this year, focus on your habits instead of your goals

2023 was dare I say one of the best years of my life and I know my life only changed because I prioritized my daily habits rather than my big goals. In 2024, I dare you to fall in love with the journey! Often we get so caught up in the end goal and forget about the journey. Instead of letting imposter syndrome or doubt creep in and stop you from even trying, focus on building the habits that will get you to your end goal. 

When we focus on creating habits rather than achieving specific goals, we can make continuous improvement a way of life. When we miss a mark, it is not a loss because we are still going in the right direction. Remember that your goals have very little to do with the actual result and everything to do with the habits you follow. When focusing on your habits, the goal takes care of itself because there’s literally no way you can lose if you try. Even if you don’t reach 100% you’re at least at 50% because habits are for making progress.

Falling in love with the journey and building habits can also give you a sense of satisfaction in the moment rather than postponing your happiness to when you achieve the end goal. When we are habit-oriented our motivation comes from within and not from the external goal. This perspective change is so beautiful to me because it allows us to have something to celebrate every single day instead of waiting to celebrate whenever the goal is achieved. Since embracing this perspective in what I like to call my “gratitude era”, it has left me SO FULFILLED. I did not reach every single goal and metric that I wrote our for 2023. However, I enjoyed my journey and fell in love with my habits so so much that I feel like I conquered the world because my motivation and celebration was internal. I also believe being habit-oriented helps you stay on the path to your goals for longer. My goals were intimidating. Your goals SHOULD be intimidating because they come from God, not us. But it’s important that we don’t let them intimidate us into giving up. 

Consider these steps when planning for the new year…

1. Pray!

2. Choose a word/phrase, affirmation, and scripture for the year 

3. Write out all of your goals. 

4. Write out the habits, systems, and tools you need to achieve your goals.

5. Write out different categories like finance, career, personal, wellness, recreation. Place your goals, habits, systems, and tools in each category by scripting out the life you want as if it’s December 31, 2024. 

6. Create a vision board based off these goals/habits in the different categories. Place your vision board somewhere you look daily (laptop/phone wallpaper, above your desk, etc)

When focusing on your habits, remember the goal takes care of itself. I’m so excited for us and this new year. I pray we stay obedient to God and His will for us. I pray we enjoy our journey to the amazing life He has created for us!

affirmations

• i work for the life i know God has promised me

• i make continuous improvement a way of life

• i keep my promises to myself and i show up for myself everyday

• there is no way i can lose if i try 

• my goals are taken care of because I focus on my habits. 

• my habits allow me to make progress towards my goals everyday

• my motivation comes from within because I love my journey

I listened to When I Get Home x Solange while writing this.