In the last couple years I’ve become so enamored with goals. I always seem to find a little bit of motivation to accomplish something or other, even when I feel like I am not motivated at all.
Since starting the 12 Changes project in January, I’ve slowly begun to lose my motivation for it. January was a fantastically amazing month, but since then? I’ve been going downhill. And it’s only MONTH THREE.
I still love goals; I love what they are about, I love accomplishing them, and I think setting them up for myself- whether they are all accomplished on time or not- is still a great way to do things that get me out of my comfort zone.
March was supposed to be the month of budgeting. The idea behind March was that I would read about how to be debt free and then live said debt free lifestyle. Things did not quite work out that way. I got as far as buying the book on not buying things anymore, and it has sat on my bookshelf ever since.
Honestly? I’m not too upset about it. Some months I’m really disappointed in myself for not trying harder, but this just isn’t one of them. I haven’t been a big fan of March (have I mentioned that enough around here yet?) and I had a funny feeling going into it that it wouldn’t be a great month for goals.
I’ve learned something important through this, though (don’t I always?). As much as I’d like to be a person who can GO GO GO and be 100% motivated and ready to accomplish things every waking moment, that’s just NOT me. I wish it was, but turns out I’m human. I need a break to just BE. School and work can be stressful enough sometimes, I don’t need the extra added pressure of doing things that just don’t fit into my schedule.
March was my break month. It was a break from ALL my goals. I’ve tried to keep up my January and February themes as I go along, but I let myself cheat these last few weeks. Not to mention I was sick for LITERALLY HALF THE MONTH.
All in all, I’ve decided April is going to be a time to start-over. It’s always tough when you let go of something (almost) completely because it seems even more difficult to get back in the game. I’m pretty confident that if I just use my time carefully, I’ll be able to have a good month of April.
Hopefully this weekend in the midst of all my Hunger Games event-planning and actual event-having I’ll be able to sit down for a couple hours and decide where I want to go from here. I don’t want to continue uselessly writing about a set of goals that I won’t even bother accomplishing, so I want to see if there’s something that will get me interested in goal-setting again, because I do really love it. And writing about it, of course.
Here’s to hoping that Monday morning I’ll have a post ready with new ideas!
Have a fantastic weekend!
Press Play. 
Sometimes, NO GOALS can be motivation in themselves. A way to take it easy and slow down. Goals are great and awesome and motivating, but they can also be our downfall. Sometimes, I judge how good my month was by how well I did with my goals but sometimes? We can have an entirely great month without achieving goals we thought we wanted earlier on.
So, maybe take this month as a month to recoup and readjust from a crazy March. To get back on track and figure out just where you want to take this year.
❤
I need a month somewhere that I ACTUALLY don’t set goals. Because I still had the original ones I’d set up for myself in the back of my mind, which kinda sucked. But I needed to just NOT accomplish things. It was a big necessity for me.
I like your idea though, and it goes a lot with what I was thinking. You’ll see at some point this week. 🙂
This is exactly why I didn’t sign up for 12 changes. I knew that 30 days of tackling ONE small habit is about right but I knew I’d need an occasional mental break after doing something for 30 days straight. (I’ve done 3-4 30 day challenges successfully in 2011 and always welcomed the following month to breathe.)
Part of me knew that I’d have trouble with 12 Changes, but that’s also the part of me that was like ‘challenge accepted’ haha. Everything comes with it’s bumps in the road, so we’ll see what I decide to do from here. Definitely needed some breathing time though.
Can I just tell you that half of your posts leave me feeling inspired and motivated? This one’s no exception because yes, sometimes it’s okay to just BE! 🙂
I guess sometimes we forget that we can’t do ALL THE THINGS every minute of the day. Sometimes, we just need to take a step back and say “it’s ok, if I don’t get this done today – tomorrow is another day”.
Goals are great, but obsessing about them and not acknowledging what we need at any given moment, will not help us to achieve them faster, in fact, it will slow us down. So it’s ok that you took a break and start over with renewed energy 🙂
Melissa the key is balance. the balance of setting goals and being spontaneous. the balance of planning and doing. the key is balance.
can i suggest a goal for april? keep an achievement journal daily for one month. every day before bed you must list 3 things you have achieved that day. they could be related to school, work, reading, blogging, fitness, bucket lists, goal setting….seriously anything you want. at the end of the month you can look back and see actually you have achieved a hell of a lot!
I think we all need breaks to just be… it’s tough to go go go go go go go. At least for me. I will burn out and break and it’s ugly… I’m getting close to my breaking point lately, but am doing ok because I can see the finish line (june 2nd) in sight… 2 more months.. I can do this. And then i am giving myself the month of June to just do whatever the heck I please and not have a stupid schedule for nearly every hour of my day! Ahh!
Good luck in April! 🙂
I wish you all the luck in the world in April my friend! Glad you had a good “break month.” 🙂
Minus being sick of course! 🙂