Goal Setting for 2020 | Your Focal Point On The Horizon
by Nikki Parnell — December 30, 2019
I like the feeling of a beginning. When everything seems open and possible. When I think of beginnings, I think of when Chase and I started the Camino de Santiago – a 560 mile walk through Spain as part of our honeymoon 6 years ago. We spent 31 days waking up, stuffing our belongings into our backpacks and heading out to wherever the path would lead us that day. All we had to do was walk. Each morning was a tangible example of a fresh start, a brand new day holding new possibilities, of people we had never met and places we had never seen. It was the thrill of an open road.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to channel that “open road” feeling in day-to-day life. The New Year and changes of seasons are probably the closest we come to that feeling. But the freshness and endless possibilities that come with the New Year often seem to wear off as time passes. January is good, goals are still being worked on. Then comes February, then March, and things are getting stale again.
I like to set goals because if you don’t know where you’re headed you won’t get there. I also believe that personal growth takes work, so it’s good to set your sights on a target. In ballet (from what I remember as a little girl) you must pick a focal point far away and spot it as you spin and spin and spin so you don’t get dizzy, fall on your bum or veer off course. In cross-country skiing you and your skis go where your eyes are gazing, so you need to look far enough ahead in order to make the speedy turn you’re trying to navigate with thin sticks on your feet. Or with running, if you look too closely at your feet and the roots and rocks you’re trying to hop over, you have more of a chance of tripping over them than if you look ahead and let your body’s intuition take over. Something about our mind and body naturally move better if we’re not overthinking and over worrying about each little foot plant.
It’s not wise to set too many goals though. Then your once motivating goals morph into a hopeless checklist and the likelihood of sticking with them vanishes as quickly as a meerkat disappears into it’s hole at the first sign of a predator. Then you will feel like a failure when you really didn’t need to do that to yourself in the first place. The goals were supposed to be helpful and encouraging ideas to live better – stable bullseyes of intention to keep in focus as you’re spinning and turning and running. With too many objectives in your sight, they’ll lose that anchoring ability. A ballerina spinning with nothing to spot.
I think goal setting should come from a place where we know we are enough – as we are right now, with or without meeting more and more goals. Pick only the ones that really matter to you and let go of all the many goals you could have – because we all could have 20,000 goals each year because we want to be better but we’re human and no one is perfect. Set goals that can be a focal point on your horizon – ones that truly excite you and scare you and motivate you to find a way to that distant place.
So, whether you’re a goal setter, a wanna be goal setter, or absolutely don’t believe in making goals, it can still be good to ask yourself some questions as sort of a check-in or reset for the new beginning. Below are questions that Chase and I are asking ourselves this year and we’re using this prompt to help pinpoint our goals.
Upon my own reflection, here are some of my simple goals for 2020:
- Run / hike / move 3 miles a day. It doesn’t sound like much. I just tend to be a low mileage runner and often take days off – intentionally or unintentionally, so my goal is to be more consistent.
- Make TPG a high priority for Chase and I (This is Bend’s Tuesday night Performance Group AKA a great running workout with awesome community every Tuesday. It’s fun and I run faster and harder than I would on my own. Must make it happen and set up some babysitting rotations and try to go every week!)
- Read 24 books. I always set a reading goal for each year. I don’t always hit it, but sometimes I do! I read 17 in 2019 and 20 in 2018. I’d like to read two a month in 2020. I believe that filling your mind with good and interesting things is so worthwhile, valuable, and keeps you from stagnating in life.
- Date with Chase once a week. Whether running or eating or drinking coffee or whatever. We need to carve it out because it’s a million times worth it.
- Word for the year: Minimal. I want to simplify our life (less distractions/stress/frenzied running around), our house (not be a total minimalist but a “joyist” and start Marie Kondo-ing it and throwing out what doesn’t bring joy), our expenses (cut back on “fast” buying to save money for traveling), our waste and plastic use (only use reusable bags, be more mindful of where the single-use things I use will end up when I’m done with them).
We have many irons in the fire as far as Treeline Journal is concerned. It’s difficult to share concrete goals because so much is constantly changing and evolving in this new little business. Our focal point on the horizon keeps raising and shifting as we go. There are people and brands and races and places we want to partner with. There are new doors opening and connections being made each day and we want to stay open to it all because you never know where one opportunity could lead. We have big hopes to do some traveling abroad as a family but can’t quite plan that until some races fall into place, so stay tuned on that! We have some merchandise we’re going to order in the next couple weeks, so that’ll be fun! We want to give back to our community and local organizations and the planet, so we’re dreaming and scheming about how we’ll do that this year.
Overall, we want to keep running, keep writing, keep living inspired and stay honest and authentic. We want to continue to live our best life – life from the treeline – where the views and the present moment open up to wonder and beauty. We want to keep returning to ourselves and each other. Through this new chance we have at life, we want to leave space for uncertainty, pursue the things that speak to our souls and work hard to craft Treeline Journal into something that’s sustainable.
Thank you so much for being part of our 2019! We can’t wait to see where 2020 takes us all! It’ll be what we make it, so let’s make it good!
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