Again, it’s the first few weeks of a new year. The buzz from social media to print media is about setting yearly resolutions or goals. Every year, most of us plan to do better in our business (in my case, voiceovers), our weight, and, of course, our finances. Really? I can’t tell you how often I made grand plans to take the voice-acting world by storm with more marketing, blogging, and social media posts. While I commend my efforts, it has occurred to me that people put too much into this idea of setting goals at the first of the year. So, I’m gonna blog from my perspective and suggest you not follow the crowd and give up the traditional yearly goal setting practice. Set what you want when you want.
It’s All About You
Entering into a new year has its share of excitement and trepidation. Planning for 12 months within a few days for most feels overwhelming. Think of it: you’ve lived your whole last year. Remember all the unexpected things that happened in your professional and personal life last year? Remember how your health may have changed? Did you have friends or loved ones suffer sickness or even death? What about the challenges you faced that changed your life for good or bad forever?
That said, we can plan all we want but don’t know our future. Our best efforts can still end in ruin. So, before you set grandiose plans for success and prosperity, I suggest refocusing on where you are now. Focus on what you can and what could challenge you in the days, months, and years. It’s not just about following the goals crowd. It’s about your life and making the best of it year after year.
Review Your Success And Letdowns
If you set voiceover or other goals in the past year, how did you do? Take time to assess where you are now and if setting new goals are worth it. If you already have objectives, why not keep them or expand them? If you constantly don’t meet your goals, setting new ones won’t help.
There is no rule that you have to set challenging goals at the beginning of each year. Following the lead of others in any industry can be awkward because you can’t predict the behavior of others. So, before you (if you) set goals for the year, make sure you are ready to move on to new aims or rid yourself of lofty aims you just don’t care about anymore.
Social Media Is Not A Standard
Our society is saturated with people who depend on social media and its influencers to tell them how to live, think, and plan their lives. This phenomenon was not always so. In the last 20 to 25 years, with the launch of so many media platforms and the human need to accepted by others, social media has become perceived as alarmingly important to our lives and businesses. We try hard to do all the right things to be noticed, keep up with our respective industries, and ride the waves of building success. But we often come up short.
Social media should be seen as a collection of suggestions. Our business and industry goals should be well thought out and tailored to our likes, strengths, and hopes. Yearly goals set to the standard of social media and its influencers will keep you ever-changing, guessing, and always seeking status with the elusive In Crowd.
Contributor Angela Chan notes the advice from Lydia Fenet in “Building Confidence And Achieving Goals In 2024: Insights From Lydia Fenet.” In her article, Chan gives Fenet’s statements, “She (Fenet) warns against spending unnecessary time on social media. If you spend hours watching someone’s vacation reel whom you have never met, it’s best to turn off your phone, walk outside, and focus on what you are grateful for in your life,” says Fenet.
There is strange comfort in knowing that no matter what happens today, the Sun will rise again tomorrow.” Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road)
Make Room For A Beautiful Life
In truth, goals help us navigate our lives. But aims should not feel like shackles around our future. Sometimes, less is more. If you must set goals, start with the big picture. My big goals would be voiceover auditions, audiobook recordings, and other aims. When you go from big to small, you let the details fill in as you go. You do this when you set aside time to think about your aim and allow your mind to focus on the goal and how to reach it. Then follow your thinking and jot down the steps and processes for achieving that aim. The point is to take out the requirements of demanding goals. Your goals should be like a fluid map that can change, correct, and adapt as you change, grow, and adapt.
Set Your Year
Make your new goals and aims when you want. Don’t be held down to the first of any year. For example, your birth date could be the beginning of your new year. It’s your life.
Free yourself from the standards around you and make plans that will work and cultivate your life, time, and business. I challenge you to follow a different template of goal setting. Set your course the way you want to live. After all, it’s your life and time.
You know what to do, #breakthatlip.
