Goals

October 9, 2015 by Raegan White

Lately slang terms have been making me rethink the way that we speak. We have strange expressions like “or nah” and “totes mcgoats”. This language became popular by things like Vine, a celebrity, or a viral video. One particular expression that I like to use and find quite complimenting is the term “goals”. By labeling something as your personal “goals” you are saying that you want that in your life. My parents have been married and are best friends for 25, going on 26 years, and I have and will always say that their relationship is “goals”. Thinking about this, it occurred to me that even though we use this term in everyday life, we might not actually set goals for ourselves that aren’t comparing everything we do to someone who has it better. Although it is fun to pay people compliments by saying, “your hair is goals” and “their relationship is goals”, it is not always healthy for us to constantly find things that other people do better. We need to learn to appreciate what we have and can accomplish, and actually set goals for ourselves, and not search for “goals” in others.

I have decided to take action, and share with you some of the goals I have created for myself. I wanted these goals to be real, challenging, and achievable. By following some goal setting guidelines from other bloggers, which I have linked below, I have created the following goals.

Work hard in my relationship with the Lord, by spending time in prayer, in his word, or speaking with my spiritual mentor at least twice a week.

With all the chaos of seventeen credits and three jobs, I like to spend what little free time I have with friends and relaxing. I have been choosing earthly things that I think are valuable, and have been sacrificing my relationship with God. I am going to put more of an effort into making a substantial amount of time available to spend with my heavenly father by praying, being in his word, and speaking with my spiritual mentors at least twice a week. I think that this is important for many reasons such as keeping me healthy and grounded in appropriate things, and helping me to keep Christ at the center of my life and to not drift through the week without purpose.

Quit speaking “negative self talk”.

In my Interpersonal Communications course, Doyle was lecturing on how we overuse negative self-talk in our lives, and how we use it. When hearing all of the patterns it was easy to come up with examples of how I have heard others commit these patterns in everyday life, but it was vital that I examine myself as well. I began to notice these patterns in myself throughout the week after Doyle’s lecture, and knew immediately that it was something I needed to correct immediately. Doyle, and all communication specialists and psychologists will agree, that it is not healthy and it an important thing to fix to become a successful communicator. My goal is to notice these patterns and correct myself, in order to discount negative self-talk about others and myself. Although this goal will be hard to measure, I hope and believe that I will be able to feel myself become more positive and that I will be able to be more uplifting to others, and myself.

Start being kinder to others by limiting sarcasm and uplifting every person I come into contact with.

This may be closely related to negative self talk, but lately I have felt myself tearing others down and not being the person that I want to be. I can always recognize what I am doing, but cannot always control the next line of sarcasm on its way out of my mouth. I want to be the person that everyone feels safe around and can provide comfort to those in need, and I need to begin to work my way their by shaping my language and actions towards others with kindness. This is yet another goal that is hard to be measured any other way than surveying my friends and how they have seen changes in me.

These are three personal goals I have created for myself, and by telling you all these things I hope that you will positively influence my journey to complete these goals. By setting these goals, I will remind myself constantly of the person I am striving to become and where I started. Go out and set goals for yourself so you too, can begin to work towards your achievements.

Although the term “goals” is cute, and can often be funny in context, it can begin to damage us by throwing us into this comparative world where one is never good enough. Set the goals for yourself that will make you a better person and a healthier person because by achieving these things you are learning to love yourself as well.

Michael Hyatt: http://michaelhyatt.com/goal-setting.html

Just a Girl and Her Blog: http://justagirlandherblog.com/how-to-set-goals-that-youll-actually-accomplish-free-printable-goal-worksheet/