How to Get Back on Track with Your Goals
Do you ever just feel like you need a hard reset? You know when your laptop is acting wonky and kinda sluggish you can hit that restart button and wa-la it powers back on and 9 times out of 10 it’s back to its speedy self?
Well we don’t exactly have a restart button wired into us when life feels overwhelming, your mind feels scattered, and your schedule and routines are a tangled mess. But good news - there are some healthy things that we can do to help us reset or get back on track when we start to feel this way.
Before I start coming at you with how I approach a life reset, I want to give you some backstory. You know I went on vacation last week - Adam and I went to Cocoa Beach for a week and y’all, I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t know how it was going to go down. I went into the trip with 0 expectations.
Would I panic from taking time off work? Possibly.
Would I have a revelation on the importance of rest? Possibly.
Would I just have a lot of surface level fun in the sun and then get back to life as it was before we left? Possibly.
Now that I’m back and getting settled into my “real life” and I’ve had some time to really process and digest the heart changes that went down last week, I’m ready to talk through them with you and then share what I’m going to be doing to reset. So this was actually the first vacation I’ve been on since being a business owner where I wasn’t struggling with internal panic attacks about not working.
IT WAS GLORIOUS. So what was different?
I’ve implemented The 5 Keys to Hustling Sanely the last year or so and it’s paying off. I’ve used the 5-Step Hustle Sanely Schedule Building Framework to create a schedule that allows me to pursue my dreams without sacrificing my mental health and relationships. I’ve created new rhythms and done a lot of mindset work to separate my identity from my work and re-establish my values.
I got clear on what I wanted my life to look/feel like so I could weed out things that were masking themselves as priorities but were actually taking time away from my true priorities. But what I realized during this trip, as I sat on the balcony, overlooking the ocean journaling and praying is that my life is cluttered. Like super cluttered. I have so much stuff in my home - my closet, my pantry, my shed. It’s all so full of stuff. My schedule, too - it’s bursting at the seams with projects, ideas, tasks, and responsibilities. One “yeah I can do that” at a time has accumulated to this monstrous mountain of obligations that is burying my true priorities.
The more I talked to Jesus and wrote my thoughts, I just kept going back to these 2 words: SIMPLIFY + SABBATH. Okay to be fair, the words that kept popping up were declutter and rest but doesn’t the S alliteration make your heart happy?
Clutter takes up space whether it’s stuff you like or not. The more stuff you have, physically and emotionally, the less room you have to nurture what really matters to you. Alright so now let’s get tangible shall we?
Here are 5 things that you can do when you feel like you need a life reset:
1) Revisit your vision and goals and declutter what doesn’t align.
If you’ve been in the Hustle Sanely community for awhile then you’re probably familiar with the 5 Keys to Hustling Sanely and Key 2 is Get Clear on Your Vision for a reason. You can’t craft an intentional life without a vision. What do you actually want your life to look like? Feel like? Be full of?
The only way for your schedule, goals, and obligations to reflect what you want your life to look and feel like is if you actually know what you want your life to look and feel like. If you have no vision, you’ll fall captive to running through the motions with your hair on fire all the time, you know?
Sit down and get clear on your vision. Spend some time on this. Then hold that up against where you’re currently spending your time and energy. If something doesn’t fit, it’s got to go.
Example for me: I’ve got a lot of moving parts in my business, as I’m sure you’ve gathered. A lot of them jive well together and feel good to me. However, 2 areas feel clunky: The Hustle Sanely Squad Facebook Group and the Hustle Sanely BFF program.
I am working on being more intentional with those 2 areas of my business right now. I’m ironing out my vision for Hustle Sanely BFFs and owning the fact that the free Facebook group overwhelms me.
I see so many other business owners running free Facebook groups that do so well. But honestly, Facebook groups without purpose are just not my zone of genius. So having that group feels overwhelming and it’s taking up energy and headspace that I could devote to something more purposeful.
What is taking up space in your head, heart, and actual life that stresses you out?
2) Focus on a morning routine that works in this season.
It’s no secret that I am obsessed with morning routines because I really do believe that how we start our day is a solid indicator of the rest of the day is going to go. I have a whole podcast episode on morning routines but for now, I want to talk about how I’m using my morning routine to help me reset my life.
I want to simplify my morning routine in this season so I’m breaking it up into 3 categories to make sure I’m hitting all areas of my health and choosing things that spread out over multiple categories. The categories are mental health, physical health, and spiritual health.
I’ll be doing things like: reading, stretching, journaling, praying, and meditating every morning but without assigning a specific time to each activity. Just kind of going with what I need when I check-in with myself first thing.
In the Hustle Sanely Program, for the gals who are overwhelmed or feel boxed in by a super structured morning routine, I suggest a morning routine menu like this - where you have a list of activities that fill you up in these areas and you do a few each morning based on what you feel. I think people panic when they hear the word “routine” tacked onto morning because they think every single morning has to be this structured robotic thing and has to look the exact same every morning but that’s not that case.
In Hustle Sanely land, a routine is just a part of your day that is intentional and regular from day to day. So like you have a morning routine, a workout routine, and an evening routine every day but they may not look the same every single day. I hope that makes sense!
Remember, routines are not meant to box you in or stress you out. They are meant to save you time and energy so you can focus on your relationships and your goals!
3) Revamp your eating habits and workout plan.
Okay let me hop on my ex-personal trainer soapbox real quick and tell you that our diet (as in what you eat, not a restrictive plan) and exercise matter so much when it comes to living a peacefully productive life. That’s why move your body for 30 minutes is part of Hustle Sanely 5.
When we eat well and move our bodies often, we can show up better for all other areas of our lives. The food you eat affects your body. You're either feeding it food that nourishes it which leads to increased energy and decreased health issues or you’re feeding it food that makes you sluggish and increases your risk for health issues. Just saying. Incorporating regular movement into your daily life is also a way to take care of not only your physical health but your mental health, too. So many studies have been done that point to a strong correlation between stress levels and exercise.
I’m personally asking myself before each meal: “Is this food going to make me feel good from the inside out?” because I’m not into tracking my food and haven’t been for a few years now. And I’ve written up a workout plan that includes mobility and stretching, cardio, and weight training so that I’m taking care of my body the best way possible.
4) You knew this was coming but: get back to the basics of implementing Hustle Sanely 5 every day.
If you're new, Hustle Sanely 5, or HS5, is a list of 5 intentional things that the Hustle Sanely Squad does every day to make sure we are pursuing our goals without sacrificing our mental health and relationships:
Complete your focus 3.
Move your body for 30 minutes.
Tidy for 15 minutes.
Say or do one kind thing for yourself.
Say or do one kind thing for someone else.
HS5 is rooted in overall wellness and it’s a great place to start if you’re wanting to start living the Hustle Sanely lifestyle.
5) Incorporate intentional rest every week.
Period. Non-negotiable. And not after everything is done either but actually scheduling it in. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and learning about Sabbath rest and how crucial it is for us as humans to get soul rest. And if you’re a fellow follower of Christ, how beautiful to dedicate one day a week to rest and worship? Now the concept of Sabbath is newer to me and as I’m learning more, I’m sharing it over on my Instagram stories. I’m currently reading the book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer and it is rocking my world you guys. Highly recommend it. Once I’m done with it, I’m going to create my own rhythm of Sabbath rest and I’ll be sure to document the process.
And to go along with this, I’m also making sure that I’m getting AT LEAST 7 hours of sleep each night. I know rest and sleep are not the same but I wanted to mention sleep, too, and I feel like this is where it fit best!
If you enjoyed this post, tune into episode 047 of The Hustle Sanely Podcast to listen into this topic!
