Episode #34: After The Pandemic: How To Re-Evaluate and Set New Goals
Today’s episode is all about the weird feeling so many of us have right now post-pandemic, when we should be celebrating and living it up roaring 20’s style, but we’re still feeling kind of lost, or directionless, or lackluster. I think that’s because we put so many things on hold during the pandemic that we’re having a hard time moving forward again now. If, like me, you’ve been feeling this and are looking for a way to break through and get back to your old self, I thought I’d walk you through the goal setting exercise I’ve been using to help let go of the old, set some new goals, and start to move forward again.
Are you feeling like this now that the world is opening up?
We’re constantly being bombarded with information about how things are roaring after the pandemic, but, if you’re anything like me, you might be feeling a bit of FOMO, like you’re not taking the most advantage of this time, but you don’t really know how. I know I’ve been feeling this for a number of months, and I think that’s because the pandemic changed a lot of our priorities, and goals, and ways of viewing the world and what we want from it. It’s changed what I, and a lot of other people like yourself, want out of life, and it’s hard to move ahead when you’re not totally sure what you want anymore.
On letting go of old goals.
I know a lot of the things that I was striving for before the pandemic are things that I’ve discovered I don’t actually want anymore, or that aren’t possible to achieve in the way that I was originally planning. My overall life goals are still fairly similar: create a work life where I can choose to work my own hours and locations freely, strive to be financially independent as early as possible, start investing in real estate and property, spend some time by the ocean each year, BUT the paths I was originally following to achieve these things have changed over the past two years. Honestly, it’s taken a bit of time to adjust to that and then to embrace it and recognize that it’s time to create a new way forward.
I actually think that a lot of us need to collectively sit back and re-evaluate our goals and aspirations. We need to place a special focus on letting go of the old goals and visions that guided us, that don’t serve us anymore, and this can be hard to do. If you’ve been working towards things with a specific plan for so long, it’s hard to let go of that plan even if it doesn’t serve you anymore, but this is something that can make you feel stuck in a rut.
How can you break out of this feeling?
This is a goal setting activity that I like to do periodically. To go through it with me, I want you to grab a piece of paper and a pen. Set a timer on your phone for 10 minutes, and start by writing down every single goal and aspiration that comes to mind, big or small, possible or impossible, just get it all out, and sit there for 10 straight minutes writing out goals. If you feel like you’ve finished your list before 10 minutes is up, keep on sitting there and thinking. I’m pretty sure some fun new goals will start popping out of your brain with just a little more effort and time. The goal here is to force yourself to push past the old goals that you’ve cemented in your brain, and start to create space and creativity to come up with some new things that you want.
Once you have your goals list, go back through your list and freely start crossing out anything that doesn’t make you excited, or wistful, or ready to jump up and take hell-bent-for-glory action. You might surprise yourself when you do this. You’ll probably discover that some of the goals you’ve written down were things that you were excited about, but don’t actually hold meaning for you anymore. For me, examples of this were continuing to scale a business that was flattened during the pandemic and that my heart isn’t really in anymore. Discovering that surprised me, because up until now, scaling that specific business had been one of my biggest drivers and my main focus for the past 6 years. I had to cross it out though. I had to let go of that goal. This felt extremely weird after 6 years of working towards it, but after running that business through the pandemic I realized I didn’t really want it anymore, and it was something I was going to have to move on from.
So look through your list, and cross off anything that doesn’t bring you complete and total happiness, that doesn’t feel like ‘you’ anymore when you try that vision on for size. What you’re going to be left with, is a new list of goals that are more applicable to the version of you that’s emerged through the other side of the pandemic. It’s important to identify what these new goals are, and what the old goals are that you’re ready to let go of.
How to reset your new goals into your brain.
Now that you’ve gone back through your goals list, I want you to get a new page and write down your new goals list. Then, put those goals somewhere where you will see them all the time, to remind yourself on a daily basis of what you want, and why you want it. I have goals lists taped beside all my work stations, and inside my planner so I can be reminded daily of what I’m working towards.
Next you’re going to dive deeper into each goal. And for every goal you set yourself, next to it I want you to write down how you’ll know when you’ve completed your goal, the timeline you’re setting for yourself to complete your goal, and the steps you’re going to take to get there.
This process of breaking each goal down into smaller more manageable steps is the most important part. Because it’s all well and good to set goals for yourself, but without knowing how you’re going to get there you may start to feel a little lost along the way. So, break each goal down into little, manageable, actionable steps that you can take on a daily basis to work towards achieving your goal. The smaller and more manageable the steps the better. AND it’s best to start with a step you’re going to take TODAY to make your first move toward achieving your goal. Starting today is always better than starting tomorrow, and you’re going to be feeling really excited and motivated after going through this activity, so harness that momentum and figure out how you’re going to start today.
How long will it take to reset your goals?
It’s completely normal that many of us feel changed, like we’re different people after coming through the other side of the pandemic. It changed career paths, it changed living situations, it changed relationships, and for many of us most importantly it changed our perception of stability in life. This is bound to have a pretty profound effect on our psyche. So, don’t worry if you need to do this exercise over and over again over the upcoming weeks, or months, or year to figure out who you are and what it is you really want out of life now. I’ve gone through this activity a few times recently myself. I think it’s only natural that a lot of us have to shed some old goals, so we can make room for the new, and I personally find this exercise really helpful. Anytime you start feeling lost or unsure as you’re navigating this new post-pandemic world, rinse and repeat this exercise as necessary!
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