Starting last year, I began to focus on the importance of aligning my goals with a larger vision of what I want my life to look like now, or in 5–10 years. Last year, I organized my goals around five vision statements about how I see my future self.
In this post, I’ll be sharing my 2019 goals. This year, however, I’m doing something a little different. I decided to align my goals with the six ways of cultivating Radical Self-Trust:
- Seeking self-knowledge
- Living core values with intention
- Nurturing your superpowers
- Practicing loving kindness toward yourself and others
- Playfully experimenting
- Settling into your life’s purpose
Organizing my goals this way was really interesting and I encourage you to try it. I ended up removing a lot of my tactical and task-oriented goals (write a book, increase business revenue, etc.) and that ultimately deepened my reflection on what will really matter this year.
Here are the RST strategies and related goals that I’ll be using to guide my life and work in 2019:
Seeking self-knowledge. (Engaging in deep reflection on my personality, core values, strengths, weaknesses, and life’s purpose.)
- Continue to write weekly essays for my email newsletter (also posted on The Academic Creative blog) and record podcast episodes that help me reflect on how my day-to-day experiences can be larger learning opportunities for myself and others
- Practice meditation more frequently as a way to notice thought patterns and to soften internal judgments
- Intentionally daydream about new possibilities and directions (both alone and with my partner)
- Read inspirational non-fiction that aligns with my values and intentions for the future
Living core values with intention. (The alignment of what I believe to be important with the actions that I take on a daily basis.)
I recently identified some of my core values as (1) creativity, (2) radical self-trust, (3) process, design & systems, and (4) documentation. Here are my goals related to those values:
- Nurture my creativity by carving out space for solitude, reflection, and experimentation with new modes of expression
- Actively reflect on how I’m practicing (and how I’m seeing others practice) radical self-trust in their lives and work through journaling and note-taking
- Continue to develop processes and systems for my side-business that improve efficiency and delight my clients
- Be generous in sharing the fruits of my creative efforts
Nurturing superpowers. (Purposefully investing in and honing my strengths so that they improve my life’s work and are noticeable to others.)
- Revise and niche my speaking offerings to better align with my strengths and my coaching practice (I started this over my winter retreat — you can see my new speaking page here)
- Reserve time for quarterly strategic planning sessions
- Schedule rest periods to keep from being depleted
- Be discerning about taking on new long-term projects (just because I can doesn’t mean I should)
Practicing loving-kindness toward myself and others. (Having consideration and affection for myself and those around me.)
- Take regular morning walks
- Schedule solitude at least one day per month
- Read a novel for pleasure at least twice per month
- Be a supportive presence for Prolific members (this is my online community for academic writers), my coaching clients, my co-workers, and for the authors in my book series
- Practice non-judgment of myself and others
- Express more gratitude in both verbal and written forms to people in my life
Playfully experimenting. (Taking calculated and creative risks in order to learn more about myself and the world around me.)
- Launch a new group coaching program around Radical Self-Trust
- Play with new content on social media (mostly Instagram and YouTube)
- Try some new artistic modes of expression without worrying about whether I’m doing it right
- Experiment with hosting virtual writing sprints and retreats and explore the possibility of facilitating in-person retreats
- Form a “reading group” with my partner and discuss books over dinner
Settling into my life’s purpose. (Making a commitment to contribute to the world through my particular constellation of strengths and abilities.)
- Log a minimum of 100 hours of coaching and work with a minimum of 6 new coaching clients each quarter
- Begin to develop and document the coaching tools and strategies I use when working with academics and higher education professionals
- Think about what I want to let go of (projects, attitudes, mindsets, etc.) to create space for my vision of the future
- Market the offerings of my business with intention and through offering genuine solutions to real problems
I’ve got a lot on my plate for 2019, but I’m so excited to see what the year will hold. I’d also love to hear about your 2019 plans! Let me know what you’re most looking forward to in the coming year and the things you’re planning to accomplish.
To think on:
- What are your strategies and goals for 2019?
- What alignment can you see between your goals and larger vision?