How to Challenge Yourself for 90 Days with Gratitude & Goals

It’s approaching…the last 3 months of the year. Eek! If you are a busy mom, this is how the holidays usually play out; you decorate, plan, shop, wrap gifts, party, drink, eat, lose sleep, and get overwhelmed. As a parent, you tend to focus on being everything to everyone, which usually leaves you burned out at the end of the year. Then you spend January 1st picking up the pieces and start drafting a plan for the new year, the new you. Your goals take a few weeks to implement and usually fizzle out early. It’s unsustainable. You get frustrated and disappointed with little progress and fall back into old habits.

It happens to all of us. Personal growth and development are highly individualized and in order to be successful you need accountability and some consistency.

If you are searching for a different approach (one that is super productive and has a higher chance of success) then you need to start before the New Year. Yes, before! Challenge yourself for 90 days. It takes just 5 minutes a day and can be life-changing.

90 Days of Gratitude & Goals

I absolutely love the holiday season, but during the last few months of the year, I usually get overwhelmed (as many of us do). There is not much time to slow down and take time for yourself. I never wanted to admit it but I usually felt trapped and just couldn't find a way out. So I just kept going, surviving. Until I discovered the practice of Gratitude and Goals.

Gratitude

For me, it was life-changing to start my day with gratitude. Simply noting what I was grateful for. It forced me to breathe and slow down, feel the energy, and the environment around me. Appreciate the little things. I noticed when I would skip my gratitude practice (I just wasn’t as present or nice to be around). When I was having a rough period, I would usually go back and see what I had written and was grateful for in the past. It was inspiring, and eye-opening and put my life into the perspective that it needed.

But, there was still something missing.

Goals

I also had these dreams, desires, aspirations, and a vision for myself in the future. I needed to add some goals to my daily gratitude. I was taught that goals were something you plan at the beginning of the year (or quarterly), and check in on just like a business plan but I had personal goals. I was missing the consistency and the accountability. Several years ago, I started learning about the law of attraction (more below) and manifesting. This missing piece, of setting goals after practicing gratitude, was what I needed to incorporate into my daily practice.

Law of Attraction

A quick overview of manifestation. It is the belief that our thoughts (what you write down) and intentions (our actions) can actually shape our reality. We can attract those outcomes (dreams /goals) into our lives. Manifestation is subtle but powerful and it can only be measured by you.

Honestly, it is worth trying but you need to stay consistent. Repetition is important. It becomes a belief and then a reality. I like to pursue goals daily in 90-day increments. It just works better for me that way. I come from the corporate world where 90-day plans are the norm. It’s easier to follow and measure from quarter to quarter but any timeline works.

How you set goals is extremely important. The words you write are extremely important. Some of us are used to pursuing a goal by saying:

“ I want”

“ I wish”

“ I hope”

“ I dream”

I used to do it too. We all hope, wish, and dream but that is not how to pursue a goal. You don’t wish you were a millionaire. You are a millionaire. You don’t want to own a business, you own a business. You don’t hope to travel the world. You travel the world.

What you say matters, how you say it matters more. Envision your dream as a reality today, not wishing for tomorrow. Rewire your brain to live in that goal and you will start to pursue actions with that mindset with new opportunities that will come to you.

Daily Practice

I keep it simple (5 minutes a day) during my morning, I write down 3 things that I am grateful for and 5 goals that I am pursuing. Simple enough. I use it to ground me and motivate me throughout my day. My goals usually remain the same until they become a reality for me. I was a big skeptic of manifestation (law of attraction) or whatever you want to call it. But it worked and still works. I am by no means an expert on this but I am a willing participant.

Clarity

The hardest part of this practice is being crystal clear on what you want (sometimes hard for the multi-passionate). We are all indecisive and sometimes a little lost. For this I recommend meditation. It helps clear the clutter in your mind to see your true self so find time for it, even if you just have 5 minutes to go outside. Use an app. Make it easy.

Start Your 90 Days Today!

Starting the practice of gratitude and goals is easy and free. Just grab a blank paper or notebook and write down 3 things you are grateful for and 5 goals. I have used many different blank journals and gratitude journals over the years, but once I discovered exactly what I wanted, I created my own gratitude and goals journal. It takes me 5 minutes a day, and I use it to guide me, ground me, and motivate me. If you want a simple, yet powerful journal, that I personally use, I’ll link it below.