2024: The Year of Execution
This year, I'm taking a different approach to goal setting.
I love setting goals. Whether it’s a daily goal or a monthly one, it gives me something to look forward to when I wake up. The life I have in mind is to elevate not only myself, but my friends, family and community.
What’s Going To Be Different
To stay focused, every year I pick a theme. When deciding on this theme, I think about what I want for every aspect of my life: business, finances, relationships, health, etc. Last year was “The Year of Ellie” aka “2023 Was All About Me”. My mental health was a large part of this, and I spent the entire year figuring out who I am and what I want from myself and others. There were external goals as well, but so much of the shift I experienced last year cannot be seen by the naked eye.
With so much growth and increased self-awareness, I had to pick an extraordinary theme for 2024. It had to be something that was going to motivate me to make this year, my year. And that is how I landed on “The Year of Execution”.
No more games. This year, I will finally achieve a goal I have been working towards for the last 5 years. I can’t tell you what it is. Not yet anyway. (Gotta keep some thing’s to myself 🤭) When I came up with this theme, I knew I would have to do things very differently this year. I was going to have to make a lot of sacrifices.
But, when I sat down to write out my goals (btw ALWAYS write down your goals), I couldn't see past the first 6 months. Usually, I can map out my entire year. When I mentioned this to my therapist, she suggested I try setting quarterly goals. Although I’d never done this, it immediately made sense. I thought this made a lot of sense. I do it all the time for work. We call it “periodization” and it works well. Knowing this, why wouldn’t I try the same thing in my personal life? So, I took my six months of goals and split the them down the middle and made them three-month goals.
Why Quarterly Goals Are Better
According to a study by the University of Scranton, only 8% of people achieve their New Year's resolutions. This low success rate often results from the lack of short-term milestones and adaptability in planning. I want to share some statistics that outline why quarterly goals yield more results than yearly ones so that hopefully we can beat the odds:
Improved Focus and Adaptability: A study by the University of Exeter found that shorter goal-setting periods, like quarterly goals, improve focus and adaptability in individuals by 31%, as opposed to annual goal setting.
Increased Accountability: Research from the American Psychological Association indicates that shorter goal cycles, such as quarterly goals, increase accountability and performance monitoring by 37% over longer goal-setting intervals.
Enhanced Motivation: A study published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior showed that shorter-term goals lead to a 40% increase in motivation and commitment among participants, compared to longer-term goals.
Better Tracking and Adjustment: According to Harvard Business Review, organizations that set quarterly goals observed a 25% increase in their ability to track progress and make necessary adjustments, compared to those with yearly goals. The same productivity can be applied to your personal life.
Reduced Procrastination: A survey by Leadership IQ found that quarterly goal setters reported a 35% reduction in procrastination, as the shorter time frame creates a sense of urgency.
Enhanced Achievement of Long-Term Objectives: The Journal of Applied Psychology published a finding where individuals who set quarterly goals were 50% more likely to achieve long-term objectives due to consistent review and recalibration.
In short, by breaking down my goals into quarterly segments, I can track my progress more effectively and make necessary adjustments. I can adapt my strategy to changing circumstances, ensuring I stay on track. Now that you understand why I'm making this shift, let’s talking about what I’m doing.
My Goals for 2024
With my theme in mind, I have decided to focus on two major areas for Q1 and Q2: finances and weight loss.
Finances:
I’m ready to level up. I have spent so much of the last 5 years trying new things and investing in them. However, if I could go back, I would have opened a high yield savings account and put money in there every month that I made a conscious decision to never touch. I would have opened an investment account. But, I’m not going to beat myself up for not knowing what I didn’t know. And you shouldn’t either.
I’m not going to share specific numbers, but in the first six months, I want to pay off the rest of my debts, increase my income and put away a certain amount in savings. That’s it. I’ll save the investing for Q3 and Q4.
Weight Loss:
This was a hard decision for me to come to. People are always talking about losing weight for your health. Well I posted a video a few months ago, saying that if I ever lost weight, it would NOT be for my health. And that remains true. Health is not about a number on the scale. It is about nutrition and exercise. Period. I have been active my entire life. In 2022, I got really into juicing. And last year, I made healing my relationship with food a priority.
You see, growing up, learning to diet, I had no real understanding of why it’s good to workout and eat well. It was all about being skinny, looking a certain way. So if I wasn’t trying to lose weight, I thought I could eat whatever I wanted and didn’t need to work out. I was a smaller size then—by society’s metric healthier— but I had a horrible relationship with food and with myself. Yet, no one noticed. As long as I was living my life to lose weight and wasn’t happy in my body, I was being “healthy.” It was such a lie. And I only wish I had realized this sooner.
So, no. I’m not losing weight for my health. My health is perfectly fine. I don’t have any health issues, and I’m not on track to have health issues. But even if I did, who’s to say that losing weight is the solution? That’s the part that always baffles me. Doctors are so quick to suggest surgery or medication, but never nutrition as a means to fix whatever you have going on. It’s sad that it’s so hard to trust people who are supposed to have our overall well-being at the top of the list.
Instead, I have decided to lose weight to help me achieve my financial goals this year. You see, I am not a “marketable” size when it comes to being on social media and getting brand partnerships. There is a difference between being a size 16 and a size 26. As the latter, I've faced challenges in securing deals despite having a significant following and engagement on Instagram and Facebook. It's a harsh reality, but one that I've learned to accept. You can’t change a system from the outside. You have to be in it. So if me losing some weight will allow me to open the door for more plus size people in the long run, then that’s what I’ll do.
Conclusion
I’ll leave you with one last thought: Life is about choices. But it’s not a question of whether or not you can live with a choice. Rather, can you live with the consequences of your choices? Think about your life right now. Are the choices you’re making going to yield good consequences and help you become a better version of yourself? Or are they going to keep you in the position you’re in right now?
Join me. Whatever your goals are, join me, and let’s make sure 2024 is a year to remember.
Until next time lovelies,
Mwah! 😘
