(22-15=) 7 Goals For 2022

I couldn't come up with 22...

04.01.2022 - 21:26
Yes, it's another one of these stories, which pop up by the thousands whenever a new year starts. Setting goals shouldn't be limited to only January 1st, but leaving our baggage in the old year and starting with a clean sheet is very pleasing to the OCD parts of our brains. 22 goals for 2022 would have been nice, but let's be honest, completing one or two would already be a great accomplishment, so here are 7 goals for 2022 instead:

1. Waste less time

There are many ways of wasting your time, like scrolling through social media before doing something productive or cleaning your desk because you don't want to do your taxes. We are all guilty of some form of procrastination. For me, it's often indecisiveness. I have so many things that I want to work on, but I keep wasting time trying to figure out which is the most important, and then the remaining time isn't enough to get started, so I just watch a random YouTube video. Just getting started with something is a lot better. Another project might be 10% more effective, but anything is better than doing nothing.

2. Say yes

You never know where your next opportunity will come from. Maybe it's the random email you chose to answer or an offer that seems scary to accept. The unknown is always frightening, but we should say yes a lot more often. In the end, it's the things we didn't do we regret a lot more than the things we did. This is pretty much in line with the YouTube channel Yes Theory and their motto of Seek Discomfort.

3. Learn something new

With access to the internet, it's possible to learn almost anything: Learning a new language, picking up a new musical instrument, or experimenting with new technologies, frameworks, or tools in your job. It's pretty easy to fall into the daily grind and keep doing the same things over and over again. Learning new skills is amazing and we should be taking a little bit of time every week to learn something new, even if it is completely random and unrelated to your job or other interests. You never know when a new skill will come in handy.

4. Quit something old

There's probably also something old you should quit. The obvious choices are to stop drinking or quit smoking (please stop these right now), but there's a lot more you could quit or change in the new year: Behavior, mindset, negative thoughts, whatever it may be, we all have something old that's holding us back.

5. Start a side hustle

The popular opinion on side hustles is divided, some people really like them, and others don't think it's worth your time. I believe they are still valuable and interesting. Turning my casual writing into a side hustle has been one of the best decisions I made. Not necessarily financially - I make less than minimum wage -, but feedback and comments have been very nice and rewarding, and I have been learning a lot. These days you can turn pretty much everything into a side hustle and I would like to try more of them.

6. Work on a personal project

Personal projects are very valuable. Some of them can be turned into side hustles and pay off that way, but often the value is in the skills you develop while working on them. For example, I have implemented a progressive web app messenger with web sockets a few years ago and pretty much all of the technologies I used then are now required for the freelancing project I am working on at the moment. Finding the time to work on personal projects is hard to come by, especially when there is no immediate financial reward, but I believe it's one of the best investments of your time.

7. Yoga

Now, what would a new year's resolution article be without working out and getting fit? Everybody goes to the gym for a week and then never steps foot into one again for the rest of the year. I don't like gyms, especially not in a pandemic, but I am going to do the 30-day yoga challenge by Adriene once again (my previous record is day 22) and my goal is to complete it by the end of February.

When it comes to fitness, setting realistic goals is very important. If your goal is to work out every single day, and you miss a day, you will feel disappointed and might not even continue because your streak is broken anyway. But when you change your goal to "work out 5 times a week", missing a day won't be the end of the world, and exceeding your minimum number is a nice accomplishment.

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Setting goals for the year often gets a bad rap because so many people don't stick to their goals. But this doesn't mean that you shouldn't even start. If you only manage to accomplish one of your goals for the year that's still a lot better than not even trying in the first place. In our modern and busy world, finding time to work on your ideas, projects, and goals is becoming increasingly difficult, but sometimes even 5 minutes per day are enough to implement meaningful changes.

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Title image by Markus Winkler from Pexels.

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