3 Mistakes to Avoid If You Want to Achieve Your Goals in 2022
I bet your feed is starting to blow up with people’s new year resolutions, fitness inspiration, and “new year, new me” reels for 2022. Although I get excited about cultivating better habits and goal-setting, I can also become overwhelmed by the endless possibilities this year has in store for me.
In the past, I would have a list of several goals for myself that were not well thought-out or practical, leaving me discouraged and ashamed of my progress in the following months.
Today, we're going to go over 3 things to avoid when making goals in 2022, and also advice on how to create goals you can actually achieve.
Firstly, we gain clarity on what to prioritize for the new year.
Secondly, we find intrinsic motivation to take massive action.
Lastly, we learn a few visualization methods to make our dreams a reality.
1. You’ve chosen too many goals
Being obsessed with personal development definitely has its perks but there are also challenges. Personally, I would set way too many goals for myself and become completely exhausted before seeing any progress in myself. After a few times of falling into this trap, I started understanding the difference between ambition and perfectionism…and I started going easier on myself.
The 21/90 rule
If you choose only one category, you start discovering which actions align best with your main goal. Also, you allow enough time to mold these actions into your lifestyle. When in doubt, follow the 21/90 rule in cultivating healthy habits. The rule states that it takes 21 days to break or build a habit, but around 90 days to make it your lifestyle.
n.b. you know what aligns best with you. So, if you feel comfortable adding another goal into your life without facing overwhelm, do it!
Pick one category
Choose a category in your life that is the most important for you to improve. Here are some examples:
Physical health (immune system, working out..)
Mental health (happy, anxious, sad..)
Relationships (friends, partners, family..)
Finances (budgeting, spending, income..)
Career/Job (satisfaction, income, growth..)
Spirituality (self-worth, reactivity, awareness..)
Fun (hobbies, travel, creativity..)
Clarity tool
If you're still unsure of which one to pick try this exercise.
Be dead honest with yourself and write a sentence or two about your current situation in each of these categories.
Now, write on a scale from 1-10 how satisfied you are with those answers.
Analyze your answers. Which number is the lowest? Which area affects your life the most? Choose that one for now.
Dream of who you want to be in that category, and figure out what actions to start taking by following the S.M.A.R.T acronym.
However, most fail to commit to their goals because...
2) You don’t have a strong enough “why”
Recently, my sister and I had a conversation about why we fail to take action on particular goals. We discovered that most of the time, it’s because of one simple reason: we don’t care enough.
The majority of social media content today, only creates inspiration to be healthier. But in order to create an actual transformation in your life, you need intrinsic motivation.
7 levels deep exercise
The best way to reach deeper reasons to transform is to perform the “7 levels deep exercise.”
Grab a pen and a piece of paper and write down your goal. (e.g., strengthening my immune system, being a happier person, accepting more love into my life, budgeting my money better, getting better grades in school, learning a new language, etc.)
Start by completing the following sentence:
“Achieving this goal is important to me because…”
Next, answer why the previous explanation is important to you. Continue asking this question until you’ve broken the cognitive understanding and reached emotional levels. This process takes roughly 7 times but if you're more sensitive like me, you may reach a deeper reasoning by the 3rd or 4th line.
By doing this exercise, you've created a greater mission to succeed than to fail. Unfortunately, this incentive will begin to fade if...
3. You’re not practicing visualization methods
Vision boards are not the only ways to motivate yourself when making goals for 2022. There are also various journal prompts, and meditation exercises to visualize your dreams. Visualizing your dreams includes imagining how your life would be if you achieved your goals. How would you feel? What do you see? What do you hear?
Visualization & your RAS
Visualization stimulates the reticular activating system (RAS) of your brain to focus on the pleasure of achieving your goal. Your RAS is not only involved when you journal, but it also when you meditate.
Mediation Example
Here is a link to one of the best priming meditations by Tony Robbins. This meditation enforces gratitude, and ends with visualizing your dreams to give you a little boost of motivation to make the most out of your day!
Journal Prompts
If you’re someone who’s more into journaling, here's a great prompt for extra motivation in the mornings.
Click the “save” button to your pinterest boards if you want to try it later :)
I hope this article helps enlighten you to start creating some goals today! Follow us on social media @thetwentiesdetox to connect with like-minded people and share your interests.
