How I am Writing my Goals for March

Heather Rayner
5 min readFeb 28, 2021

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It’s time to get sh*t done the right way.

Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash

I sit down to begin writing this piece on the last Friday of February, as the sun begins to set on a bright day that has teased us all into dreaming of Spring. My eyes are strained from a week of study and as a Masters student, the workload has started to consume and overwhelm me. This week I noticed my attention span shortening, my motivation to exercise lacking, and on a few occasions, I had grown frustrated with my classmates. For someone whose motto is Work Smarter, Not Harder, I don’t think this week has gone very well…

Once again a new month starts on a Monday (This makes me very, very happy) and I am seizing the opportunity to write myself goals for what I want to achieve in the next 31 days. I will be taking a holistic approach and writing personal, professional, and movement goals. I have always balanced my studies with part-time jobs, internships, and various hobbies which means that over time, I have accumulated several strategies that help me stay on top of life. Below I will outline some of my favorites:

Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash

Do you ever look at another person’s life and think that they have it all?

ONLINE CALENDARS

I have fully transitioned to planning my life through online calendars, after buying 3 very cute journals and literally never staying up to date. I am often short on time and having an online planning system is the simplest way to stay on track, input tasks quickly, and track progress. In the book 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management, Kevin Kruse discusses how time blocking your day in a calendar is far more productive than writing a to-do list, as it enables you to set realistic time periods to get work done. I take this one step further and color code my time blocks, so that I can visualize how much time per day and per week I am spending on certain tasks.

If your goal is to spend more time in front of clients, and less time in internal meetings, then this color coding can show you how your week is split up. If your goal is to get in a workout before you start your day, time blocking it can solidify your intention and remind you to honor that time to work on your fitness. Regardless of your goals, the time blocking method can help you stay on track to achieve them.

WORKING BACKWARDS

Now anyone who has ever started a project can relate to the feeling of staring at a blank Word document or Excel spreadsheet, and having no idea where to start. After the end of my first semester of my masters, I noticed in a bit of cheeky reflection (more on this later) that I am far less productive at the start of a project because I waste time on tasks that are not useful to the end goal. To tackle this, I have started to write out what I expect the end goal to look like, and then work backward incrementally, creating ‘stages’ of work and identifying what tasks I need to complete at each stage.

FIND SOMEONE TO LOOK UP TO

Do you ever look at another person’s life and think that they have it all? We have all at some point wish that our lives could be more like another person’s, and that feeling is not always productive but rather, it leaves us feeling lost and unhappy with the cards that life has dealt us. Social Media and Celebrity Culture have made this phenomenon all the more common, but I argue that there is a way to make these feelings more productive.

For years now, I have been an enthusiastic follower of Grace Beverley, the 23-year-old CEO of two companies who grew her wealth and following from a fitness-focused Instagram account. Her work ethic is so inspirational that next month she will be releasing a book about her productivity method.

Having someone to look up to helps me to create and implement daily habits, whilst using social media for good. When I’m feeling slightly demotivated, I’ll take a look at Grace’s Instagram profile and get a dose of inspiration. Finding someone that encapsulates your goals and looking up to their success is especially important for women, who often are encouraged to tear each other down rather than celebrate and normalize female achievement.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKd11FBMZQe/

LAZY SUNDAYS

As a student (did I mention I’m doing a masters???) I have signed away my weekends for the foreseeable. But for me, Sundays truly are a day of rest. But rather than spend the entire day under my duvet or in a brunch-induced food coma, this month I will spend a short amount of time on a Sunday to reflect on my week and seek to understand how far I am progressing with my monthly agenda. I hope that this ‘check in’ exercise will be almost meditative and help me to be more intentional.

CELEBRATE WINS

Sometimes when we have multiple goalposts and targets, we can get caught up in the rat race. The passing of a milestone can become obscured when we are thinking ahead. I have recently begun reading Your Next Five Moves by Patrick Bet-David which applies the chess methodology of forward-thinking to business situations. The book itself is incredibly thought-provoking but reminds me slightly of the hustle culture that can cause burnout. To remedy this, I believe that consciously celebrating the process which takes you to your goals is beneficial to remaining balanced. Besides, I’ll take any excuse for a celebratory G&T.

TAKE A HOLISTIC APPROACH

In my experience so far, there is no productivity without wellness and no wellness without productivity. I have created a calendar for the month of March with a variety of articles, podcasts, and activities that will help me stay balanced, happy, and healthy throughout the month.

a new prompt/ resource each day!

You can download the PDF with all the resource links by signing up below:

LET’S TALK

Let me know if you downloaded the PDF, and if you have any suggestions to add in April!

@heather.rayner on Instagram

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Heather Rayner
Heather Rayner

Written by Heather Rayner

20-something navigating through the ocean of online wellness and productivity trends. Talk to me about all things health and happiness!

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