The Year That Will Be - 2021 Goals

A New Year. A New Start. Time for New Resolutions? Honestly, I don’t believe in resolutions. There is a saying that resolutions are meant to be broken. And it is kind of true, isn’t it? I know I have never been able to go through with my resolutions. This is why you need to set goals. You might think that resolutions and goals are the same. Trust me, they are not!

This year I have a better understanding of what I need to focus on and what my goals should be. I’m going to list down a few of my goals for the year 2021.

1.       Of course, I’m starting with the number of books to be read. I had a serious thought about this during the last 2 days. I know that I can read 100 books but the number of books is not going to be the main focus this year too. I do want to increase it from last year. So, I’m going with 60. But the real goal is to write the reviews as soon as I’m done with the book. Last year what happened was that I always read the book in 2-3 days but then took one week or more to write the review. Procrastination is real!! I love the word “procrastination” but being a procrastinator isn’t good. I know I can write the review in a day or two but I just start thinking I have enough time so I’ll do it later. This is what I want to work on this year.

2.       Get restarted on the YouTube channel. And more importantly to be consistent with it. This might be the toughest goal for me. Being consistent!

3.       The next goal is not really about me. A dear friend has written an amazing book. She might have her doubts about the ‘amazing’ part. Anyway, my goal is to make sure she takes the next step in getting her book published. I’m not sure how far I’ll get along with this since I have no idea about the publishing industry. But she does. So, I’m hoping I can eventually convince her to let go of her doubts (Yes girl those are just doubts you have. You know who you are). P.S: In case any of you can help, let me know.

4.       Be more careful about what I eat. I was really good about this in 2019 and in 2020 until lockdown happened. Now it’s all upside down. I want to get back on track with my health.

5.       Professionally, I want to capitalize on the start I got in 2020 and grow. I want to improve myself and keep learning on a constant basis. To be more specific, I want to learn more about Pinterest and LinkedIn.

6.       I also want to listen to more audiobooks. Ever since lockdown happened in March last year, I haven’t been able to listen to any audiobooks. Since there is no commute to work, listening to audiobooks is going to be a challenge. I seriously miss audiobooks and need to find a good time and place to listen to them.

7.       I have wanted to revamp my website for quite some time now. But it never happened. This year I’m definitely doing it.

8.       Reading more diversely is another goal for the year. I want to try new genres and authors. I’m also hoping that reviewing books on time and being consistent on social media will eventually get me more ARC’s.

9.     There is one factor that links all of these and that’s Toastmasters. You may wonder how! Well, that’s the kind of confidence I’ve gained by being a Toastmaster. I know I have kind of slacked with my speeches last year. I do not want 2021 to be the same. And so my goal is to make sure I give frequent speeches and fulfill my responsibilities in all my roles. Our VPE will be happy to hear this.

10.       And finally, there are a few more personal and spiritual goals that I want to work on this year.

If you have managed to read so far, at least some of you might have wondered why I’m posting my goals publicly. This is another aspect of goal setting. Writing it down brings more clarity to our thoughts. Secondly, the moment we put it out in the world, we hold ourselves accountable. Without accountability, there is no point in setting any goal. Thirdly, I believe that God has His own ways of opening doors for us when we are clear about what we want. And finally, if I can inspire at least some of you to set goals for yourself after reading this, then I would have achieved one of my personal goals!