My goals breathe, do yours?

Happy last day of 2020! Clink clink! 😊

Today is New Year’s Eve and I feel the buzzing energy. Everyone is bustling about with “New year, New me” excitement. People are setting goals, celebrating what went well in 2020, releasing what went awry (yes you can laugh), and tapping into the joy and promise of the flip of the page into 2021.

I for one really enjoy setting goals and intentions to achieve my dreams. I give them all specific colors and places to live in my calendar. I write them down in my journals, I say them in affirmations and they get delegated specific time and energy in my life that I set aside in advance. I plan them out step by step with strategies and systems, so then all I need to do is show up and follow through. I like setting myself up to win. I like helping others win. And not just win, to do it with sparkles.

Moral of the story is, throw me in a Paper Source with a vision I care about and you will lose me for a good two hours.

I am not writing a blog today about what the best goals are to set for 2021. I’m not going to tell you what to care about or how to choose.

Instead, I will offer something I’ve experienced as far more valuable. I will share with you how I think and what I believe about goals. The two heavy hitters of mindfulness - thoughts and beliefs, both of which shape my reality and the arc of everything I do. I will share how I think and what I choose to believe which turns out are my “goals values”.

Beyond the calendars, the flashes of the NYE and January high are three values I carry in terms of goals that influence every move I make. These are assumptions that all the check boxes, quality reps and consistent actions operate under.

Without these values in place, everything else falls. These are foundational values that not only move the needle for myself, my students and clients - they add to my happiness and fulfillment greatly at every step and kind of moment along the journey.

My first foundational value is that my goals breathe.

My goals are living, breathing entities. They deserve respect and need consistent nourishment to survive. My goals and intentions are not something I write down and think about once a year on New Year’s Eve - these are things I visit daily, weekly and monthly.

Daily - I visualize my day ahead (already planned out on Sunday) and check in with my goals. How are you doing? Are you nourished? Where are we? What do you need? I talk to them. I visualize myself completing the day and the steps for the goal, then I go into my life and do what I visualized. On Sundays, I do the same for a weekly timeframe. On the first of each month (which has a theme), I do the same process for the month. And yes today and tomorrow I will be sketching out my year for 2021.

The most important thing about this belief that if my goals are alive, I can’t neglect them. If I forget about them, don’t water them, don’t check in, don’t do what is needed for forward momentum, they die. Perhaps this is my inner farm girl shining through! As beings that breathe, if I don’t tend to my goals appropriately, they die.

Another important thing about this foundational belief is that if goals breathe and live like me - they can also change. This is different that throwing in the towel when things become challenging. This gives my goals ebb and flow, pivot, art and creativity of what is means to be alive. It’s the Saraswati of the goals - the goddess of expression, intuition and creativity.

If you’ve read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, you know that she perceives ideas in a similar way. She believes that they are alive. I believe this about goals. They are living, breathing entities that need care and love to thrive. My goals breathe.

My second foundational value is first being goals, then doing goals.

Similar to yin and yang, I have goals for “being” and goals for “doing”. Unlike yin and yang, there is absolutely one I place in the driver’s seat. I am far less concerned with what I will do at any given time than who I will be while I do it.

Nothing I do matters if I don’t love who I’m being while I do it.

Full stop.

I ask myself, who do I want to be? What kind of impact do I want to make? What is the feeling I want to create? These are all being goals. This informs how I show up in every single part of my life. One of my being goals is joy - it’s a state of being, a feeling I create and a ripple I send into the world.

Once I know who I want to be, what kind of things does that person do? What actions or “doings” in the world would I love to accomplish through the lens, mind and footsteps of the person that I choose to be?

Some people say it’s lonely at the top. I say, it’s only lonely if you don’t value who you’re being along the way. Choose who you want to be first, make that living breathing goals that you nourish daily. Everything after that will resonate in terms of what you do.

My final foundational value of goals is I must care about it deeply.

I choose goals that line up with things that really matter to me. I choose things that bring me joy, spark curiosity, support my health, make my heart sing and I choose goals and intentions that I believe can make a better world. If I don’t actually care, if they don’t deep down matter to me, I don’t tend to them as they need and they die.

Something I’ve learned and continue to learn as I go is this truth: Just because there is a need for something, doesn’t mean I’m the one that needs to fill it. Everyone has their own dharma and I know I’m in my dharma when I lose track of time, delight in nurturing the dream, love who I choose to be as I do it and am making a positive ripple to others. If one of these is off, it’s a signal to take a look under the hood.

Sometimes starting at the surface “I want to make $10,000” will not reveal the care component. Ask yourself why about three times to every answer you give and you may just find why you care so deeply. I could even also be connected to a “being goal”. You may discover you want $10,000 so you can fulfill a being goal of generosity or to be grounded and nourished. You may discover it would allow you to travel or get more quality time with those you love. Or, you may find that you don’t really care after all.

These three values have not only become structures I rely on to carry out fulfilling goals and dreams - they give me perspective and love along the way. Bumps in the road and perhaps even face-plants are inevitable when you step out. It’s knowing that my goals are breathing, knowing who I want to be and reminding myself how much and why I deeply care that can sustain through any blip. They allow me grace and the grit to keep going. 

Funnily enough as I close out this final post of 2020, I looked up on my wall to see on my list from last year “One thriving blog” in 2020. While many may have varying definitions of thriving, dare I say, I accomplished my goal! I write and share each week, I have a community of people that read what I write and you all share that you get something positive out of it. How magical is that?!

This creation has added positive value to my life and the lives of others (you) and for that, I am grateful. To me, this is a win. Thank you for being a part of it!

What are you goals, intentions and dreams for 2021?

What would it be like to adopt these values of goals for your new year?

Do your goals breathe? How will you care for them? How will they thrive and blossom?

Who will you be in 2021? What kind of person will you be and what kind of things do they do?

What do you care about deeply? And why does it matter?

Setting goals, reaching potential and living dreams is what I’m all about. I believe that each person on this planet has unique skills and gifts to share with the world. That the world really needs!

There is only one of you and we need what you’ve got! I also believe, it’s each of our responsibility to be just that - ourselves. It's our responsibility be who we are and share what we’ve got.

This matters. You matter.

All of these values show up in my lessons at the piano and my work in mindfulness coaching!

If you’d like to put these values into play at the piano or for your child to learn about goals in this way while having fun at the piano, reply to this email or reach out through my contact page. I’m accepting new mindful piano students in January.

I know there are so many womxn musician entrepreneurs out there with big goals and dreams for 2021. On January 18th, my mastermind, Powerful Womxn in Music, officially begins! This will be a space of mindful nourishment and empowerment based in all of the goal values and beyond. Click here for the details and book a call with me to learn more!

And finally, if you know someone with big dreams and goals who would love this post, send it to them! The love ripple matters.

Thank you for being part of this community of mindful heart-centered humans who believe in a better world. Thank you for being an important part of my 2020. I’m happily committed to continuing growth of this blog and community in the New Year!

Here’s to a stellar 2021! I am grateful to each and every one of you and am cheering you on as you write your first pages in your 2021 books. Happiest New Year to you!

Can the way you think, believe and value your goals shape how you achieve them?

I think so.

In love, community, and goals that breathe,

⭐️ Adrienne