A new year brings about a new beginning and a fresh start. The old is forgotten and we look into this new year with hope and expectation. Many of us set resolutions and goals, while others continue on without them. As a single mom, I believe its really important to set big goals for your self so that you can push yourself to be the best version of yourself for you and your kids.
I have always been the one to make goals in January only to abandon them in March because I got distracted, it got harder, or I failed in some area. And I think that’s why most people don’t set goals or resolutions for the year. They know that they won’t be able to accomplish those goals based on their past so they think “why bother? I’m not going to stick to them anyway”. But that is the wrong way of thinking. You have to set goals because they are key if you want to succeed and you want a better life for yourself and your kids.
Goals allow you to envision a life better than the one you’re currently living. They force you to think of more and better for yourself. That’s why I believe they are important.
Just because you’re a single mom doesn’t mean you can’t have goals and ambitions. I encourage you to create goals that will allow you to be the best version of yourself this year! This is your year to go for the things you’ve always wanted; to be the best you yet!
The goals you set have to be SMART goals. This means that they are reasonable and achievable to you. They may seem impossible or too easy to someone else, but they have to be achievable for you. You also have to understand that just because you set goals and make a pretty vision board, doesn’t mean that you now can sit and relax.
Your goals should propel you to act. they should be the match that ignites you and gets you out of bed every morning. Set goals that take you outside your comfort zone and allow you to develop in ways you never thought possible.
"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful."- Eric Thomas Click To TweetHere are some goals you should set and questions you should ask yourself when setting those goals:
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Set Big Goals In These Areas
Personal Development
What are some of your personal goals for this year? What do you hope to accomplish in terms of your personal development? Do you want to read more? Attend more conferences? Implement new schedules and routines that will allow you to be more productive? How will you change your thinking for this year to be more positive?
Set personal goals that will allow you to develop different skills or be more productive so as to accomplish more.
If reading is on your goals list for this year, take a look at this list of books and podcasts you can read and listen to.
Health & Fitness
Your health is so important! Especially now that you have kids depending on you. It’s important to prioritize this area of your life. What are your health goals for this year? How much extra weight will you lose? How will you improve your fitness so you can keep up with your kids as they grow? Find a way to get your exercise in without breaking the bank. I listed some ways in my article on prioritizing self-care this year so be sure to check that out.
Spiritual
Do you aspire to have a better relationship with God? Do you hope to develop your spiritual gifts? Dig deeper into the word or just get closer to God? Set goals to improve this area. One of my biggest struggles is my spiritual walk and I want to make that a focus this year by ensuring that I have diving into the word and putting God first.
Financial
How are your finances going to change this year? How much debt will you clear? How much will you save? Are you looking to buy a new home? Car? Vacation?
One of the main sources of stress as a single mom is money. Hence learning to manage your money will allow you to provide the kind of life you envision for yourself and your kids.
Career
How will you improve your career this year? Is this the year you finally take the leap of faith and leave your job to pursue your entrepreneurial ambitions? Is this the year you take your skills to the next level? Is this the year you attend that conference you’ve been wanting to go to? How will you network with other professionals this year?
Set career goals that will allow you to propel yourself and increase your earnings. If you have no desire to stay in a 9-5, look for ways you can invest in yourself more so you can leave your 9-5 and begin your entrepreneurial journey.
Family
How do you want your family to be? What kind of kids do you want to raise? How will you nurture your relationship with your ex to make it the best that it can be for the sake of your kids? What kind of mom do you aspire to be?
My Vision Board for 2020
This is my first year actually creating a vision board and it took me a while to do this. I’m a perfectionist so I like things to be a certain way which leads to procrastination (another area in need of improvement). I also have a tendency to overthink things and it all gets complicated after that haha!
Did you create a vision board for this year? Why or why not? I have always been afraid of putting my goals out there because I am always afraid that if I don’t accomplish them, it would be devastating. But this year, I want to go all out so I decided to finally put my goals, hopes, and ambitions on paper so as to challenge myself to go for it this year.
It's all or nothing in 2020! Click To TweetSo here we go.
I ended up creating a digital vision board with images from Pinterest and all over the internet. I found this to be more doable than gathering magazines and trying to put something together. I also found that the online vision board was easier to put together because I could move pieces together on canva; deleting and adding as the board progressed.
What’s On My Vision Board
This is my first full year as a single mom and I am going into it knowing all the challenges that accompany my situation. In life, you cannot anticipate everything, all that you can do is prepare, work hard, and control what you can.
