Hi Tomodotchi’s
New Years and fresh starts usually come with resolutions and goals. In the past, we would always get excited for a fresh start and set lofty goals and resolutions that were forgotten within the first few weeks. From our conversations with other Tomodotchi’s, we’re pretty sure we’re with the majority of people on this! However, this last year was different for us, we actually set and were able to meet our resolutions and goals! What was the difference? Well, we’re about to share 5 tips on how we set realistic goals and how we achieved them! We hope our experience can help you!
1. Define Your Goals: Short vs Long Term Goals, etc.
First and foremost, we would highly recommend writing your goals somewhere they will be visible. Write it on your home screen, your phone wallpaper, or leave a sticky note on your mirror! If the goals are out of sight, they will definitely be out of mind! Even more though, when you write your goals, don’t just write what you want to achieve. Define it! Determine if it’s a short term or long-term goal. This allows you to set a realistic expectation of when your goals should be achieved. If it’s a short-term goal you know you need to work on it right away and with a long-term goal, you know you have some leniency.
Next you should categorize it, whether it be a family goal, personal goal or professional goal! This helps you identify who can help you achieve your objectives! We don’t live in an isolated world; the reality is we need help to reach our goals. Especially if our goals involve others! For example, if your goal is to speak with your family more, if they know your objective, they can also call you. In this way, defining your goals allows you to get plans set in motion. Define your timeline, identify who can help you and set objectives to reach the goal! More on that in Tip 3!
2. Set Realistic, Manageable and Achievable Goals!
It’s common to set goals that are unrealistic. It’s important to remember that stretch goals can be motivating. However, many unrealistic goals are impacted by external factors beyond our control and it can be disheartening when we don’t meet them. A better approach is to set goals that we feel confident we can achieve reasonable and sustainably. We should also use language that boosts our confidence as we make progress. For example, instead of setting an unrealistic goal to gain 15 lbs. of muscle in a month, we could set a goal to be more physical. Then we can aim to take a walk at lunchtime, go to the gym more often or do a home workout plan at night. This way, even small progress can make us feel successful. Similarly, at work, rather than setting a goal to get promoted right away, we could set a goal to stretch ourselves by volunteering for new tasks and garnering more positive attention. By setting realistic and achievable goals, we can maintain a positive mindset and eventually reach our stretch goals.
A real-life example, in 2022 we set a goal to get stronger. The back of our mind we had our stretch goal of lifting 1000 lbs. between bench, squat and deadlift. We failed 3 times to hit that goal! Instead of feeling defeated and quitting after failing to achieve the stretch goal, we were able to keep a positive mindset because we focused on our achievable goal of getting stronger. And yes, eventually we did hit the 1000 lb. stretch goal because we were able to maintain our realistic and achievable goal!
3. Set Objectives and Boundaries
This next tip is pretty basic, but something that many of us miss! When you are writing and defining your goals, another critical step is writing out how you will achieve those goals. This will allow you to set objectives and create boundaries to actually hit your goals. For example, if your goal is be more active, you can set objectives such as taking a daily walk. From there you set boundaries like, blocking your calendar at noon to allow for a daily walk. Now you not only guarantee the time, but you set a daily reminder!
For us, a mental health goal was to journal more. From there we set up a calendar event to journal at least once a week. Additionally, as we go through the week, we set aside 5 mins daily to think about what struggles we had that day and we would take notes in our phone. This ensures we always had a topic to write about. From there, we set a boundary that Wednesday nights are set aside for journaling. Regardless of if people try to make plans, etc. we have a boundary that we need to ensure we journal first. They key here is to be realistic and set objectives and boundaries that can actually be met and help you towards your goals. This can also help determine if your goal is achievable in the long run!
4. Don't Go All In
As millennials, we here at Tomodotchi love instant gratification. Honestly, in this day in age, rarely do we have to wait for anything anymore. For us, this bred an all-in mentality. In the past, we would set a goal like losing weight. Next thing you know, we were deep in the world of counting calories, weighing food and buying sugar free everything. Essentially, we were all in and to be honest, it worked. However, it wasn’t sustainable! Weighing out all your food, measuring out all your oils and having to eat separate meals from our loved ones was hard to keep doing long term. We would quickly burn out as our whole lives became dominated by this idea of doing everything and anything to lose weight, plus we were annoying to everyone around us!
We’re not saying that we think it’s bad to go for your goals. But we think it’s more realistic and sustainable to go slow. Rather than making your whole life about any one thing, we feel it’s more reasonable to slowly adapt your life to your goals. For example, if you want to lose weight, slowly reduce the heavier foods you are eating! Then when you feel comfortable you can replace those foods and eventually cut them out. This allows you to still feel good and positive and avoid the burn out of going all in. Especially when you don’t get sustainable results from being all in!
5. Don't Be Afraid to Fail
Now we know that this tip may seem counterproductive to this article. However, we just want to make sure it is clear that goals are tools to help motivate us and keep us moving forward. However, life is always changing and for many different reasons goals may no longer be attainable. Just know that this is completely ok! Your life is always changing and given that your goals and resolutions can’t stay static either. Be kind to yourselves and shift and pivot when needed. We know that for many of us, the idea of failure is defeating. Don’t allow a setback to defeat you!
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison
Just remember, it’s not that you failed, you just found a way that doesn’t work. Keep at it and you will be successful and meet your goals and resolutions!
Wrapping it up
Just remember, resolutions and goals don’t have to wait for the New Years or life changes. Seize your moment and set goals and keep on progressing! We hope these tips gave you some food for thought and that you meet all your goals and objectives! Are there any other tips you have to meet your goals?
If you need some additional motivation or tips, check out our article on life lessons we learned to improve our well being! These life lessons can help you meet your goals. If one of your goals is to start journaling, check out our tips on how to consistently journal here! Wishing you all the best in your journies!
Much Love, Your Tomodotchi
TLDR;
Resolutions and goals are easy to set but hard to achieve. We have found success in setting defined goals that are realistic so long as we set boundaries to get there.
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Extras
As an added bonus for our readers, we like to include a game of where are the Tomodotchi Pets. They’ve been hidden in 2 of the pictures within this post. Can you find them all? See below for what they look like!
