At the end of each year, I reflect on the past year to help me plan for the year ahead. My reflections involve pretty much everything you can think of. How many activities did I share with family and friends? How many hours did I spend meditating? Did the “carb-free” diet actually help my health goals, or only frustrate the situation? As you can imagine, this reflection process takes hours over several days. Since the ordeal can seem overwhelming, I divide the reflection process into specific categories:
- Health and Fitness
- Personal Development
- Family and Friendships
- Career and Business
- Financial
Once I am aware of both my triumphs and challenges from the past year, I map out long-term goals and short-term action steps for the year to come. As an example: I run the Around the Crown 10k every year, and training begins now. I map out a fitness, running, and nutrition regimen between the start of the year and the day of the race – which is always Labor Day weekend. Do I end up following absolutely every parameter I put in place? Absolutely not. But I promise, I exercise much more often than I would have otherwise. The short-term action steps then lead me to my defined long-term goal: finish the race. Yes, there are those runners that want to place and win a medal. There are also runners that push strollers and carry weights for an extra challenge. My goal does not have to align with anyone else’s goal though. My goal? Simply survive across the finish line.
I don’t know exactly when I started this reflection practice, but I have always felt that creating goals, charting events on a calendar and creating task lists brought me comfort during times of uncertainty. A memorable stressful uncertainty is when I received my first student loan bill alongside my first law firm paycheck. Let’s just say the bill was a bit higher than my first paycheck. What did I do? I ended up with two new pairs of shoes and no payment toward the student loans. Wise? Definitely not. Satisfying? Yes. But WHY did I do this? Because I felt hopeless. I did not feel like I could even remotely set the long-term goal of paying off my student loans with the short-term action steps of making enough money to pay for the loans alongside my daily expenses. I had lost direction.
How did I regain direction? I sought help. I researched and called every office I could to figure out a solution. I discovered short-term solutions to make more reasonable payments based on my income and long-term solutions such as refinancing the loans and utilizing the low interest market. I also discussed options on how my income would increase over time with my boss. My question to every resource: What do I need to do now to get me there?
Regardless of the goal: Education is Empowerment.
Life happens. Stress happens. But do not let “life” and “stress” determine your future. There is no better time than the present to reflect and set goals. Manifest your future!
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Written By: Theresa E. Viera
P.S. I still have those shoes.