Personal Development
Reading: This year I plan on reading 10 physical books. I specify this to physical because I listen to audiobooks every day so my main goal is to sit down with a book or two each month. Because I have kids, I know that I have to create time to read so I plan on implementing a morning routine that will allow me to read for 10 – 20 minutes every day.
Networking: I want to form new connections with other moms. I also want to network with other bloggers and YouTubers. I will be seeking opportunities to increase this area of my life.
Routines: I want to create a morning and evening routine that I can be consistent with which will allow me to get a decent amount of sleep and still accomplish all the goals I have set. I believe that having routines is important and vital in being productive during the day.
Growth: I have a picture of plants growing because I want to grow and develop in different areas of my life. I want to increase my skills and develop certain areas of my character that are loose. I want to put myself in environments that nurture me and allow me to grow.
Health and Fitness
Fitness: I gained a lot of weight during pregnancy and have not been able to take it off. This year I plan on losing a few pounds. I don’t like to go by a certain number of pounds because I am focusing more on how I feel, look, and perform. The biggest thing for me is to be fit enough to keep up with my boys as they grow! It’s already a struggle now so I’ll need some more muscles to keep going haha!
I plan on working out at least 3x a week. Before pregnancy, I was a gym fanatic and would go every day but with the recent changes, I can’t go every day so I want to commit to a number I can meet. I have wanted to do CrossFit for quite some time so I want to start that this year as well.
Healthy Eating: I love meal prepping so I plan to continue and I need to be more strict on myself with the foods I take in because I have been lenient a few times which has resulted in a lack of progress in my goals.
Spiritual
I want to develop my relationship with God so I plan on spending time each day in the word and making this a priority. I want to get through the bible in a year so I will be doing some devotionals and joining groups centered around this.
Financial
Debt Free: On my board, I have a debt-free picture because that is my aim for this year. I want to clear all debt and start living debt-free. I love Dave Ramsey and have read his book Total Money Makeover numerous times but I keep going back to my bad habits.
Money: This year I want to hone in on the psychological reasons behind my current financial situation and really work to resolve those issues so I can tackle my debt and not repeat the bad habits.
Budgeting: Budgeting is huge on my priorities! I want to keep track of my spending so I can make sure not to overspend.
Saving: In addition to eliminating my debt, I also want to save for emergencies. My goal is to save at least 6 months of expenses and extra! To accomplish this I will have to make more and pay off my debt first.
Career
Career: My main goal for this year is to stop working a 9-5 and to go full time on my entrepreneurial pursuits. I stared YouTube last year in July and hope to start monetizing it by mid-February of this year. Youtube is slow at first so I am not anticipating major financial gains in the beginning. I also have this blogging website that I hope to turn into an income source. While those two are brewing, I will be doing Virtual Assistant so I can quit my 9-5.
YouTube: I want to increase my subscribers to 10,000 for this year. I will do this by posting more consistently and posting content that is relevant to my viewers. I am also working on improving my editing skills and my ability to create better thumbnails and titles.
Blog: As it pertains to my blog, my goal is to increase the page views by posting more content and promoting it to as many platforms as possible.
Family
This is my first full year as a mom–a single mom at that. I had expectations of this journey going into it but it didn’t go as planned, needless to say, the last year was challenging.
This year I want to focus on being the best mom I can for my boys. I want to be more present, less on social media and work. As they grow, I want to be there for them in any way they may need me so that is why it is important for me to eliminate my debt and get my finances in order.
Miscellaneous
Travel: I have wanted to go to California for quite some time but have never brought it yo pass but I plan on doing so this year!
Self-care: I want to really focus on self-care this year. I want to take the time each week to work on myself and prioritize pamper sessions.
Fashion: I have a bunch of outfit ideas on my Pinterest account because this year I want to look my best! The last few years were spent in leggings and clothes that did not make me look my best because I was not concerned with my appearance. I was still getting used to this mom life so I didn’t pay too much attention to myself. This year I am changing that and I am excited about dressing my body the right clothes that accentuate my body and make me look good.
There you have it, my full list of goals for this year! I would love to know what your goals are, share them in the comments!
Just because your situation is not what you expected it to be, finding yourself a single mom, doesn’t mean that you can’t be ambitious. Your situation should not define your life, still aim to attain goals that may seem impossible. It may be hard and tiring, you may lose sleep, but it is not impossible! Go after it with all you’ve got!
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