Goal planning in 2020
How to pivot your plans in the middle of a pandemic.
I started the year using the Cultivate What Matters PowerSheets. I loved them. I felt like the prep work, and monthly prompts were great, and I was making a lot of progress on my goals in January, February, and March. Then our state went into lockdown due to coronavirus. The kids came home from the sitter and school… the new puppy had been home for ten days. Then my husband was laid off, and one of my freelance clients went through a reorganization. My beautifully laid plans blew up in my face. 2020 has been similar, or worse for so many. Sometime in April, I threw my PowerSheets away. I have always been a paper planner girl and a goal setter. Yet, somehow my usual things just weren’t working for me this year. Facing a global pandemic and not knowing what would be happening in a day, a week, a month, or even a year made me feel like I couldn’t make plans.
Here we are in July, halfway through the year, and a lot of what I have accomplished is not what was on my goals. I finally sat down in June and set up a Trello board for some targets. I kept them simple, with some weekly, monthly, and quarterly ideas noted. Only one thing is listed for next year so far – a family vacation. I desperately hope we can take one! If you are struggling as well, here are some things to help you with managing goals during a pandemic.
Revisit any previously established goals. Whatever you thought you would do in January is likely not going to happen now. You don’t have to throw them all out like I did, but do revisit them and see what still makes sense. Keep what makes sense, but let the rest go without guilt.
Develop NEW goals – based on where we are now. Things are vastly different. Maybe you just need a weekly goal to decide if you are doing in-person, virtual, or homeschooling for the year. Or perhaps you need a goal to have a little time to yourself once a week. If you are like me, you need a goal to get enough water daily and move your body. Many of my goals have fallen back to the basics of caring for myself and my people the best I can during this time. It’s ok if your goals seem small. Baby steps and self-care are the only things getting us through over here.
It’s ok to do the minimum. If you threw your goals out, don’t feel bad. It’s perfectly acceptable to make goals for daily things you have to get to – shower, brush your teeth, eat well, move your body. Those are accomplishments in these times! Be proud if you can get that much done, and if you don’t get them done, know you are not alone! These are not normal times, and for us, goal planner peeps, it is tough to feel like we aren’t making enough progress. I urge you to focus on this as a season and let go of the guilt. Now is the time to manage expectations (I’m looking at you all your perfectionists and enneagram type 1s) and focus on what we CAN do.
Focus on shorter-term goals during this season. A daily top 3, a weekly shortlist, maybe a monthly plan. We don’t have to have a five-year plan today. I’m telling myself this as much as I am saying it to you.
I hope you can find peace in the planning process during this unusual season of life. It is bringing more challenges than a typical year, but I also have enjoyed the slower pace, and more family time we have found.
