Theme: Beijing
August 19
Check in
Setting and advancing with your goals
On Decompress, we have talked quite a bit of setting goals (if you’re new, please check out the Setting Goals page). Once you’ve set goals, it’s important to keep track of your progress. Even little steps towards them are worthy of being noted!
Why is tracking your progress good for mental wellbeing? It can help boost confidence by laying it out in front of you how far you’ve come. The stress of completing the goal might lighten when you see what steps are already completed. Every step is a step closer.
And some goals may never be reached in the way you might think. They are just ideas or general markers that you are working towards; they may keep shifting or it will be a work in progress. If your goal is to helping others in daily life, there may be that odd day where you just don’t feel like it, and you need to take a break for yourself. Don’t be hard on yourself in your goals. Even if progress is slow or you don’t make it one day, there is always tomorrow :)
Here are your check in questions
1. What is one goal you have for this school year?
2. Do I give myself kind, encouraging words if I don't make my goals?
3. What is the biggest shift in my goals from last year to this year?
Activities
Take note of progress
Track daily progress
Like the picture above, you can use sticky notes to track how you moved towards (or not, or halfway) your goal.
For example, if your goal is to finish writing a short story, your daily goal can be to work on it fifteen minutes per day. You can write this on your sticky note.
Weekend check up
At the end of the week, collect all those sticky notes and lay them out in front of you. If you start to see a pattern of what days you’re not reaching your goal, note this down, too. You can use this information to change your habits for the next week.
Keep the end goal in mind
Don’t get sidetracked if you see a lot of days without much progress. Just make that adjustment and keep moving forward. Always have the end goal in mind.
Reward your progress!
Weekly rewards
For example, if you worked an hour towards your goal every day (or most of the days), reward yourself by grabbing your favorite snack and watching a favorite movie on friday afternoon.
Sometimes, our goals aren’t concrete like finishing a report or scoring x amount of goals in a sport. Goals can be about mental wellbeing. Reward your progress in mental wellbeing by giving yourself positive affirmations, sharing your progress with a friend or family member, etc.
Tip: the less time between completing the goal in progress and giving yourself that reward, the better it’ll be. Try not to set yourself up for delayed gratification.
Resources
Process for Achieving Goals
Once you set a goal, how do you get there? This video can give some tips for how you do just that. Remember, these are simply suggestions; some may work for some, but not for others. If this isn’t for you, that’s okay! Try the activities above to help shape your process.
“Anyone who genuinely and constantly with both hands looks for something, will find it.”
— Rumi
this is a new thing we’re trying out! we’ll have one inspiring quote here everyday, connected to the topic. please let us know what you think about this quote!