5 Quotes About Goals to Keep You Motivated All Year

Setting, and keeping, goals has been one of the biggest challenges I’ve had for the last few years. As I’ve written before, my confidence has taken a knock a few times in the last decade and it’s been a fight and a struggle to get back to where I was previously… almost over and over again!

But I find setting goals, and tasks for myself based on those goals, very cathartic and healing in a lot of ways. It keeps me focused on moving forward day-to-day instead of continually thinking about whatever it is that’s happened (being laid off, getting a rejection for a job I wanted badly, whatever).

I know for many people, setting and keeping goals is a struggle. Trust me when I say: me too. I love setting goals, but it’s easy to lose track of them day-to-day. I have a whole post about setting goals that are realistic for you and your life, while keeping an eye on timeliness, here.

However, I also wanted to share a few quotes that I’ve found particularly helpful in my goal setting and keeping my mindset positive and future-focused. I hope you love them! Don’t forget to Pin them if you find them particularly helpful.

I’m a quote collector (I have notebooks full of them!). If you find posts like this helpful or fun, please let me know and I’ll add more of them to my calendar. Happy Wednesday!

Why You Don't Have to Give Up Treats After the New Year, Featuring Hungryroot Cookie Dough*

Deprivation is, as they say, bullshit. I know this. You know this. Ok, maybe you don’t know this—or maybe you just don’t quite believe it yet. Not everyone is aware of the dangers of diet culture and what it does to us psychologically. If you, like me, grew up in the 90s, you were bombarded with messages about dieting and thinness versus fatness. And if you, like me, absorbed all these messages, you’ve been mildly obsessed with what you eat, with working out, with controlling your body in small ways for at least a few years, if not longer.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve definitely finding myself fighting these messages internally even more. Especially after becoming a mother, there is so much pressure to look and behave a certain way, to try and take “control” of your body again. Working in offices over the years, diet and weight is always a topic of conversation among women in the office. It’s hard to combat these messages internally when so many people still aren’t aware of how negative and harmful this kind of talk can be.

If you would like to learn more about diet culture, and what it is, here are a few resources that do a better job explaining than I ever will:

• What is Diet Culture?

• What is Diet Culture from Christy Harrison

• Recognizing Diet Culture from NEDA

You might wonder what on earth this has to do with cookies and the New Year.

One of the messages about thinness, food, and weight I experienced most growing up was the idea that after Christmas, you should give up any and all treats. I heard it from my mother, my friends, my other female family members, teachers, random cashiers. Then, I’ve heard it from other moms, coworkers, my son’s teachers… it goes on and on. If you’re concerned with your body, it seems like the New Year is a great time to give up everything you love and start fresh. For many, that means cutting out foods that they love and enjoy. It means austerity.

But, as I said, that’s bullshit. Depriving yourself of things that bring you joy in order to feed into a system that won’t make you healthy or happy is bullshit. Diet culture is bullshit. Giving up cookies for any length of time is bullshit.

As I’ve written about goals before, if you set up your goal to make yourself miserable, you’re not going to succeed.

Sometimes, people think that rejecting diet culture and accepting body positivity means you “give up” on health. Other people have written about this much more eloquently, but… diet culture, and dieting in general, has never been about health. Someone eating less calories than a 7-year-old is not healthy—but I would not begrudge them for it, because they’ve learned that behavior through negative messaging. Body positivity is not about rejoicing for health that is good or bad; it accepts that using health as a moral barometer, or a measure of goodness in a person, is not a good idea.

There are lots of people who are unhealthy for reasons that are completely out of their control. You do not deserve to be treated badly just because you are unhealthy or because you are perceived as unhealthy.

We associate good health (or being thin, because they two are often conflated for us socially) with being strict, with being regimented, with being disciplined. But that’s just not true. Those with a good relationship with food

I am of the belief that you can want to make better food choices for your health without having to worry about having the “perfect” diet. You can have room in your daily food for everything you love—with a mind on nutrition. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. That kind of thinking only hurts us.

That’s why I am such a huge fan of Hungryroot. Not only can you get groceries delivered to your home (honestly, who doesn’t want that!?), you can get healthy, nutritious options that are also super delicious and satisfying. One of my favorite things about Hungryroot is, and probably always will be, the cookie dough options.

