Tired of Feeling Stuck? July Goals - Tips for Progress and Company Along the Way! Life of Intention Linky Party

Last week I wrote about goals, and bucket lists, and what to do to make resolutions that motivate instead of discouraging you.  It is possible!!  

I also shared that I planned to start a link-up party for folks to share their goals each month, for online community and accountability as we move towards lives of greater intention.  Well, today is that glorious day!!  Below I share my goals for this month, as well as the link-up party for you to share your goals as well.  I promise to read each one, and share them via social media too!  

But first, in case you need a refresher, here are four tips for how to create goals that will set you up for success, not frustration.   

5 Steps to Creating Goals You Will Actually Reach!

1. Pick a reasonable number of goals. If you have twenty goals that you are tackling all at once, you're going to get discouraged.  Period, end of story.  Honestly, the human brain can't even RETAIN that many thoughts / goals... pick no more than seven, and probably just start with four or five.  I say seven because it's the so-called Magical Number of things your short-term memory can hold... and I recommend actually starting with four or five because it's better to begin with less and have success, than to bite off more than you can chew and give the whole thing up in a fit of frustration.
2. Pick goals that are within your control.  A lot of times people say to make your goal "measurable," but goals like, "increase my twitter following by 500" or "lose 10 lbs" are measurable, but honestly not entirely within your control.  Discouragement, here we come!  A better goal would be, "each week follow 150 new folks on twitter, to begin growing my own following," and "work out four times a week."  You are in control of your own efforts, and if it results in 500 twitter followers or 10 lbs lost at the end of the month, amazing!  But by making your goal within your control means you can meet it, and feel great about your success, even if you've "only" lost 7 lbs, or "only" have 378 new followers. 
3. Pick goals with room for flexibility.  If you say "have 30 minutes of activity a day" rather than "go running every day," you can meet your goal even if you end up with terrible allergies, or torrential rains in your area, and end up doing workout videos online instead.  Similarly, "do a family activity outside of our house twice a month" is going to be more easily attainable than "go hiking as a family twice a month."  When you sprain your ankle, or one of the kids decides he hates the outdoors, you have room to pick other options and still meet your goal.  
4. Find accountability.  This can look different ways... online accountability through sharing your goals in a blog post or on facebook, joining my monthly Life of Intention linky party, or leaving a comment on this post to share your goals... "in real life" accountability by setting up a monthly Goal Check-In Coffee Date with some pals, having your bestie ask you about your progress at the end of the month, etc.  There are lots of ways you can go about this, so pick one that works for you.
5. Make it HARD to forget your goals!  Set yourself periodic reminder alerts on google calendar -- write "goal check!!" in your planner at weekly intervals -- set an alarm on your phone -- write "work out!" on a sticky note and put it on your box of cereal -- etc.  Time can slip by so quickly if you aren't paying attention, so be deliberate about finding ways to pay attention!

All right, it's my turn for that "online community accountability" thing...  Here are my goals for July.

Life of Intention Goals for July:

• Finish drafting / editing my fantasy novel, working on it for at least 60 minutes EVERY. DAY.
• Unpack for at least 30 minutes EVERY. DAY.  I'm hoping this will mean it's finished long before July is over.
• Look for a day-job.  Explore employment opportunities for at least 45 minutes EVERY. DAY.
• Do some crafty stuff.  Have one project completely done by the end of the month.  (decoupage?  painting canvases?)
• "Surf" facebook for only 45 minutes a week. Open my kindle app instead of the facebook app all the rest of the time, and READ!

That fifth one might ring a bell for you, because a couple of weeks ago I shared some articles that had hit home for me about how technology is DESIGNED to hijack our brains and keep us engaged (since the more ads we view -- often without even realizing it -- and the more links we click, the more money most sites are making).  In that same post I also shared a webinar I was lucky enough to get to watch for free (sadly not free any more but you can read some of my favorite quotes from it still...) all about the power of really focusing in order to accomplish tasks -- and did a two-week "Deep Focus" Challenge to work on strengthening that skill.  Maybe some of you even joined me!  If you didn't at the time go back and check out that post now, because I can't say enough about how empowering that challenge really was! 

I really do feel like my brain is stronger, more resilient, and more able to tackle hard things now, which is amazing and exciting.  I'm sure you can see how those same trends of re-learning how to focus, and really prioritizing the things that are important to me, come through in my goals -- by limiting time on facebook, choosing to spend free time reading, and by setting aside concentrated blocks of time to FOCUS on specific projects and goals.  

Alright, now it's your turn!!  I can't wait to read your goals for July, and/or ooh-and-ahh over your progress last month.  :)  

Join the Life of Intention linky party below and I'll hop on by -- and share your post via social media too!  In addition, one lucky party participant will randomly win a feature next month! Sweeeeet!

PS: To make it easier for others to find and join our online accountability community, please include a link-back in your post.  Thanks!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Here are some of the places you might see this post partying! 

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