a hiatus from my blog. I just sort of lost the creativity. I do want to be more consistent with my blog so I can start earning side income from that as well.

Actually I bought another blog last year that I will be sharing soon as I have to work on getting it running. That blog will have a focus on animal rescue. My goal is to write at least 2 blog posts per month for this site (Lokal Lifestyle) and 4 posts per month for the other blog. I have already started to write out ideas for both blogs so that I will have enough quality content to post.

-Net $100k+
There may be some changes in my journey to get to that point this year. I am not going to go into details because those are not fine tuned just yet. No matter what I’m doing or how many outlets it takes, I am going to net $100k+. I know I’m capable and deserving of earning that. I just have to go after it.

Fun + Social (safely)

-1 Social outing or get together per month
This was my goal last year too. I was doing pretty good for the first few months until COVID hit and it kind of allowed me to stick to my hermit ways. I’m generally fine with being that way, but obviously socialization is important. Plus, I do enjoy quality time and conversations with people I like to be around. So, I would like to get back to this, but of course in a safe, low-key manner. This could be with friends or family.

-Mountain trip
I really wanted to take a trip to the mountains last year during Fall even if it was just to Dahlonega or somewhere else in North Georgia. Unfortunately that never happened. I know it’s a super simple, non-extravagant trip, but it’s such a blissful feeling to me when I go to the mountains.

-Beach trip
Additionally, I’d also like to go to the beach. I don’t even care if it’s somewhere simple, like PCB, Florida. I just want to enjoy the beach as I haven’t been in a while. It’s just relaxing and fun.

I do have a few other things that I don’t want to go into a bunch of detail about or they are pretty straight forward such as:

-paying off some debt
-investing
-donating to rescues
-getting my dogs a dental cleaning/exam
-possibly taking sign language classes (That’s contingent on a few things. I’m not set on committing to it just yet and it’s not a big deal if I don’t get to it this year.)

For now, that’s where I stand when it comes to 2021 goals. I look forward to hitting these accomplishments because it is a great feeling to meet or even exceed your goals.
I hope 2021 is a better year for everyone. Cheers!