Here we are, the first Monday of 2022. I know we’re not supposed to claim anything… but it just *feels* different, doesn’t it?
Maybe we’ve decided to quit having any expectations of the year ahead, or we’re throwing our hands up and saying ‘Bring it on Universe!’ – but whichever camp you fall into, you’re probably hyper aware of all the folks pledging their resolutions and six-figure goals for the year ahead.
‘Tis the season of goal setting, and whilst there is essentially nothing wrong with setting a goal, it can become toxic, overwhelming and unrealistic really fast. During my first few years of business I would set so many goals that I didn’t achieve because they weren’t mine, they were things I thought I should want as a business owner.
Working towards your goals doesn’t have to be hard, it doesn’t need to require 12-hour work days, back to back meetings and end in burn out. You can work full time without working 9-5.
There is so much pressure in the online world to hustle towards your goals, and whilst I’m always your biggest cheerleader, there is another way to achieve your goals, intentions and dreams.
Nurture the shit out of them.
Creating goals/intentions that you can nurture a little each day feels delicious, it encourages steady growth and reduces the desire to overcommit your time and energy.
Choosing to nurture your business goals is a big middle finger to bro marketing and unethical business practices. Nothing says fuck you like dismantling the patriarchal standards of hustle culture and doing things on your own terms.
When we shift our language around goal setting, and allow ourselves to feel into what we NEED first, we can make commitments that feel expansive and less restrictive than your traditional SMART goals.
Here are 3 of my commitments:
- To myself; nurture my finances
- To my business; nurture my marketing outside of Instagram
- To my community; continue listening, and creating communities and products which nurture your needs
Each of these commitments can be nurtured on a weekly basis, they are ongoing practices that will evolve with my needs. These might seem vague, but if the past two years have taught us anything, it’s that our lives can change exponentially without notice.
We’re in control of what we want to achieve, and the journey doesn’t need to be restrictive or rigid. By focusing on an area we want to nurture we are allowing ourselves time to pause, reflect and evaluate what is and isn’t working.
Each day I open up my copy of Planning By The Moon and take a moment to breathe and consider how nurtured I felt that day. It’s a big and slightly crunchy thought because sometimes we don’t know what it even means to be nurtured.
In fact, the first time I sat down with my nurture tracker I realised I needed to establish exactly what nurturing my own needs looked and felt like. Like most bumps in the road, I turned to my journaling practice for the answers and uncovered what my self-nurture practices are.
If you’d like to learn more about my nurture practice and add some yummy nurturing journaling and practices to your own business, you can download a copy of my Planning By The Moon Nurture Tracker + Prompts for free by clicking here.