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Are you ready to set goals for 2022 and put an end to 2021 just like I am? Learn why 2021 was full of great joys and pure awfulness and how together, we can make 2022 our best year yet!
If you are anything like me, I’ll bet you are so ready to put a hard stop to the year of 2021. I want nothing more than to bury this year – or at least the tail end of it. I’m more ready than I have ever been to jump into a new year with a fresh start and plan my goals for 2022.
How about you? Are you ready to join me in a new year, full of promise, excitement, and hope? It’s that time of year, when we turn the page from the prior year and move into a new year. This year, I’m tearfully closing the door on 2021 and timidly stepping into 2022 – which I’ll fully explain after I get a few more things out of the way.
WISH PLANNING A PARTY WAS A PIECE OF CAKE?
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Time To Set Goals for 2022
What about you? Are you ready to turn the page and jump into a new year? I’ll bet you are, because I know I am.
This was a year full of great highs and some tragic lows. Today I’m going to quickly share with you my new goals for 2022, as well as some of the lessons I learned in 2021, and also why this past year left me in tears.
Starting With The Good
Before I cry, because we all know that I cry a lot, and if you are new here, grab the tissues, because this momma is a big cry baby, but before I start welling up with tears, I wanted to quickly touch on what made this year so fantastic.
Wait, one more thing…fantastic – the word that is rolling through my head all the time. My kids want to throw something at me because I can’t seem to stop saying that word, and they claim I say it all funny, like I draw out the last part of it to sound like fantassssstic! I do love that word and somehow it’s become a staple this year, so let’s dive into what made this year pretty fantastic!
Still Wearing a Mask
But, wait, one more thought. Did you ever think when we started 2021 that we would still be dealing with this darn pandemic and our kids would still be wearing a mask to school, and that we would be required to wear a mask just to go out to dinner?
I never saw this whole pandemic lasting this long, or that eventually just about everyone would face Covid in some way, and that there was a high possibility that someone you knew might also die from Covid? But before I got off on a tangent, let’s get a quick snapshot of the year, at least through my eyes.
How 2021 Started
2021 started with remote learning for the kids, tons of snow in Colorado, and I began a new business coaching program to grow my business. Let me tell you, it’s changed my life! If your heart’s desire is to take that idea in your head and turn it into an online business, then send me a message via Facebook or Instagram and I can share more about the outstanding program I’m doing with Ruth Soukup as my mentor.
While this new business coaching program has changed my life and challenged me in ways I didn’t know were possible, I also spent a good portion of my year on the road – running. I managed to log 965.5 miles! While that might seem like a lot of miles, to me it says this year was full of a lot of stress – because that’s how I deal with my stress – I run it off.
4 Ways I Can Sum Up My Year
I looked back on my personal Facebook feed and found 4 big things that I can sum up my year: soccer, food bank, party planning, and running. Those four things are the things I posted about the most, and made up the majority of my year, that is until the last 3 months of the year.
As a parent I spent a ton of time on the soccer field watching my two youngest kids play in the cold, snow, rain, wind, or blazing hot sun. Then, I worked hard on my party planning business and I also ran a lot of miles.
I also spent a lot of my extra time volunteering at a local food bank and have met some of the most amazing people there! I often tell people that going to the foodbank gives me a glimpse of Heaven as it’s a wonderful melting pot of people and cultures and when we all get together and pray, I know God is right there in our presence because these people can pray in many different languages!
Why I Cried A Lot This Year
I cried so many tears this year. Tears of frustration over learning new stuff with my business and tears of stress over wanting my business to gain momentum even faster. Or tears over thinking that a product I created would be a home run only to find out it was a total flop, and tears of excitement when my products did sell! I also shed tears of joy when my daughter was offered a spot on her Elite soccer team, and tears of complete heartache when my dad died on December 18.
Why 2021 Left Me In Tears
My dad died. That’s why. Right at the end of the year. My dad is the most amazing testimony of who God is and he loved people deeply.
His memorial service was just a few days ago and it was full of hundreds of people who spoke of ways my dad had changed their lives – mostly because he introduced them to Jesus and literally saved their lives.
Cancer is AWFUL
At the age of 72, my dad was diagnosed with advanced stage 4 pancreatic cancer in mid September and he went home to Jesus on December 18. 3 months. He was a healthy guy, still worked, still dropped by my house all the time, came to soccer games and traveled all the time. It shocked all of us as it was so quick.
There was no warning at all and in fact, besides the last couple weeks, he felt great most of the time, which I’ll forever be thankful for.
I know God is good, that He has a plan, and that my dad impacted lives all over the world, but I feel very young to lose my dad. My kids miss him so much and because it’s still so fresh, I realize I don’t even begin to understand how much it will affect me. Right now, I just know I miss him.