I’ve written a few posts about Hungryroot before. Here is a brief round up:

• I Tried Hungryroot So You Don’t Have To

• Revisting Hungryroot

• How I Use Hungryroot for Weekly Meal Prep

• My Favorite Hungryroot Foods & How I Get My Kids to Eat Them

• A Busy Mom’s Guide to Road Trips

It goes without saying that I really love Hungryroot. I get at least two deliveries every single month. When it comes to Hungryroot, I find it’s really easy to use their website; they have a new system where the box size you choose has a certain number of credits and you can use those credits to add meals and grocery items to your box. That means, if you know you have a busy week coming up, you can add a bunch of meal options to your box and have everything you need for a week where you simply won’t have the mental energy to cook. Or, if you just need a few pantry staples, you can get grocery items; I always stock up on the ancient grains pancake mix, superfood almond butter, and a variety of rice pouches to make day-to-day meals easy.

One thing I always make sure to have in my Hungryroot delivery is cookie dough. They have a few different options, but my favorites are the Black Bean Brownie Batter and the Almond Chickpea Cookie Dough. Both are exceptionally good right out of the fridge—and it’s perfectly safe to eat it raw! But they also make great baked cookies for kids snacks, an after dinner treat, or a cookie exchange. Plus, with extra protein and healthy ingredients, they make a great option if you’re trying to cut back on stuff that might make you feel sluggish, like white sugar, flour and gluten.

For Christmas, Forrest and I baked up some of the Almond Chickpea Cookie Dough to take to a Christmas cookie exchange. I wanted something that people would love and that would be a healthy alternative to cookies for anyone who needed it. I love cookies—you know I do—but sometimes, I want a cookie without all the extra, you know? Here are two super simple Hungryroot recipes using their cookie dough!

I used a tub of the Almond Chickpea Cookie Dough from Hungryroot and about 4 tablespoons of flour. You don’t need to add flour, but I wanted to make sure these cookies held their shape well. I then scooped 1 tablespoon scoops and rolled them into balls. I flattened them slightly with the lid of the cookie dough tub before baking for about 10 minutes. When they came out, I dunked them in melted chocolate with coconut oil and sprinkled on some sprinkles. They were delicious. A tub of cookie dough makes exactly 9 cookies using my measurements; you could make them smaller.

Here’s another healthy option: use a tub of the Black Bean Brownie Batter and portion into 1 tablespoon scoops. Place into a mini muffin tin and press down, leaving an indent in the middle. Bake according to package instructions. When they come out, press a Hershey’s kiss, either plain chocolate or one of the Candy Cane kisses, into the center. Let cool. Black Bean Brownie Blossom Cookies! Quick, easy, healthy, and delicious!

If you want to reject the idea that you have to give up treats after New Years and want to eat some delicious, nutritious cookies, you should give Hungryroot a try.

You can use my code PAUSES2021 to get 40% off your first order!

I hope the New Year brings you as much success and happiness as you can wish for! Set your goals high and attainable, dream big, and eat cookies!

Disclaimer: as noted by the asterisk in the title of this post, this post is sponsored by Hungryroot. For each time my code is used, I do receive a small compensation from Hungryroot. However, all opinions remain my own. If you’d like to learn more about my disclosure policy, click here.

5 Exercises for Setting Goals That Stick

A few weeks ago, I asked my Instagram followers what their biggest struggle was when it came to setting goals. I’ve been doing a 90-day goal challenge (as well as a 100 day, inspired by Elsie Larson at a Beautiful Mess) and it’s gotten me thinking a lot about setting, and keeping, goals.

I’ve always been an incredibly goal-oriented person. I am always working on something when it comes to a big goal—but some goals have always been easier for me to meet than others. In the past, I’ve never quite known why I could win NaNoWriMo every single year… but not be able to stick to meal prepping or other goals that seem like it should be a no brainer to hit.

As I’ve written before, I’ve been spending a lot of time in therapy learning how to validate myself, rather than seek out external validation. I really believe that external validation combined with internal validation is the root of why some goals are easier to hit than others. When it comes to completing NaNoWriMo, I often get a rush of validation from other people: friends reaching out to say congratulations, strangers on the internet, my writing group. Validation comes from everywhere and it’s a good feeling to be validated. I can trust that validation. I know it will be there.

But when it comes to other goals, like finishing a workout series or doing my daily writing… those goals aren’t as public. No one is going to cheer me on when I announce I’ve gone a month without cancelling a therapy appointment. No one is going to send me a nice text to boost my spirits because I managed to fold and put away all the laundry. There are some things we will receive external validation for and some things we won’t.

