10 Tips to Achieve More in 2022 Plus My Goals for 2022

For most people, many goals were not achieved in the last 2 years.

Life changed so much, we had to adapt, right when some of us thought things were improving, lockdowns happened again etc.

It’s ok if all you did the last 2 years was survive!

We haven’t all had to create super successful businesses, side hustles, get fit or whatever.

This rollercoaster went longer than expected and took its toll.

That said, I am hoping you’re interested in joining me to kick butt in 2022.

Personally, I have already started on my 2022 goals because I don’t like waiting for Jan 1st. I like to start asap whenever I can.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products and services I personally use. Read our full disclosure here.

1. Review Your Previous Year

Did you set goals last year? How did they go? What were you successful at, what did you enjoy, what do you need to work on?

If you didn’t achieve certain things, why didn’t you achieve them?

Go over each goal and work out what happened to prevent you from achieving them or if you did achieve them, what contributed to the success.

How can you apply that to future goals?

Life happens, goals change and some things we set out to do are unrealistic.

Be honest with yourself so you can set and achieve goals next time.

My 2021 Review

You can find my 2021 goals here. My full review is done in a journal so I can look back on it. Below is a short summary.

I read through them and laughed. Most were based on me not being pregnant…

But I gave birth in January 2021, barely recovered and boom, pregnant again.

We did want them close, as my older two from my first marriage are close in age and best friends.

I intended for there to be a little more of a gap so I could drop some weight and focus on my health.

That didn’t happen.

We also switched to him doing commercial diving which meant with 2 teens at home and a baby, working or doing anything was next to impossible so financial goals weren’t achieved.

However, I did get lots of family time, my kids and I did plenty of activities.

I did increase my exercise and have been more active this pregnancy than any other.

I’m doing more yoga and I did read 52 books which was a goal I set.

2. Decide What You Truly Want

Often, people set goals based on what their friends are doing or what they feel they should do.

But what do you truly want?

What sort of lifestyle do you want to have, what sort of person do you want to be, how do you want your day to look?

Take some time to write down your perfect day.

Everything from your home and how you wake up to what you eat, activities you do, how you feel, all of it.

How can you achieve that?

My life has always been around my family, travel, the beach, activities we enjoy etc.

For the past few years, despite major obstacles, we did get to travel.

I have worked from home around my kids their whole life and been able to afford most of what we wanted or needed.

Now, we live in Noosa, a few hundred metres from the beach.

We can walk everywhere we want, have an active lifestyle, the kids have great friends and we travel when possible.

I write for a living and after maternity leave will be going into counselling, something I have wanted to do for 2 decades now.

To achieve that, we had to know what life we wanted then make changes in our lives to make it happen.

Without knowing the ideal lifestyle for us, there’s no way we could have created a plan and followed it to achieve it.

3. Be Realistic

When setting goals, be realistic.

You want to push yourself but at the same time, we can’t all achieve everything and there are some limits.

Work out what you want and what steps are achievable to make that happen.

Allow enough time, ensure you have the resources then get to it.

4. Write Them Down

Without writing them down, you won’t remember them or focus on them.

Goals are just wishes unless you write them down with a proper plan of action.

I usually write mine down based on the SMART method: Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic TimeBound but have become a little more flexible in how they are written, provided I also outline a plan to achieve them properly.

For example, I know how I want my body to look, how far I want to be able to run and how fast, the same with rowing etc.

So I will write my goal based on that then break it down into little steps. I’ll share my 2022 goals further down.

5. Break Them Into 1% Steps

The books Atomic Habits and The Compound Effect both go into detail about breaking your goals into small steps.

Also, the impact of 1% over time. Making a small change every day is more achievable, you can stick to it and increase it easier than trying to do a huge overhaul.

Take weight loss for example. Most people decide they want to lose 20kg so they sign up to the gym and start a diet.

They plan to go 1 to 2 hours a day, every day and only eat clean or plant-based or keto or do intermittent fasting or whatever diet they feel will be best.

Going from eating junk all the time to no junk and not exercising to doing 1 to 2 hours a day is not advisable nor is it sustainable long term.

However, finding an exercise you enjoy such as a specific class or doing the Couch to 5km or signing up for a Conqueror Challenge (I do these) are all great small steps you can build on. As you improve, increase what you are doing.

The same for finances. Start by saving 1% if 10% is daunting. Then the following month, push it to 2% and so on. Before you know it, you’ll be saving 10% and it won’t feel as if you made huge sacrifices to get there.

You don’t have to achieve everything within the year! It’s ok to go slower, build it and do it sustainably so it is a lifestyle change you can maintain.

6. Have Accountability

Being accountable to someone or something helps you keep focus.

My sisters and I have checked in with each other around health goals.

On Aspiring Millionaire I share our financial goals and progress to keep me accountable.

Work out how you want to remain accountable then add it to your life.

With the health example, I wrote out my wellness plan and shared it with one of my sisters so I can check in regularly. It’s easy to create groups for that.

