Since I was 17 years old, I have made a New Year’s goal to achieve before the end of the year. I try to make a different goal for every major pillar in my life: spirituality, family, relationships, social life, health, service, intellectuality, financial stability, professional life, and emotional health.
The reason for this division is to create a comprehensive view of my life and make sure I stay healthy in all aspects of it.
Here is an explanation of each area and why you should also make different goals for each.
Spirituality
This would be your religion or anything related to your spiritual well-being. Goals related to your spiritual pillar could include going to the church more, or if you’re not religious, meditating to keep peace.
Family
Family involves parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles or any other family member that you’d like. For example, you could make more time to hang out with your cousins, or try not to argue too much with your mom.
Relationships
Relationships are related to your love life. Whether or not you have a partner, you are still able to make goals for this piece of your life. If you already have a partner, a goal could be improving your communication skills to avoid arguments, for example.
If you don’t have a partner, a goal could be to try getting into a serious relationship and avoid involving yourself with people who don’t care about you.
Social Life
We all need time to relax and hang out with friends. The social pillar involves things you do for fun. Do you like going to the movies? Are you doing it enough to keep yourself happy? Do you have true friends? What could you improve to make sure you have more time to hang out with said friends?
Health
Health is your physical health and alimentation. Are you eating things that will keep you healthy, or is your cholesterol too high? When was the last time you took a blood test? I try to take a blood test at least once a year to make sure I have everything balanced.
I’ve seen imbalances that I wasn’t aware of two times, such as low vitamin D. One time, I found out I was slightly anemic.
Everyone needs to exercise to keep your body active and to make sure that they’re stimulating their muscles. Are you exercising enough?
Service
Service is anything that includes giving back to your society. This may involve big volunteer work projects or simply calling a friend that might be feeling a little sad. Anything considered a “thank you” for what life has given you and that express gratitude can be considered service.
Intellectuality
This relates to what appeals to you intellectually. It could be related to college, like getting a 4.0 GPA or making the Dean’s list, but it is not necessary. It could also be a goal to learn a new language, read a certain amount of books or take an online course on a subject that interests you.
Financial Stability
Finance is anything money-related. Maybe it means saving a certain amount of money to buy something you have always wanted, or maybe it means learning to invest. Anything to better yourself moneywise could be a professional goal.
Professional Life
This pillar is related to your career desires. Goals for this pillar could be, for example, getting your first job, doing internships related to your major or desired future career, or trying out for a better position at your current job.
Emotional Health
For me, this one is the most important. Without emotional health, it is extremely hard to achieve any other goal. This is the pillar related most to mental health, so one goal could include going to therapy, begging a grief journal, setting better boundaries, or anything that could make you feel better and bring peace to your mind.
Which goal do you resonate with? Happy New Year!