Relying on external validation for all our goals will only make us give up on goals easily. This obviously isn’t the only reason we struggle to complete goals, however. There are lots of ways we can get distracted or be unsure. Here are a few examples that I was sent on Instagram:

Here’s a summary:

• Setting too many goals

• Settings goals that are not achievable

• Finding goals that make sense 90 days later

• Staying committed

That makes it pretty easy to address the issues we all seem to have with goals, right? Most importantly, it seems everyone struggles to set realistic goals that stick—or that make sense after a month. I hope these 5 exercises will help you set better goals in 2020. Think of these as separate exercises that you can do one at a time, but also steps to creating goals that make sense in your life. Let’s get started!

1. Use a Calendar to Set Your Goals.

This task (or exercise) solves the issue of: how can I make my goals achievable?

Firstly, make sure that any goal you set has an end in sight. On-going, long term goals can be more challenging, especially if you’re used to feel defeated about your goals. Set an end date on the calendar. Think in 90-day or 100-day chunks.

Secondly, set a measurable results for your goal. Here are a few examples:

• I’m going to post 3 days a week and share to Pinterest daily until May 1 instead of I’m going to have a successful blog.

• I’m going to go to 3 networking events a week until June 1 instead of I’m going to grow my business and/or I want X number of clients this year.

• I’m going to work out 2 days a week until April 1 instead of I’m going to be more active.

Basically: when setting your goals, think in specifics: what will you measure, how will you measure it, and when will you be done measuring it (and ready to set a new goal). Set these days on your calendar.

2. Use Goals to Improve Instead of Punish.

Sometimes, we think of New Years Resolution, or yearly goals, as punishment. “I’m getting this goal because I’ve been doing bad and now I need to suffer to be good.” First of all, I assure you: you are already good. With my son, I make sure to reiterate that everyone is good, they just make bad choices sometimes. But even bad choices don’t deserve punishment 100% of the time.

Basically, don’t set up your goals as punishments for your own perceived bad behavior. So what if you gained weight in 2019? How do you feel? If you feel sluggish and unwell, adding a few goals to work out and eat healthier might make you feel happier—but they aren’t punishments to your body, they are ways for you to treat yourself and your brain better.

Your goals should be created with the intention to improve your life—not to make you feel miserable. Aim for things that you know will make you feel good and won’t make you feel miserable and unhappy day-to-day.

Here are a few examples:

• I’m going to eat 1 vegetable with every meal instead of I’m only going to eat X number of calories every single day.

• I’m going to work out 2 days a week instead of I’m going to work out for 2 hours every single day.

• I’m going to write every day for at least 20 minutes instead of I’m going to finish my novel by February 1.

3. Break Your Goal into Week-by-Week Tasks.

Let’s take one of our example goals, because they’re very easy. “I’m going to post 3 days a week and share to Pinterest daily” is an easy one. What would be my weekly tasks?

• Task 1: Write 3 blog posts for the next week (working in advance!)

• Task 2: Share to Pinterest and repin every single day.

Easy, right?

Let’s look at a more challenging example.

Here’s another sample goal: “I’m going to grow my business by 10 clients by June 1.” Here are a few sample tasks:

• Task 1: Go to 3 networking events a week.

• Task 2: Send 2 emails per week.

• Task 3: Finish website.

• Task 4: Post on LinkedIn 2 times per week.

Those tasks are a little heavier than the other goal and there are more of them. But do you see the process? Looking at your goal, what are the tasks that you’ll need to do every single week to achieve them? If your goal is to work out 2 days per week, then your task will be to add work out blocks to your weekly calendar. If your goal is grow your blog, you might add in social media management, developing products to promote your blog, and more. It just depends on your goal and what is achievable for you!

4. Copy Week-by-Week Tasks into Your Planner.

This is an easy one. Take those week-by-week tasks and put them in your planner. Add them to specific dates with deadlines. Make them appointments. Here’s an example; if one of your tasks is to post to Instagram 3 days a week to grow your blog, you might add “Post to Instagram” as a task 3 days a week to reoccur until your chosen date. Whatever your task is, add it to your planner, your calendar, whatever you use.

This exercise solves the issue of losing focus on your goal, and staying committed, throughout the weeks after New Years Day.

5. Incorporate Weekly Tasks into To Do List.

If you make a daily or weekly to do list, add those weekly tasks to your to do list when you get to that week. This makes them tangible tasks to complete on a deadline, along everything else you do. As you work on each task, know you’re getting closer to your goal. As you work through the weeks, you can reassess. Let’s look an example.

If your goal is to grow your blog, and you want to pin to Pinterest 3 days a week, but you notice that your pins aren’t having much traction, you might need to reassess your strategy, your boards, and more. That might become a secondary task that you need to address next week to make your weekly task more effective. You might also address whether your blog posts are in line with what your ideal reader wants, or provide enough information to appeal to readers.