Join Facebook groups relevant to your goals or create your own.

Go to meet-ups in your area or if a goal can connect to a class, then enrol so you are accountable to the teacher.

Being accountable will make it much easier to stick to it when you don’t feel like it.

7. Take Action

Now you have your plan, take action. Commit to doing what you need to do every day.

For me, I have a morning routine I love which has helped me significantly.

I also read books, listen to Podcasts and YouTube to stay motivated when I am exercising, walking, cleaning the house or driving. All these things keep me focused.

8. Be Woo Woo

While all the practical steps are crucial, being a bit ‘woo woo’ has helped me immensely.

By woo woo, I mean The Law of Attraction, vision boards and similar.

I have a full motivation wall which includes my vision board, calendar, quotes and anything else I feel will help.

It is incredible the amount I have achieved by doing this.

I meditate. Visualisation has been a huge part of enabling me to achieve my goals. Olympic athletes do this too so it’s not that woo woo!

When going through my custody battle, having a specific visualisation helped immensely and amazingly, the day I visualised is almost exactly how the day happened when I won.

A few things which have helped me embrace this are:

Chillpreneur and Lucky Bitch. Denise Duffield Thomas is an Aussie and it is so good to hear her. I listen to her podcast as well as follow her on Facebook.

We Should All Be Millionaires isn’t so much woo woo but it sure lit a fire for me and is a must-read.

For starters, we should all spend less time on social media but we keep spending more.

Yet, it is all curated, mostly fake as we have seen time and time again plus can have a negative impact on our mental and physical health.

Since most are using it, here are some tips to make it help instead of hinder.

Get rid of anything that bums you out, including friends.

On Facebook, you can unfollow them so still be ‘friends’ but they won’t show up in your feed.

Follow accounts that inspire, uplift and relate to your goals or the life you want.

Do not follow ‘fitspo’ accounts if trying to lose weight. Most of them are not at all inspirational.

Put time limits or blocks on it. You can delete the apps from your phone to make them less accessible.

Use blockers on your laptop when working and find something else to do instead of scrolling.

I share what I am doing regarding ways to make and save money plus sometimes a bit of parenting/our life on The Thrifty Issue Facebook Page, Instagram and in the Facebook Group.

10. Create the Ideal Environment

To help with motivation and success, create the ideal environment.

If you want to do yoga, set it up. Either book in a class or have a dedicated space in your home for it.

Have a specific saving goal? Set up a direct debit on payday or discuss with payroll to have your pay split.

Tempted by junk food? Don’t keep it in the house.

Sick of wasting $20 a week with other mums having coffee and cake at a cafe?

Suggest going to a walk around a specific area or going to a park or other free activities instead.

Look at your environment. Everything from your home to your phone to your activities.

Work out what changes you need to make so everywhere and everything is working to give you the life you want.

My 2022 Goals

In the past 2 weeks, these have changed drastically.

Knowing I will be giving birth in February, some of my goals won’t be started until after that.

I have no idea where Justin will be working, whether we will go to Vanuatu next year or have to wait longer etc.

So the below goals are fairly flexible in some ways.

Read All The Books I Own and Haven’t Read

I added up 72 books on my bookshelf that I haven’t read.

My challenge is to read them all this year.

Keep the ones I love and get rid of any I don’t feel will benefit myself, be read again or read by my kids.

I also have a heap of books through Amazon on Kindle and Audible I need to get through.

Couch to 5km Run

This is a program for non runners such as myself to be able to run 5km.

I’m active and used to run but haven’t in a long time.

Ideally, I’ll complete this in the first half of the year then move to 10km.

Clear Debt

There is still some debt left to clear and I hate that it is still hanging around.

I’m confident that next year it will be gone since we don’t have the huge expenses and I will have more help to focus on work etc.

Invest 20%

Previously, I aimed at investing 10% of my income.

More recently, I haven’t been able to because of the large expenses and inability to work much.

Next year, 20% is my minimum.

In 2022, I will be investing larger amounts in other ways such as indexed funds.

I’ll discuss this more when I start doing it and as it progresses but I will be doing that at www.aspiringmillionaire.com.

Outsource Business Completely

This is something I have been working on and have a plan for.

In preparation for other ventures, I am slowly outsourcing more and more of my business with the aim to have it fully managed by others within 6 months.

Health

2 babies so close together wreaked havoc on my body.

To combat this, I have a plan broken into stages.

The first stage is finishing the pregnancy while continuing pregnancy yoga, eating healthy and walking as much as I can (currently 10 to 20km a day) with my son.

Stage 2 is the 6 weeks after birth where I will be recovering and allowing my body to heal, while also strengthening my core as recommended by my doctors.

Stage 3 is where I will focus on my core, dropping weight and increasing overall fitness.

This is where I start the couch to 5km and I will be doing some dance classes with one of my kids.

The whole time, I will also be continuing with a healthy eating plan, taking my vitamins and probiotics.

Sleep is something I will get as much of as I can but am fully aware that a newborn and toddler will mean I am a zombie.