Focus on Short-Term Goals to Dominate 2022
Ignore the big picture to make the most of the new year
This year brought much of the same as last year.
Covid-19 dominated headlines, day-to-day life, and thoughts. It had a say in everything we did from school to work to family reunions.
Nearly two full years later and a full eradication of the virus seems far-fetched.
My hope, similar to that of others, is that 2022 will be memorable for something other than a global pandemic. I’m going to make 2022 my best year yet by focusing on short-term goals.
Unfortunately, what you or I want in our hearts will have little influence on what the virus does in reality. To get around this, we can be intentional about the way we design our own, personal moments and milestones.
Spending some time to make a daily game plan and schedule out smaller goals can lead to a manageable and productive year.
There will always be unavoidable events and unpredictable tides, but some extra planning ahead of time can help quell at least some worries — even during a pandemic.
Rather than planning out by weeks or months, I instead focus on a daily schedule.
Scheduling what time I wake up and when I go to bed. What time I exercise, read and write — I account for everything down to a per-minute basis, and this allows more freedom in the long-run.
I schedule these things, specifically, on a day-to-day basis because they are key goals for me that overflow into the rest of my life. When my physical and mental fitness are in balance, my work, leisure, and relationships follow suit.
Planning out the minutia allows for me to, in a sense, let the bigger things take care of themselves.
I know that, personally, as long as I take care of each day, then the weeks and months will flow equally as successfully.
This type of day-to-day focus — rather than big picture planning — is what has allowed me to read, exercise, and write consistently over a span of many years.
These basic, simple habits have provided the anchor to my success in my personal and professional pursuits.
What’s more, by planning out daily goals, you can garner positive reinforcement each day by the time you go to sleep. Grander goals take much longer to fully realize, and short, daily goals can be met more easily.
By focusing on small habits each day, “interest” can compound over time.
If you aim to get 1% better each day for one full year, for example, you’ll end up 37 times(!) better by the end of one year’s time.
For different reasons but the same philosophy, even the Bible echoes a similar sentiment: “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
As I wrote on the final day of the year in 2020: “Happy new year. Think about how much you’ve endured on accident, and let it remind you how much further you can go on purpose. Take stock. Lock in. Remember how tough you really are. Here’s to something better. Here’s to moving up.”
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My bestselling travel memoir is now available on Amazon, and my first collection of short stories is forthcoming in 2022.
