The 6 Rs to Refresh Your Goals

Spring.

Spring represents new beginnings, re-birth, growth and starting fresh!

Personally for me, spring brings out this really fun, exciting energy that you can almost touch! Now whether this energy is from the vibe in the air or because being in South Dakota, we haven’t seen the sun or felt warmth in about 6 months… who knows… I think they are one in the same :) 😂 The point is, spring really has a fun vibe, and who doesn’t like the thought of starting fresh?! A fresh start, a REFRESH!

I know that oftentimes when we think of spring and a spring refresh, we immediately think of our homes. Of course we do! Spring cleaning, spring decluttering, starting anew! Our houses have been shut tight for the last few months, we are itching to open the windows and welcome in some fresh air. “And where in the world did all this stuff come from?” I ask as I browse my last 6 months of Amazon retail therapy orders…;)

If spring cleaning and decluttering is where your brain went when thinking of a “Spring Refresh”, you should follow my friend Alesha with Chaos to Calm - she’s a professional organizer and can help you with all the spring decluttering you may want (yes, she will come to your home and do it for you! Call her). The cleaning and decluttering of your home will leave you feeling refreshed, recentered and more able to focus and have fun! Today though, I wanted to talk about a different REFRESH…

Refreshing your goals!

But Chrystal, it’s only April, my goals wouldn't need a refresh just a few months into the year… Or could they??? Just because you set goals in January, doesn’t mean they are set in stone and perfectly aligned with you, your heart, and your life now. It is ok to readjust and refresh in the goals department, there are no goal police, trust me.

Or, maybe you didn’t really take the time and energy to think about or write out your goals way back in January. That’s cool too! Again, there are no goal police that say you have to come up with and write your goals down on January 1 of each year. You can write out, change, come up with, take away, etc. goals at any point! Also, if the word goal puts you in a state of panic because you’ve been taught that goals have to be S.M.A.R.T. and you feel tied down by that notion of massive structure, we are friends. I hear you and I reciprocate your feelings (we can talk about that another time). If that’s the way you feel, you can use the word dream instead of goal - just keep this dream as a shorter term dream rather than the “someday I want to build schools in Africa” dream that you still want to pursue, but know it’s not something you can accomplish in the next 8-12 months. Make sense? We can use the term goal or dream, just as long as it is something that can be realized within the next 8-12 months-ish… (you know I love a good “ish”)

Ok, back to the point of this post… REFRESH your goals! Because I love a good alliteration, I’ve come up with the 6 R’s to refresh your goals.

The 6 R’s to Refresh Your Goals:

1. Revisit

The first step is to take out your goals and revisit them. Read through them objectively and without judgment. You’re just taking a look at what in January you thought was a good idea and plan for the year, no reason to judge here.

2. Remove

Next it’s time to remove. January you may have been overly optimistic and decided that this year was going to be the year you achieved 94 goals including climbing Mount Everest, and only eating foods that you grow in your own backyard organic garden. January you were awesome, but April you understand that some of these goals were a little overzealous, silly, not important, or really hard to even track or know if you’ve accomplished it. Take these out. It is ok. REMOVE.

3. Revamp

When reading through and removing your goals, you probably came across a few goals that you didn’t quite understand, but also felt like they might be something worthwhile, these goals just need a simple revamp. Take a minute, reword, revamp, re-establish these goals. I like to make sure that there is a way to actually know that the goals were accomplished (more on this in step 5).

4. Reflect

Now it’s time for the step I generally prefer to skip, in everything that I do… but I also know it’s super important and actually very helpful, and that is REFLECT. How are you actually doing on your goals? Are you making progress? Do you need to make a little more effort? Are you getting in your own way due to fear, lack of knowledge, accountability, etc? Be honest in this step, again no judgements.

5. Release

Release perfectionism. Release fears. Release expectations. Release having to know everything before you do one thing. Release hustle. Perhaps you need to release a commitment or task in order to free up the time and energy for your goals. What do you need to release to give yourself the absolute best chance at your goals and to have fun along the way?

6. Re-Invigorate

I saved the best for last, re-invigorate. When looking at and thinking about the goals on your list now, how can you re-invigorate them? How can you bring more energy to them? What can you do so that you look forward to working towards your goals rather than experience burnout? I have a few tips/suggestions within this re-invigorate step that I full-heartedly believe in! They are:

• Plan - Create action steps or a plan to keep yourself accountable to actually do the thing!

• Mini Goals - There are some milestones, aka mini goals that you will need to hit before reaching the big goal. Work your way back from the big goal and figure out 2-3 mini goals/milestones between here and there. Hitting the mini goals while on your way to the big goal will keep you motivated and excited to keep moving forward. It’s hard to keep doing something for a long period of time without seeing some sort of progress. The mini goals are your progress markers! And most of the time, hitting these mini goals are huge leaps towards the overall goal. Woo Hoo!

• Reward/Celebration - When you hit these mini goals AND when you hit the big goal, how will you celebrate? Besides hitting the goal (go you!), what’s your reward? I am a person who needs something fun to look forward to, a dangling carrot.. I live for the anticipation! And this may sound a bit counterintuitive, but I’m also the person who needs a reminder to celebrate wins and accomplishments. I know it seems weird to need something to look forward to, but also struggle to take 5 minutes and recognize my accomplishments, but that is exactly WHY I need a pre-set reward or celebration. I need it so that I have a built in plan to take a breath and recognize my win before pushing on to the next thing.

Oh man, have I mentioned how much I love goals?! Are you fired up and ready to refresh your goals?!

There is just one more R word I want to mention before we close up for today and start refreshing those goals. And that word is REST.

Like I said earlier, spring really brings on this exciting energy for me. Add in talking about re-invigorating our goals and living my favorite life, and I am ON FIRE! I want to take on the world, do all the things, accomplish all the goals, and who’s got time for rest when you’ve got so many other things to do?!

I DO. YOU DO. EVERYONE DOES. REST IS FOR ALL!

Not making time for rest leads to burnout. And burnout isn’t beneficial for you, your people, your goals, your life. Rest gives you energy, rest re-aligns you, rest leads to a better, more invigorated, more awesome, more lovely YOU.

Make time for rest. Rest can be literal sleep and/or taking a nap. It can also mean stepping away from your computer and taking a walk. It can mean having coffee with a friend. It can mean skipping your bootcamp workout today and opting for yoga because your body needs rest. REST.

Perhaps we could look at spring as a time of REST and REFRESH.😊 That sounds nice. In fact, that feels refreshing. That feels light and airy. That feels like a walk on the trails with friends and sunshine on my face. Rest and Refresh.

Cheers to you and your spring! You are wildly worthy of all good things! Stay Wild! Xoxo - Chrystal

Ps. Goals, dreams, creative ideas, and action steps are kind of my thing. If you think this all sounds amazing, but also a little overwhelming, and would love someone to provide a bit of personalized guidance in discovering what your goals and dreams are, brainstorming ideas to bring those dreams to life, creating a plan with action steps to get you there, and to hold you accountable when you need it… I’d love to take a walk with you and be that person for you. This is my absolute favorite thing to do during my Adventure Coaching sessions. Email, message or click the link here to schedule a session 😊