WISH PLANNING A PARTY WAS A PIECE OF CAKE?
Covid Snuck Up On Us
As if losing my dad wasn’t enough, exactly 2 weeks later, right before midnight on New Year’s Eve, my amazing father-in-law went home to be with Jesus after a brief fight with Covid.
Again, another total shock to our family, as he was also a very healthy guy with no underlying health problems. Both of our dads, gone, within 2 weeks of each other. How is that even possible?
Grief Is Tricky
Hence why I left 2021 in a puddle of tears and have jumped into 2022 with my rain boots on. Grief is tricky, it sneaks up on you, and I know I’m still in the shock phase as I don’t fully feel the depth of what has occurred.
We also lost my husband’s uncle to Covid in June and then my husband’s other uncle just 2 weeks before his father – again to Covid. It’s been a hard year, but I suspect that you might also feel like I do – has this year been kind to you?
Life Still Goes On
Don’t you hate it when people tell you that life still goes on? That no matter what happens, or how much it hurts, that you still have to figure out how to pick yourself back up and keep moving forward? Yuck!
Shocker, it’s true. Darn! You do have to move on and keep going. Life is still happening all around you and no matter how much I wish life would stop and just cry with me, it doesn’t. Life just keeps marching on and it’s up to me to participate when I’m ready.
God is Good
If your year was just as rocky, emotional, hard, or as sad as mine, just know I understand. It’s ok to cry. It’s also ok to sit and do nothing for a while. I’m behind in getting this post out there because I took 2 weeks off of life. I’ll probably need to take more time off soon.
I work when my brain isn’t hurting. I write when I need to talk to God, and I cry and cry and cry, and then I go run.
Even though life is unfair and confusing and even though God doesn’t always make sense, I can keep moving because I know God is good. I know He has a plan and I can trust that even if it’s not what my plan would’ve been, He is in control.
He knows best and He’s holding me in His hands. Thankfully, I don’t have to understand what He’s up to – I’m content to know that He’s got me.
Looking Back
A big part of setting goals is making sure you look back and evaluate how you did the year before, as well as be honest about where you are at.
I crushed my running goal by running 965.5 miles, and I not only lost 25lbs – I actually lost 30lbs over the course of the year. Talk about feeling amazing! I have finally found my secret to losing weight that works for me – Intermittent Fasting and I love it sooo much! I also did run or workout 5 times a week all year long.
In my business, I did so much more than I even thought was possible and ended the year with a bang of selling a lot more of my first ascension product than I have ever sold of anything else!
We did buy our 2nd income property and with all that happened with Covid, being a landlord wasn’t the most financially beneficial thing this year. It’s been an adventure for sure, but that is for another post someday.
You can read my goals from last year, 2021 here.
My Goals for 2022
Here are my goals for 2022:
- Run 1000 miles with my dog.
- Lose 10 more pounds and keep it off.
- Run or workout 5 times a week.
- Build out my product funnel.
- Keep my priorities straight – God first, family second, house third, and business fourth.
- Get up at 5am Monday – Friday to work before kids are up.
- Business Phrase For The Year: Keep It Simple.
- Personal Phrase For The Year: Be Open To What God Is Doing.
How To Set Goals
Wondering how to set goals for yourself? My best advice is to keep is simple. You don’t have to make a super complicated list of goals and then feel totally overwhelmed before you even attempt to reach them. You’ll see that I don’t have very many goals on my list, but that they are overarching goals for the year.
WISH PLANNING A PARTY WAS A PIECE OF CAKE?
I also set a lot of short-term goals for myself – weekly, quarterly and I always have a never-ending daily to-do list. But as far as my long-term yearly goals for 2022, the 8 goals listed above pretty much do it for me.
If you think planning your goals is a lesson in futility, well, just know I understand. I was that person who would never set goals because I didn’t want to fail at them. Then I learned that if you aim at nothing, you’ll reach it every time – which is a scary reality to live in.
If you are wondering where to get started when trying to set goals, check out the list below.
How To Set Goals:
- Make A List: Write your goals down on paper.
- Achievable Goals: List goals that are achievable, but out of reach enough that you have to change in order to reach them.
- Short List: Make a short list of goals – 10 or less. Less than that, you are not being serious, more than that and you are trying to do too much.
- Modify: Revisit your goals list every 4 months. Reassess, update, and change them if you need to.
- Visible: Keep your goals list visible all year long. Hang them on your fridge so you can keep them in the forefront of your mind all the time.
- Give Grace: Give yourself a lot of grace when you mess up. Progress over perfection is the key.
Now, it’s your turn! What are your goals for 2022? I’d love to know what they are – comment below with your list or send me an email! I’m cheering for you!
Want to remember this post? Pin this post, My Goals for 2022 & Why 2021 Left Me In Tears, to your favorite Pinterest board right now!
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