Setting goals helps you create a plan and get stuff done.  When you don’t set goals for your day or life, it’s easy to get sucked into the daily grind.  But then nothing gets done and no progress is made!  Check out these ideas for setting goals.

Why You Need to Set Personal Goals [And How to Do It]

(This post contains affiliate links.  You can read my disclosure here.)

Overcome Bad Habits

When you get into a rut, sometimes it’s hard to picture yourself getting out.

Or to get up the motivation to get up off your bum and do your work.  Sometimes we sit down to do our work and just don’t have the creativity we used to to create those inspiring lesson plans.

What really happens is we’ve changed our habit, our routine.  Habits are so hard to change!  Anyone who has tried to quit smoking, biting their nails, or lose weight knows how hard a habit can be to overcome.

Habits happen somewhere in our brain where routine takes over and logic goes out the window.

So while we know we need to be doing our prep work or whatever needs to be done, our habits say, “But watching Netflix is what we do now.”  Giving in to the habit is satisfying, even if the habit might not be healthy or productive.

Here’s a book I’ve been reading all about habits.  It’s really interesting!  I’ve learned a lot about why habits influence our daily actions and how to change them.  I totally recommend downloading a copy if you’re into reading nerdy stuff like this too 🙂

Small Victories

In order to overcome bad habits, we need to replace the habit but still get that same satisfaction.  One way to do that is with small victories.

Small changes are easier to keep long-term, as well.

A great way to start is by creating a to-do list every morning.

Grab some post-it notes and make a list while you are drinking your coffee.  Or, as soon as you get out of the shower, because that’s when we tend to remember all of the things we need to do each day!

Start with the quick and easy tasks.  You eat an elephant one bite at a time!  Doing the easy stuff first and crossing them off your list gets them out of the way so you can mentally focus on your more important goals.

But it also gives you a specific “feel good” reaction, too.  That energy helps keep you going.  You can read more about this dopamine response in this article from Psychology Today.

Long Term Goals

Small wins are important, but long term goals are just as important.

Actually, there’s a big correlation between writing down goals and success.  After all, how are you going to reach a goal if you never set one?  Just the act of writing down a goal makes a huge difference in the likelihood that you will accomplish it.  You can read more about that here.

I like to keep my long term goals in my notes app.  I use an iPhone and MacBook, so my notes easily transfer from my phone to my computer.  You can also do this with the Google Keep app.

So sit down and think about what your long term goals are.  What kind of teacher do you want to be?  Where do you see yourself in a month? A year? 5 years?  What do you want to accomplish?

Make a checklist in your notes app and check them off when you’ve reached them!

I have a separate checklist for TpT, my blog, my daycare, and my personal life.  Some of them are:

• Get into the top 1000 sellers on TpT
• 100,000 monthly views on blog
• Pay off my car loan

Conclusion

Goals help you set a plan and keep it in focus.

Small victories help break the bad habit cycle by replacing the satisfaction of your habit with the feel good response of accomplishing a small goal.

And writing down long term goals make you 42% more successful!

What are some of your goals?  How do you keep track of your goals?

Other Balance Posts

1. How to Find Balance When You’re A Teachaholic
2. 5 Truths About Teaching That You Need to Admit
3. 7 Free Ways to Relax After a Hard Day Teaching
4. Why and How to Set Goals for Yourself
5. How to Get Work Done (When You Really Don’t Feel Like It)

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